Rio Tinto has not given up on Serbian lithium project (updated)

Antimony Resources

15/12/2022 24:42

(Adds details, changes dateline to Sydney)
       SYDNEY, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto Ltd  RIO.AX  Chief
Executive Jakob Stausholm said on Thursday that the global miner
has not given up on its Jadar lithium project in Serbia.
    "We haven't got it right yet on Jadar," Stausholm said at an
investor briefing in Sydney, "but we have not given it up."  He 
added that while he understood the concerns of the government,
Jadar was an excellent project.
    Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Tuesday she does
not see a chance of reviving Rio's $2.4 billion lithium project
for which licences were revoked earlier this year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N3333PC 
 
    The government revoked Jadar's licences in January after
massive protests sparked by environmental concerns about the
planned mine.
    Rio said at its half year results in July it was "exploring
all options" at Jadar as it sought to address community
concerns. 
    Stausholm also told investors on Thursday that the
government of Canada, where he was last week, was "very
excited," to develop critical minerals. 
    Critical minerals are those key to modern technologies, such
as copper, lithium, nickel and rare earths.
    Rio Tinto started production of scandium oxide, used to
strengthen aluminium in industries like aviation, at its Rio
Tinto Fer et Titane (RTFT) operations in Quebec in May.  
 (Reporting by Praveen Menon in Sydney; Editing by Leslie Adler
and Chris Reese)
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