Jadarit mine to be opened near Loznica in 2015

The State Secretary of Mining of Serbia, Radivoje Milanović, said that the mine of jadarit, the new mineral of boron and lithium, might be opened in Jadar's basin near Loznica in 2015.

After visiting jadarit deposits, which are being researched by Australian company "Rio Tinto", Milanović told Beta that, according to the previous geological researches, it was the most significant ore deposit in Serbia in the last 30 years.

- Additional geological researches and drillings are necessary to be done in 2010, as well as the feasibility study, so we could attract investors and open the mine - said he.

Milanović said that the amount of required investments for that project would be known once the study was completed, which should be followed by the design of mining project dossier and commencement of opening of the mine, which should take few years.

Exploitation in the mine will be carried out by means of the cutting-edge technology, so that the number of miners will be small, but the number of jobs that will be created in accompanying fields should be quite large.

The researches are carried out by company "Rio Sava Exploration", which was founded in Serbia by "Rio Tinto" group.

The Ministry of Energy and Mining of Serbia announced that, according to the previous researches, the reserves of aforementioned mineral in the Jadar basin exceeded 270m tons.

Ore deposit "Jadar" is the only joint lithium ore and boron ore deposit in the world, as well as the largest lithium ore deposit in Europe.

The basic commercial products that can be obtained from mineral jadarit are: lithium carbonate, boron acid, and sodium sulfate.

Lithium carbonate is used in production of lithium batteries for mobile phones, computers, and hybrid and electric cars, while the deposit in the Jadar basin can satisfy European needs for lithium carbonate within the next few decades.

Project "Jadar" represents an alternative source of lithium since the ore deposits in South America currently satisfy 73% of global needs for lithium.