Rio Tinto halts lithium mining project Jadar in Serbia

Rio Tinto has suspended its lithium mining project Jadar in Serbia, Bloomberg learned from the company’s internal documents.

The suspension of the Jadar project, valued at USD 2.95 billion, is among the first decisions of Rio Tinto’s new CEO Simon Trott.

Bloomberg wrote that it saw an internal company memo revealing that the investment in Serbia would be switched to a care and maintenance regime, making it dormant.

“Given the lack of progress in permitting, we are not in a position to sustain the same level of spend and resource allocation,” the document reads.

According to the same source, Rio Tinto still considers Jadar an important lithium deposit that could play a significant role in Serbia and Europe’s energy transition.

The European Union has designated the project as strategically important. The race for lithium and other rare metals is intensifying due to China’s growing dominance.

Rio Tinto confirmed the contents of the memo.

The company told Blic that it “remains in Serbia” and that the Jadar project is entering a phase involving an assessment of project costs and resources. “Our focus will be to support our employees through the transition process, and to continue fulfilling our legal obligations to the local community as responsible landowners in the Jadar valley,” it added.

New investments and company restructuring

Trott became CEO in August, and the decision to suspend the Jadar project is part of efforts to streamline the business and focus on faster growth opportunities.

He reorganized Rio Tinto by dividing it into segments for iron, aluminum and lithium, and copper.

According to the memo, the company’s current head of lithium Paul Graves will leave the company.

Last year, Rio Tinto acquired Arcadium Lithium for USD 6.7 billion, gaining access to three lithium projects in development. At the same time, it is investing heavily in the Rincon lithium project in Argentina.

Due to oversupply in the lithium market, prices remain around 85% below their 2022 peak, the article adds.

Rio Tinto is the world’s second-largest mining company by market value. The Jadar mining and processing project, based on the mineral jadarite, discovered in 2004 in the Jadar valley in western Serbia, has faced strong opposition from the country’s citizens, environmental activists, and part of the expert community for many years. Balkan Green Energy News has published a chronological overview of the key events in the development of the Jadar project since 2001, when Rio Tinto arrived in Serbia.

Trott is scheduled to deliver his first strategic presentation on the company’s further development and restructuring on December 4 in London, during Rio Tinto’s Capital Markets Day.