Rio Tinto denies claims of pollution in Jadar river

The report on the effects of the exploratory stage of the Jadarite deposits said that traces of lithium, borite and arsenic were found in the Jadar river downstream from the Rio Sava company’s drill sites. The SANU presented a collection of reports on the Jadar Project and the effects of the mining of lithium and borite on the environment in western Serbia and the rest of the country. Independent experts quoted in the report agreed that the project would have huge negative effects on the environment.

The Rio Sava company claimed that the report did not say that the amounts of lithium, borite and arsenic were below the maximum concentrations allowed by law. It claimed that the amounts were below the values set for drinking water. Rio Sava said that the report did not consider the possibility that their presence was a natural phenomenon.

The statement also denied media reports of more than 30 drill sites leaking, claiming that just a few had leaked and were cleaned up. “A comparison of the content of borite and lithium in 2021 to the values from 2016 to 2020 shows that there are no higher concentrations in the Jadar area,” it said and added that it’s annual reports on the monitoring of the Jadar waters were openly available.

Rio Sava called the authors of the report to acquaint themselves with its reports before reaching any conclusion.