Belgrade daily Danas said on Wednesday that several companies hold permits to search for lithium and other mineral resources in Serbia.

According to the daily, a number of companies have held those permits for years and at least 30 others have permits to search for silver, gold, copper, lithium, iron, lead, zinc and molibden. Just seven of those are local companies while the others are from Canada, Australia, the UK, US, Chine, the Netherlands, Malta and the British Virgin Islands among others.

Permit holders include the Australian Volt Resources which was reported to have permits to explore for lithium in an area of 261 square kilometers by acquiring Asena Investments, a Serbian company, the Canadian Euro Lithium Balkan (set up in Serbia in 2015), Australian-owned Balkan Exploration and Mining as well as Valdour Resources which was set up by the Canadian Greht Mountain Ventures.

Danas said that Mining and Energy Ministry records show that 65 local and 21 foreign companies are conducting geological exploration in Serbia at 175 sites – 116 sites are expected to yield metals, borite and lithium, two are being explored for energy resources and 57 are being researched for no-metal mineral resources.

The daily said that there is no single register of mineral exploration permits but that the data is available through the Geographic Information System.
The Serbian government recently revoked permits to search for lithium held by the Australian Rio Tinto but failed to meet a demand to ban lithium mining made by environmental organizations. Those organizations have speculated that Rio Tinto’s permits might be re-issued or that other companies have or could be given exploration permits.