Employee, Jadar

Jadar

Jadar project update

Rio Tinto is continuing to engage the community and other stakeholders on a fact-based dialogue about the Jadar Project following the decision of the Government of Serbia to reinstate the Jadar Project Spatial Plan of the Special Purpose Area (SPSPA) on 16 July 2024. The Jadar Project will be subject to stringent environmental requirements in compliance with Serbia and EU regulations, including having to progress through an extended phase of legal, EIA and permitting procedures, as well as public consultation, and business assessments, before a final investment decision is made on constructing the project.

We believe the Jadar Project has the potential to be a world-class lithium-borates asset. Serbian and international academics, scientists, and European Union stakeholders have publicly stated their assurances that the project can be developed safely to the highest environmental standards. The Jadar Project can act as a catalyst for the development of a wider EV value chain creating thousands of new high-paid, high-skilled Serbian jobs for generations to come.

We are focused on consultation with all stakeholders, including providing comprehensive factual information about the project. We believe that a public dialogue based on facts is necessary to ensure that all options related to explore all options related to the project’s future are considered.

Communication and Education: As part of our efforts to ensure an informed dialogue in Serbia about lithium mining, we are currently engaging in an education and information campaign via paid, editorial and unmarked native media content to counterbalance the significant disinformation occurring about lithium mining, and contribute to a fact-based dialogue. 

Lithium, a material for the future

A vital component for clean technologies such as electric vehicles and battery storage, lithium will play an essential role in the transition to a low carbon economy. The scale and high-grade nature of the Jadar deposit provides the potential for a mine to supply lithium products into the electric vehicle value chain for decades, positioning Serbia as the European hub for green energy. Double digit demand growth is forecast for lithium over the next decade.

Jadar fact sheets

Jadar Project: Air Quality
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262 KB
Jadar Project: Biodiversity Fact Sheet
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375 KB
Jadar Project: Community Engagement
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616 KB
Jadar Project: Cultural Heritage
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513 KB
Jadar Project: Health & Safety Fact Sheet
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294 KB
Jadar Project: Land Acquisition
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716 KB
Jadar Project: Mine Waste and Processing Residue
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326 KB
Jadar Project: Water Management
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490 KB

More information about Jadar

Building Secure and Sustainable Supply Chains
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454 KB
Mining Lithium Sustainably
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515 KB
Advantages of Proposed Underground Mine
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977 KB
Supplying Borates: Critical Minerals for Industries
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384 KB

Questions and answers

  • What is the Jadar Project?

    Jadar is a mineral deposit containing lithium and boron discovered by our geologists in 2004 near Loznica in the Jadar Valley in Western Serbia, some 160 kilometres from the capital of Belgrade. The high-grade, large-scale deposit is a promising addition to the world’s supply of materials for low-carbon technologies, such as the batteries used for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage.

  • What is the significance of such a discovery?

    Lithium, the lightest of all metals, is proving to be an essential ingredient in many of the world’s low-carbon technologies. It doesn’t occur on its own in nature but is found combined with other minerals. The discovery of a high-grade, large-scale reserve of a new mineral that contains lithium presents exciting new opportunities for contributing to a more low-carbon future.

  • How was geological exploration carried out?

    We employed several geological investigation techniques to certify the available reserves at Jadar, with drilling the primary technique used (drilling core and rotary drilling without a core). Holes were drilled over a licensed area covering 60km.

  • What would the underground mine produce?

    The Jadar deposit and its unique mineral, Jadarite, contains high-grade mineralisation of boron and lithium. Jadar is planned as an underground mine capable of producing 3 products on an annual basis, all in powdered form:

    • ~ 58,000 tonnes of refined battery-grade lithium carbonate
    • 160,000 tonnes of boric acid
    • 255,000 tonnes of sodium sulphate

    These products are important to the production of large-scale batteries for electric vehicles and for the storage of renewable energy. Borates are used in solar panels and wind turbines and in many household products such as detergents and cosmetics, as well as in fibreglass insulation, glass for cell phones and in fertilisers. Sodium sulphate is used in the textile industry and in the production of powdered detergents and glass.

  • What experience does Rio Tinto have with lithium mining?

    We entered the lithium industry through our Boron mine in California, where borates have been mined since 1927. In 2019, we established a demonstration project at Boron to recover battery-grade lithium from the boron waste piles and this has been used to test the capacity to progress to larger-scale production. Jadar will build directly upon the Boron experience and the 2 operations will be complementary.

    We have also developed a new, innovative technology for the production of lithium carbonate and boric acid from the mined Jadarite ore, with a small-scale test plant developed at our research centre in Australia to test the new technology. A global team of experts has conducted some 2,000 tests to date to confirm the technical viability of producing the 3 products from the Jadarite ore. This has led to numerous improvements in the production process and in the health, safety and environmental protection processes.

Contact Jadar

4 Gimnazijska Street
15300 Loznica
Serbia
T +381 15 872 834