Rio Tinto to continue investing in Serbia? – Development of project within Jadar Work Group agreed

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic met with representative of the global mining-metal group Rio Tinto in London on Saturday, April 14, 2018, during her working visit to Great Britain.

As reported on the website of the Government of Serbia, Brnabic talked to Bold Bataar, Chief Executive for Energy & Minerals, and Andrew Latham, Head of Rio Tinto Ventures, people in charge of the development of the lithium-borate project Jadar near Loznica, Western Serbia.

The prime minister and the representatives of Rio Tinto discussed the possibilities of investing in Serbia and various aspects of the development of the Jadar project.

The representatives of Rio Tinto pointed out that they saw Serbia as an attractive investment destination, it is said.

Brnabic expressed the Government’s intention to enable the exploitation of the jadarite mine and the production of lithium-carbonates in Serbia, so as to enable a further development of industrial production in new technologies.

Joint work on the development of the project within the joint Jadar Work Group, founded after the signing of the Memorandum on Cooperation in July 2017, was agreed at the meeting.

Rio Tinto has been operating in Serbia since 2001 through the locally registered subsidiary Rio Sava Explorations, which is working on the development of the Jadar project. The company has recently founded a separate legal entity for geological explorations in Serbia and the region, called Rio Tinto Explorations Dunav.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Rio Sava Exploration d.o.o. Beograd

Rio Tinto plc London

Government of Serbia

Rio Tinto

Rio Sava Explorations

Rio Tinto Explorations Dunav

Ana Brnabic

Bold Bataar

Andrew Latham

Jadar

project Jadar

lithium

exploitation of lithium

lithium borate

jadarite

lithium carbonate