Meeting of representatives of environmental movements and authorities from Rio Tinto Serbia

The coordinator of the Coalition for Sustainable Mining of Serbia of KORS, Zvezdan Kalmar, after the meeting initiated by the company Rio Tinto, said that it was agreed to revise the spatial plan and strategic processes of the harmfulness of opening mines in the environment.

Representatives of the environmental movements “Let’s Protect Jadar and Radjevina” and the Coalition for Sustainable Mining of Serbia (KORS) announced in a conversation with Rio Tinto experts their demands regarding the preparations for the opening of a lithium mine in Jadro, near Loznica, with state support. Among the proposals is a change in the spatial plan to include the public in the environmental impact assessment of the project.

“In that way, we could enable the involvement of the public in the assessment of the justification of the project, considering the impact on the environment, and we would open the possibility of legal actions against that project, which we have been denied so far,” Kalmar said.

He added that the representatives of the environmental associations warned the experts of Rio Tinto about the possible consequences of the overflow of the river Jadar in the case of the opening of the mine.

“Jadar spills even in years when there is little precipitation, and that would pose a great risk to the mine and its surroundings,” Kalmar said.

The representative of the movement “Let’s protect Jadar and Radjevina”, Marija Alimpic, said that the position of that association was that “they do not want a mine in any form”.

“We asked Rio Tinto only to compensate the damage so far, and after this meeting to cut off all communication about the opening of the mine,” said Alimpic.

She assessed that the environmental movement can no longer be a partner of Rio Tinto in the issues related to the opening of the mine, “unless they want to sow wheat, corn or plant plums in that area,” Beta reports.

Source: politika.rs

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