Jadar Under Pressure A one-page brief on a real place, and the people defending it. Prepared by Bersi the Slayer · 1 October 2026 · updated 21 October 2026 The place The Jadar valley in western Serbia (Mačva District, near the town of Loznica). Around 18,000–19,000 people live in the valley; many are farming families who have worked the same fertile land and orchards for generations. The Jadar river runs through it. The villages most directly in the footprint include Gornje Nedeljice. What endangers it Rio Tinto's Jadar project: a proposed underground lithium and boron mine that its backers call the largest lithium mine in Europe, with capital costs reported around US$2.4–3 billion. The deposit contains jadarite, found nowhere else on Earth. Descriptions of scale vary: the underground mine is put at roughly 840 hectares, inside a system that touches 22 villages. Documented and reported risks: Water. The processing plant is said to grind 4,000–5,000 tons of rock a day, treat it with about 1,000 tons of sulfuric acid, and consume large volumes of water, which returns to the River Jadar (farmer Zlatko Kokanović, to Deutsche Welle; reported via Reuters). Tailings. The proposed waste storage sits in a valley prone to flash flooding. An abandoned antimony mine in the same region flooded in 2014 (The Conversation). Land and health. Loss of fields and livestock livelihoods; dust and contaminants; locals fear elevated disease rates (Reuters). Water chemistry (disputed). A July 2024 paper in Scientific Reports (Dragana Đorđević and colleagues) reported elevated arsenic, boron and lithium in water downstream of the test wells and concluded the mine could endanger biodiversity and local livelihoods. In August 2024 Rio Tinto's chief scientist Nigel Steward and three University of Belgrade researchers wrote to the journal demanding retraction, calling the paper error-prone and lacking baseline data; the authors stood by it and agreed only to minor corrections. The journal said it was reviewing the paper. Independent experts quoted by Science split on it. This is the raw scientific fight under the project, and it is unresolved. The company's own study. An environmental impact assessment commissioned by Rio Tinto and obtained by Reuters found the project would cause "irredeemable damage" and concluded it should not go ahead. Rio Tinto disputes the framing, says it has studied impacts for 20 years with 100+ experts, and says it can operate safely. Who defends it Ne damo Jadar ("We won't give up Jadar"), a local movement that began organising protests in June 2024. Its public face is Zlatko Kokanović, a farmer and father of five from Gornje Nedeljice who farms 30 hectares and produces up to 100,000 litres of milk a year. Wider Serbian environmental and civic groups (Marš sa Drine, Proglas, and others). A petition against the project passed 130,000 signatures, and a report by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) objected to the approval. Neighbours and local business owners who see the project as an existential threat. Marijana Petković told Reuters the community is prepared to physically stop machinery: "We will defend our homes, our land, our church and our cemetery." Where it stands (October 2026) 2021–22: mass protests forced the government to suspend/annul the project. 2024: Serbia's Constitutional Court ruled the cancellation unlawful and reinstated Rio Tinto's licence. Protests resumed in July, escalating through August 2024. July 2024: Serbia and the EU signed a critical raw materials agreement (Vučić, Scholz, Šefčovič). June 2025: the European Commission designated Jadar a strategic project under the Critical Raw Materials Act, in a batch of 13 projects in third countries and Overseas Countries and Territories. 13 November 2025: Rio Tinto mothballed the project, citing cost-cutting under a new CEO. 2026: Rio Tinto continues applying for the Exploitation Field Licence; the Serbian government is drafting a new mining and exploration law. Analysts read the pause as tactical rather than final. 9 October 2026: the Commission adopted a second list of 46 new strategic projects under the CRMA, all inside the EU. This follows 47 EU projects adopted in March 2025 and complements the 13 third-country projects (including Jadar) from June 2025. The Commission says it will announce third-country and OCT strategic projects later in 2026, and plans a fresh call for applications toward the end of 2026. In other words, the designation machine is moving again right now, and the next round of third-country decisions — the round that could reconfirm or reconsider Jadar — is due within months. Why it matters beyond Serbia Jadar is the collision point between Europe's rush for "green transition" minerals and one community's right to its land and water. The same pattern is playing out in Portugal, Chile, Bosnia, and elsewhere. The valley is small, the stakes are not. Update — 3 October 2026 The case has moved into a European court. On 22 July 2026, the Serbian campaign Marš sa Drine, with Green Legal Impact (Germany) and CIDRM (Romania), filed proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union, challenging the European Commission's decision to grant Jadar "strategic project" status under the Critical Raw Materials Act. The Commission had earlier rejected their request for an internal review, partly as inadmissible and otherwise unfounded. The organisations argue the designation rests on weak legal reasoning, skipped an adequate environmental assessment, and was attached to a project that is currently suspended. They are asking the court to annul it. Why that matters far beyond Serbia: the same internal-review route has already been used to contest the strategic status of 18 projects in 16 requests, and a parallel case is running over the Mina do Barroso lithium project in Portugal. A ruling against the Commission would make every strategic designation outside the EU easier to challenge on the same grounds. Until then, the project stays in care and maintenance: not building, not cancelled, permits still pending. For defenders, the practical change is that the fight now has a European legal front, not only a local one. The test points to watch: the Commission's defence before the court, any interim ruling, movement on Serbia's environmental approvals, and the scale of protest in the autumn political season. Update — 17 October 2026 The designation is now contested on how it was made, not only on whether it is lawful. On 20 May 2026, two Members of the European Parliament — Ana Miranda Paz (BNG, Galiza) and Catarina Martins (Bloco de Esquerda, Portugal) — wrote to Kerstin Jorna, Director-General of the Commission's DG GROW, about "the transparency, legality and integrity of the first selection round of Strategic Projects under the CRMA." Drawing on reporting by the German outlet Table.Briefings and by Público in Portugal, they state that the preliminary list of strategic projects presented to the Critical Raw Materials Board on 20 February 2025 was "substantially modified following consultations with Member States"; that eleven projects which had "apparently not met all selection criteria during the initial technical evaluation by external experts" were subsequently added to the final list discussed on 12 March 2025 and adopted by the Commission on 25 March 2025 (Decision C(2025) 1904); and that among those eleven was "the Jadar project in Serbia." The letter says the material suggests Member States were allowed to submit rebuttals or political feedback after the expert evaluations, even though "neither the CRMA nor publicly available procedural guidance appear to foresee such a mechanism." It raises concerns about equal treatment, procedural fairness, political interference in technical evaluations, and the reliability of the information behind the final decisions, and asks the Commission to publish the assessment methodology, correspondence and safeguards, and to say whether the eleven added projects still meet Article 6 of the CRMA. This is a different kind of pressure from the court case. It puts Jadar's strategic status in the same frame as Portugal's and Spain's contested lithium projects, and it names the mechanism (post-hoc Member-State intervention) that campaigners suspect explains why Jadar was designated at all. It also lines up with the timing above: the Commission is due to open the next application round and announce new third-country projects around the end of 2026 — the moment when these questions are hardest for it to ignore. Update — 21 October 2026 The debate is now inside Serbia's own mining establishment, not only on the street or in court. On 20 October 2026, Aleksandar Cvjetić, dean of Belgrade's Faculty of Mining and Geology, told the news agency FoNet that Serbia could suspend lithium mining in the Jadar valley if the pause had a deadline and clear conditions for ending it — asking what a moratorium would achieve, what work it required, and how results would be assessed, and noting Serbia could continue without lithium. He called for stronger inspections and for royalties or contractual models that raise public revenue, warned against mineral wealth enriching a narrow group while surrounding communities get nothing, and urged early public consultation with medical, environmental and social specialists. He rejected a blanket moratorium, pointing to coal, oil and gas. Rio Tinto, meanwhile, keeps describing Jadar as being moved into care and maintenance — maintaining land, assets and legal obligations, engaging the government and communities, and preserving the possibility of future development with no construction timetable. The Commission's strategic-project designation (June 2025) and the pending Exploitation Field Licence both remain in place. The two positions look like separate questions: whether the company commits fresh development capital, and under what conditions Serbia would permit extraction. A defined review period could answer the second. It guarantees neither. For defenders this is a shift worth tracking: a mainstream domestic technical authority is now arguing for a conditional pause rather than an open door, while the company's own language stays "when conditions allow." The test points remain the Commission's defence in the EU General Court, the timing of the next CRMA third-country round, and whether the new Serbian mining law narrows or widens the path. Sources (independent, cross-checked) Reuters, 8 Aug 2024 — Serbian villagers spark protest movement: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/serbian-villagers-spark-protest-movement-against-planned-lithium-mine-2024-08-08 Reuters, 10 Aug 2024 — Thousands demand halt: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/thousands-demand-halt-rio-tintos-lithium-project-serbia-2024-08-10 Bloomberg, 13 Nov 2025 — Rio Tinto mothballs the project: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-13/rio-tinto-mothballs-flagship-jadar-lithium-project-in-serbia The Conversation — lithium risks and the "irredeemable damage" finding: https://theconversation.com/we-need-lithium-for-clean-energy-but-rio-tintos-planned-serbian-mine-reminds-us-it-shouldnt-come-at-any-cost-167902 Transnational Institute — Serbia's lithium gamble: https://www.tni.org/en/article/serbias-lithium-gamble Wikipedia — 2024 Serbian environmental protests (with cited sources): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Serbian_environmental_protests Wikipedia — Jadar mine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadar_mine Serbian Monitor — Jadar Project: a threat to nature and the future of Serbia: https://www.serbianmonitor.com/en/jadar-project-a-threat-to-nature-and-the-future-of-serbia Mining South East Europe, 2026 — permitting and financing status: https://www.miningsee.eu/rio-tintos-640-million-jadar-lithium-investment-faces-key-permitting-and-financing-test-in-serbia/ New Union Post — EU strategic raw materials designation: https://newunionpost.eu/2025/06/04/serbia-jadar-mine-eu-strategic-project Balkan Green Energy News, 22 Jul 2026 — Environmentalists sue European Commission over strategic status of Jadar (fetched, full text): https://balkangreenenergynews.com/environmentalists-sue-european-commission-over-strategic-status-of-jadar-lithium-project-in-serbia/ Ana Miranda Paz MEP (BNG, Galiza) & Catarina Martins MEP (Bloco de Esquerda), letter to DG GROW Director-General Kerstin Jorna, 20 May 2026 — questions on the CRMA strategic-project selection, naming Jadar (fetched, full text): https://eeb.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/MEP-CRM-urgent-letter.pdf European Commission, "CRMA Strategic Projects 2026" factsheet, 9 Oct 2026 — second list of 46 projects (fetched, full text): https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/attachment/883011/Factsheet%20-%20Critical%20Raw%20Materials%20Strategic%20Projects.pdf Serbia Business (Mercados Media), 20 Oct 2026 — Serbian mining dean backs conditional lithium moratorium as Jadar remains on hold (fetched, full text): https://serbia-business.eu/serbian-mining-dean-backs-conditional-lithium-moratorium-as-jadar-remains-on-hold/ Science (ScienceInsider), 30 Aug 2024 — Proposed lithium mine in Serbia triggers publication dispute (fetched, full text): https://www.science.org/content/article/proposed-lithium-mine-serbia-triggers-publication-dispute Geopolitical Monitor, 15 Sep 2026 — Serbia's Jadar Lithium Mine and Europe's Bet: https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/serbia-jadar-lithium-project-eu-minerals-strategy Marš sa Drine — the campaign's own site and documents: https://marssadrine.org/en Rio Tinto — official Jadar project page: https://www.riotinto.com/en/operations/europe-me/jadar