Activists of several associations of citizens and environmental groups submitted a petition to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic with more than 32,000 signatures against the project of the company Rio Tinto, which wants to open a lithium mine in the valley of the river Jadar. Activists and experts who do not agree with the project have presented all the dangers to the environment and the population to the Prime Minister. The guests of the morning program of TV Nova S “Wake up” were doctor of technical sciences Mirjana Lukic Andjelkovic and activist Miroslav Mijatovic.
For the Government, as it was heard after the meeting, the project and the agreement with the company Rio Tinto are unquestionable and have the support of the Government. On the other hand, activists and experts expressed fears about the potential danger due to the realization of that project.
“The arrival of Rio Tinto is one big environmental disaster announced. They will occupy 22,000 hectares of fertile land and will make degraded land there,” believes Lukic Andjelkovic.
She notes that the construction of the railway is also planned, and the land, according to this expert, will be endangered by sulfuric acid, arsenic and tailings.
Lukic Andjelkovic also says that the company Rio Tinto claims that they will “neutralize” all that. However, she believes that boron and lithium will remain in the tailings, which will endanger the Jadar and Korenita rivers.
“They plan to make a mine for the next 60 years, they actually plan to make a mountain of tailings. Where there is tailings, there is no grass, nothing grows,” she says and notes as a problem that the production process itself is not known, Nova reports.
Source: serbia-business.eu