Serbia revokes Anglo-Australian company licenses after Djokovic’s deportation

Serbia revoked mining company Rio Tinto’s lithium exploration licenses on Thursday, bowing to protests that opposed the Anglo-Australian’s development of the project on environmental grounds.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the government’s decision came after calls from several ecological organizations to halt the $2.4 billion Jadar lithium project, which, if completed, would help Rio Tinto to become one of the world’s top 10 lithium producers.

“All decisions (related to the lithium project) and all licenses have been nullified,” Brnabic told reporters after a government meeting. “As far as the Jadar project is concerned, this is the end.”

A few days ago, Rio Tinto had stretched the schedule for initial lithium production at Jadar to 2027, mentioning that some crucial approvals were taking longer than expected.

Rio Tinto said it was “extremely concerned” by Serbia’s decision and said it was reviewing its legal basis.

The company decided to go ahead with the project only last year, amid efforts by miners to develop the production of metals needed for the transition to green energy, which include lithium, used in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles.

The mine was supposed to produce enough lithium to power a million electric vehicles, as well as boric acid, used in ceramics and batteries, and sodium sulfate, used in detergents. At full capacity, the mine should annually produce 58,000 tonnes of refined lithium carbonate for battery production, which would make it the largest European lithium mine by production volume.

Brnabic accused Rio Tinto of providing insufficient information about the project to the communities involved. In a statement, the mining company said it “always operated with complete respect” to Serbian laws.

Thousands of people blocked roads last year in protest against government support for the project, demanding that Rio Tinto leave the country and forcing the municipality that would host the mine to abandon its plans to set aside land for the facility.

Thursday’s decision comes as Serbia approaches a general election, set for April, and at a time of conflict in the relationship between Australia and Serbia after Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic was deported by Australian authorities for have violated the country’s rules regarding Covid-19.

Djokovic himself spoke out in favor of “clean air” in an Instagram story posted in December, with a photo of the mine protests, published by sports website The Bridge.

Twitter users were quick to post jokes about the deportation of Rio Tinto by Serbia.

Serbia’s ruling populist coalition, led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), had expressed support for lithium and copper mining, a stance that exposed it to criticism and helped erode the group’s comfortable majority in the country. 2020 election.

Sasa Djogovic of the Belgrade-based Market Research Institute said the ruling party “is losing popularity and so has been forced to give in to activists’ demands.”

The SNS-led coalition is expected to call legislative and presidential elections for April 3, although the date has yet to be officially confirmed by President Aleksandar Vucic.

“We are listening to the people and our job is to protect their interests even when we disagree,” Brnabic said on Thursday.

The Jadar project, one of the biggest foreign investments in Serbia, was part of the government’s efforts to attract investment and stimulate economic growth. But environmental organizations in Serbia, a country heavily crippled by environmental pollution, say the new mine would pollute soil and water in the area.

Earlier this month, Brnabic said the project would likely be put on hold until after the election.

“A compromise must be reached after the elections, and there may be a renegotiation of royalties or sharing of values,” said a Rio Tinto shareholder, who did not allow his name to be mentioned.

The project was technically complex, with Rio Tinto developing technology to cost-effectively extract lithium from jadarite, an ore that has only been found to date in Serbia’s Jadar Valley.

“Serbia has not historically been a mining jurisdiction, and I don’t think another company would seek to develop a project there,” said analyst Ben Davis of investment bank Liberum.