"Rio Tinto plans for Serbia lithium mine suspended after protests", 16 December 2021

Local authorities in western Serbia have suspended a plan that would allow the mining company Rio Tinto to operate a lithium mine, after protests by environmentalists...

The mining had been expected to start in the near future, but a town council in Loznica voted to suspend a regional development plan that permitted the excavation of lithium...

For three consecutive weekends, thousands of protesters in Belgrade and elsewhere in Serbia blocked main roads and bridges to oppose Rio Tinto’s plan to launch a $2.4bn (£1.4bn) mining operation in the country. The protests were the biggest challenge yet to the increasingly autocratic rule of the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić...

Rio Tinto said in a statement on Thursday that it worked in accordance with laws and the highest professional standards throughout its 10-year presence in Serbia... “We understand the interest of citizens in everything that happens in connection with the project, and we will continue to provide information on all aspects of the project for which we are responsible and in which we participate,” the statement said...

Although Rio Tinto said it would adhere to all the latest environmental protection standards, organisers of the weekend protests said the lithium excavation could inflict lasting ecological damage to rivers and farmland in the region...

...Vučić has ignored European Union pleas for countries to reduce CO2 emissions and pledged to continue and even expand coalmining for power plants...