In Serbia, the Coalition for Sustainable Mining demands abolition of spatial plan for lithium mine

On the occasion of the World Water Day on March 22, the president of the Coalition for Sustainable Mining in Serbia (KORS) Zvezdan Kalmar told Beta that the company Rio Tinto, with which a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed on the opening of a lithium mine near Loznica, stated ten to 20 times the amount of water it will need in case the mine opens.

Kalmar and representatives of the association “Let’s protect Jadar and Radjevina” submitted a letter to the Republic Water Directorate requesting the most urgent repeal of the Spatial Plan of the special purpose area “Jadar” due to the danger of water source pollution and incorrectly displayed water balances that will be used by opening the mine.

“The mine will, as planned, consume more water than the whole Macva,” Kalmar said.

He added that the realization of the project of exploitation and processing of Jadarite minerals “Jadar”, which envisages pumping water from the alluvium of the Drina, and which is the regional water supply source of Macva, is in “the most direct contradiction with the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia”.

According to him, the project is in contradiction with the Water Management Strategy and Water Conditions given for the project of the “Jadar” mine. Apart from putting the water source in danger, as he said, the criterion related to the planned degree of purification and discharge of wastewater into the rivers Jadar and Drina is also disputable.

Kalmar said that we must not tolerate the excuse that harmful substances will be “diluted after pouring into the Drina River, and will thus be within the prescribed limit values”.

He pointed out that “almost nowhere in the world are there permissible limit values ​​for the lithium content in waters, except in Mauritius.”

“This must not be allowed in an international river such as the Drina,” Kalmar said, adding that Rio Tinto did not conduct an environmental impact study or cross-border territory.

Source: danas.rs

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