JADAR PROJECT – WHAT IS KNOWN?

A two-day scientific conference ’Jadar Project – What is known?’ which deals with the exploitation of the jadarite mineral in Rađevina, in the vicinity of Loznica, is to open on Thursday, 6 May, at the SASA Grand Hall.

As it is known, the exploration works in this region of western Serbia have been entrusted to the mining company Rio Tinto, i.e. its subsidiary company Rio Sava Exploration LLC. The announced construction of the mine – with accompanying tailings dump, use and treatment of water and chemicals in the process of lithium-carbonate and boric acid extraction – as well as the impact of the mine and technological process of extraction on the environment of that region has caused considerable doubts and great concern of the citizens, thus getting the scientific and expert public interested. Additionally, doubts were exacerbated by the pre-existing insufficient transparency of the entire process, beginning with the granting of an exploration permit, over the modifications in the community development plan and reclassification of the land use, to the very choice of the technological process.

There are many points of interest to consider and discuss openly. Therefore, the following issues will be raised at the conference: what the Republic of Serbia and society will get from this exploitation; what the benefits are for the wider population and environment; what the conditions are under which natural resources are being dispossessed of and what the general benefit is for the state, excluding oar rent which at the moment appears to be inconsequential in comparison with the value of the natural resource, independent and anthropogenically created ecosystems and landscapes that would be destroyed or irreversibly altered.

The conference aims to assess scientifically and expertly all the elements of the Jadar project, evaluate its advantages and disadvantages and anticipate the problems which may arise if the project was to be realized.

The organizers of the conference are the Academy Board ‘Man and the Environment, Academy Board for Materials and the Board for Chemistry of the SASA Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences.

The conference is scheduled to end on Friday, 7 May with a round table where the Association Protect Jadar and Rađevina, Coalition for Sustainable Mining in Serbia,  Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development, Serbia and Podrinje Anti-Corruption Team for the protection of the Jadar river and Rađevina will take part, followed by an open discussion.

We would like to note that the capacity of the SASA Grand Hall has greatly been reduced due to the epidemiological situation, therefore the access will be available only to the first 60 guests who confirm their attendance on email sasaconf@sanu.ac.rs and bring printed or electronic registration form.

Live broadcast of the conference will be available on the SASA website  https://www.sanu.ac.rs/direktan-prenos/. The viewers of the live broadcast will be able to send questions to email sasaconf@sanu.ac.rs, which will be thematically grouped and put forward in the course of the discussion at the round table on the second day of the conference.