Jadar Project Stopped, But Rio Tinto Has Exploitation Right Guaranteed by Law

The minister of mining and energy of Serbia, Zorana Mihajlovic, said that the Jadar project had been stopped at the request of the citizens, but that the essence was in studies of environmental impact assessment.

She repeated on TV Prva that there was no relationship, in terms of contracts, between the state and Rio Tinto, as announced on the website of the Ministry of Mining and Energy.

– As for Rio Tinto, there is no relationship in terms of agreements, no contract has been signed between the company and the government or the ministry, regardless of the allegations we’ve been listening to for months. What I advocate is for studies of environmental impact assessment to be prepared, so that we could back up what’s true and what’s not with arguments – she said.

Mihajlovic says that, according to the law from 2006, the exploitation right is approved for the company which gets the exploration right.

– Rio Tinto has been in Serbia since 2004. There was a law then which said that those who get the permit can explore, but that they can’t get the right to exploit the ore without a tender. The law was changed in 2006, when it was allowed for those who get exploration rights and determine that there are some ore reserves to also automatically get exploitation rights – she said.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Zorana Mihajlović

Jadar Project

lithium

ores

exploitation

mining

law

exploration

contract