![\"Reuters](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/27aa\/live\/6d62a360-57b6-11ef-aebc-6de4d31bf5cd.jpg.webp\")
Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nThousands of people in Serbia have protested in Belgrade against plans to mine one of Europe’s largest deposits of lithium – a crucial raw material for electric car batteries.<\/p>\n
Activists say the mine would cause irreversible environmental destruction to Serbia’s Jadar Valley, where the deposit is located.<\/p>\n
A licence granted to mining giant Rio Tinto was revoked in 2022<\/a> following widespread protests in the country, but the project was restarted last month<\/a> following a court decision and government U-turn.<\/p>\n President Aleksandar Vucic has insisted that strict environmental safety protocols will be put in place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Protesters in the capital chanted “Rio Tinto get out of Serbia” and held banners saying “We do not give Serbia away” as they marched through the city.<\/p>\n Serbia’s Interior Ministry estimated that between 24,000 and 27,000 people joined the protest.<\/p>\n Environmental activists also took over two of the city’s main railway stations – with some lying or sitting on the tracks. <\/p>\n Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in a statement that organisers were “warned” by police that their actions “were not in accordance with the law”.<\/p>\n He vowed charges would be filed against “all perpetrators”.<\/p>\n Activists want legislators to permanently ban the mining of lithium and boron in Serbia, warning of possible dangers to public health and contamination of land and water.<\/p>\n They had given the government a deadline of Saturday to implement the ban.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last month, Serbia restored Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto\u2019s licence to extract the mineral in the Jadar Valley in the west of the country.<\/p>\n Serbia’s government said the previous decision to block the project in 2022 was “not in line with the constitution and the law”.<\/p>\n The EU hailed it as a \u201chistoric day for Serbia, as well as for Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking about the revived Rio Tinto project, Green-Left Movement co-leader Biljana Djordjevic said that activists “fear Serbia will be sacrificed to provide lithium for electric vehicles that pretty much nobody in Serbia can afford”.<\/p>\n Carmakers will need ever more lithium for batteries, as the transition to zero-emission vehicles accelerates \u2013 and Rio Tinto\u2019s $2.4bn (\u00a31.8bn) Jadar Valley project could provide as much as nine-tenths of Europe\u2019s current lithium needs, and turn the company into one of the world’s leading lithium producers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Reuters](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/f2d5\/live\/29add2f0-5781-11ef-b9b2-a71aa406337b.jpg.webp\")
Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n