Dear neighbours, please help us fight against Rio Tinto’s lithium mining project that will pollute the land and rivers that later go through other countries including Bulgaria. Sign the petition and share. 🇷🇸🇧🇬

12 comments

  1. >A REQUEST:

    >Ban on the lithium mine project and the metal processing complex in the Jadra Valley.

    >Why is this important?
    JADRA VALLEY – is bordered by mountains, surrounded by water and known as the most fertile land in Serbia. Instead of protecting it, the Serbian government has decided to conclude an agreement with the multinational corporation Rio Tinto, where the procedure of approving the lithium mine where the jadarite ore will be exploited has begun. The government and the company ignore scientists and mining experts, threatening to cause irreparable damage to the environment and people, as well as local citizens who do not want to give up their agricultural land that belongs to the generations of their families.

    >We refuse to let the Government destroy the Jadar Valley on our behalf.

    >We refuse to allow water poisoning. The process of separating chemically stable lithium from jaradite involves the use of concentrated sulfuric acid. The process would take place 20 km from the Drina and would use 300 cubic meters of water every hour, while the polluted water would return to the Jadar River. The outpouring of inevitably polluted water, as well as underground water flows in the presence of arsenic, mercury and lead, would contaminate entire river basins and continue the journey across the Adriatic to the Drina and Sava, polluting not only Serbia but also other countries.

    >We refuse to allow air poisoning. Treatment with aggressive acids produces toxic gases that can spread within a radius of over ten kilometers and which will corrode the skin and lungs of humans and animals.

    >We refuse to endanger the existence of the population in the vicinity of Jadra in the interests of a multinational corporation. Rio Tinto has promised 700 new jobs, but forgot to add that 19,000 people, many of whom work on sustainable land, will be displaced or directly threatened as a result of the mine.

    >We refuse to allow the violation of the legal order of the Republic of Serbia. The spatial plan covers 2,030 hectares, including 28 villages around Loznica and Krupanj, and was adopted without a long-term lithium exploitation plan, as well as without confirmation of reserves, on the basis of which the real impact of the mine on the environment could be determined. Many agreements between the government and Rio Tinto have not been made public, indicating the non-transparency of the whole process and potential corruption.

    >Rio Tinto, since its founding in 1930, has a history of environmental destruction, cooperation with the pro-fascist regime of General Frank, support for apartheid, destruction of the sacred cave of the natives in Australia, 45,000 years old in 2020. The company and its representatives have been repeatedly convicted of fraud, paid billions of dollars in damages and fines for illegal destruction of land, but continue to ravage and destroy the environment around the world. The company is accused of participating in war crimes in Papau, New Guinea, where a ten-year civil war broke out due to the exploitation of the mine.

    >This petition is just one of the steps in the fight in which we stand for respect for the Serbian Constitution and in which we stand by the inhabitants of Jadra, but also all citizens of the Republic of Serbia who can suffer the consequences of this ecologically catastrophic project. The public interest, which is a legally obligatory basis, has not been explained to this day.

    >The citizens of Serbia and its people have the right to clean air, clean water and healthy living conditions. Stop the dirty lithium mine of Rio Tinto and protect the people, our heritage, our environment and the rivers in the Jadar Valley. United we can save the Adriatic Valley – join the fight!

    >Sign the petition. Rio Tinto – March from the Drina!

    >Dr. Dragana Djordjevic – Scientific Adviser of the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, Dr. Ljiljana Tomovic full professor at the University of Belgrade, Bojana Novakovic, Ana Kondic, Jovana Djajic, Natasa Prljevic, Dr. Biljana Stojkovic – full professor at the University of Belgrade, Marija Markovic, Dragana Arsic , lawyer Sreten Đorđević, Miroslav Mijatović, Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, Bojan Simišić and Savo Manojlović.

    >Let’s not give up Jadar, Collective Action Serbia, Podrinje Anti-Corruption Team, Assembly of Free Serbia, Fire Guards, Let’s Defend the Rivers of Stara Planina, Rebellion of Serbia, Let’s Defend the Forests of Frushka Gora, Fridays for the Future, Forest Protection Association, Green Wave Cacak, Right to Water, Green Patrol, Vojvodina Green Initiative, Romani Asvin, Polekol, Heckler, Association for the Protection of Constitutionality and Legality and Go-Change.

  3. Ahhh so THATS where they’ll get dirt cheap lithium from now! I was starting to wonder without willing slaves how the whole electric car thing was gonna work.

  9. I’m joining in! Nature should be preserved everywhere, no exceptions. I’m saving this post for eventual updates.

Leave a Reply