The chief executive of Anglo-American mining company Rio Tinto has alleged via local media that his company and its controversial multibillion-dollar plans to create Europe's largest lithium mine in Serbia are the target of a "carefully designed and well-organized" disinformation campaign.
Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm used the text reportedly prepared for the online Serbian outlet Politika to push back against widespread public protests at the recently revived project, which has enflamed fears of further environmental damage in one of the Balkans' most polluted regions.
"The topics of the project's development confuses, disturbs, and divides people," he wrote, according to a Beta news agency report of the forthcoming letter, adding, "Our employees are exposed to threats and intimidation on the Internet."
The report did not include details regarding any alleged threats.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has long backed the 250-hectare Rio Tinto mine project in the western Jadar Valley, saying it will create jobs.
Vucic and Rio Tinto representatives met and took public questions at a forum last week in Ljubovija designed to address some of the Serbian public's concerns.
Vucic ally and recently appointed Prime Minister Milos Vucevic then vowed his government would insist on written guarantees about the safety of the project before allowing it to go ahead.
Rio Tinto says the mine's potential capacity of 60,000 tons per year of lithium could supply nearly one-fifth of the continent's needs for a budding market for batteries for electric cars.
It has repeatedly said it will operate the mine safely and maintain high environmental standards.
Protests across Serbia erupted after the Constitutional Court nullified a previous government's nixing in 2022 of some initial permits, clearing the path for fulfillment of Vucic's pledge to ensure the Jadar mine complex's completion.
Environmental and other local groups quickly accused Rio Tinto and the government of ignoring their concerns.
But German and EU officials visited Serbia after that decision to ink a document signaling support for "a strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains, and electric vehicles."
"This is the first time in the company's long history that it is facing such a situation," Stausholm reportedly said.
But Rio Tinto has faced a local backlash before, including against operations in western Australia that destroyed part of a sacred Aboriginal site.
Stausholm, who took the Rio Tinto helm in 2021 following the Australian scandal, said in the Politika contribution that all environmental impact assessments include a review period in which citizens are informed and can ask questions and comment.
Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said recently that "we have already lost two years" but added it could take another two years for Rio Tinto to secure the proper permits for construction of the mine.
Lithium is also used to power computers and smartphones.
By RFE/RL
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