Version imprimableIn the wake of the wars in the former Yugoslavia and the opening up of the region to international markets, underground exploration missions were undertaken to map the various mineral resources available and to exploit them. In 2004, in the Jadar Valley in the west of the country, prospecting carried out by Rio Tinto [2] led to the discovery of a new ore called jadarite, rich in minerals, particularly lithium. This element is central to the energy transition sought by green capitalism because it is necessary for the production of batteries, such as those used in electric cars.
The beginnings of unscrupulous exploitation
Following this discovery, the multinational began to establish itself in the region, with the firm intention of starting to exploit this resource as quickly as possible, despite the lack of a permit. The first step was to set up boreholes to test the quality of the deposits, in defiance of Serbian legislation which, at the time, protected the Jadar Valley as an area of high agricultural value and prohibited this type of work, even with the consent of the landowners. In addition, Rio Tinto became involved in the local life of this rural region by participating in women’s social groups, allowing the multinational to prepare public opinion with crude propaganda: the infrastructure would be clean, modern, futuristic, entirely underground and would not impact the lives of the population. Even more strikingly, the water from the rivers that would be collected and used in the chemical processes would come out even cleaner. And all the while, the mining company was gradually buying up the residents’ properties, leaving them under the threat of future expropriation by the state.
The subsoil of the Jadar Valley contains up to 90% of the European Union’s lithium demand, making Rio Tinto a partner of choice for the 27, and in particular for the German luxury car industry, which is in the process of electrification. Here, the EU is seeking to secure access to Serbian lithium to supply Mercedes production lines. Yet Germany is the EU country with the largest quantities of lithium. While European industry was gearing up to satisfy the appetite of green capitalism, the German political class, led by the Grünen, opposed the exploitation of lithium on its territory. Once again, we are faced with green neocolonialism and the hypocrisy of the EU. Through these investments, the EU was also seeking to make its lithium supplies independent from China, in particular.
The damage is becoming apparent
Under pressure from the EU, the story accelerated in 2019 when the Serbian regime declared lithium reserves a resource of national interest, giving any company the right to mine the soil to extract this material. At the same time, Rio Tinto’s actual plans began to emerge: the planned infrastructure is gigantic and the deposits much more destructive than initially anticipated. In addition, water from the valley’s rivers will be monopolised for chemical treatments used to extract lithium from jadarite. This is a crushing blow to local populations, whose main economic activity is agriculture and who therefore depend on a healthy environment and access to irrigation.
This period marks a turning point in the resistance to the Rio Tinto project, but not only that. As the subsoil of western Serbia is rich in resources, hundreds of extractive projects threaten dozens of villages, where local struggles were already underway. The centrality of agricultural work for the region’s populations explains their attachment to their land and their spontaneous resistance to these ecocidal projects and for the preservation of their living conditions. It is in this context that Marš Sa Drine was created and helped to bring all these struggles together, bringing together residents, activists, lawyers, scientists, etc. and implementing a variety of tactics: legal battles, organising mass mobilisations, sabotaging construction sites, etc., with the clear understanding that the struggle will not be won through legal means alone.
Initial reactions
In 2022, with the general elections (presidential and legislative) approaching, the regime ignited the powder keg by amending the regulations on expropriation: from now on, and in line with the 2019 legislative change, any company will be able to expropriate residents in order to launch an extractive project. In response, the population of these regions mobilised on a large scale, organising roadblocks to express their widespread disapproval and anger at this legal change, which confirms Serbia’s neocolonial status, something that was very well understood by the inhabitants.
This whole sequence was opportunistically planned by the regime to win on all fronts: just before these victorious elections, Vučić announced the withdrawal of the measures, without this being followed by any concrete action in this direction. In this way, a reassuring message was sent to Rio Tinto and the regime’s international partners: extractive projects in Serbia are not threatened beyond rhetoric. Revelations by the independent journalist network BIRN (Balkan Investigative Reporting Network) published in February 2023 confirm this: Rio Tinto spent more than €1 billion on the Jadar project after 2022. [3]
A confrontation with the authorities
In the summer of 2024, the Serbian Constitutional Court ruled in favour of Rio Tinto, decreeing that the suspension of the project was illegal, which triggered a new wave of protests. Roads and rural villages in the Jadar Valley were once again blocked, and tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Belgrade. During these protests, the regime’s repression escalated with the arrest of many demonstrators. For its part, in June 2025, the EU included Rio Tinto’s project in the Critical Raw Materials Act, a document that lists Europe’s strategic priorities in terms of access to resources. It is therefore clear that, for the EU, it is a foregone conclusion that the lithium in Jadar belongs to it. [4]
The massive and relentless resistance of the inhabitants, as well as the overwhelming support they enjoy from the rest of the population, has so far forced Rio Tinto to back down and block the project. In the months that followed, marked by student uprisings, protests against the regime created a climate of instability that frightened investors. It was in this context that Rio Tinto announced on 13 November 2025 that it was suspending the project for an indefinite period. What’s more, students have taken up the fight: there is talk of making the permanent abandonment of the mine part of their electoral programme against Vučić, for which they have been advised by professors opposed to the project.
On the regime’s side, there is obviously nothing to be expected. As with everything else, Vučić is skilfully exploiting the Rio Tinto project to serve his own interests, sometimes backing down on the granting of permits to make a gesture towards the population – as was the case in 2022 before the elections – or by offering Rio Tinto the lithium from Jadar on a plate in order to win the sympathy of the EU and get the union to turn a blind eye to Vučić’s human rights violations.
The Balkans are under intense imperialist pressure over their resources, and numerous projects are being considered. In this context, resistance to Rio Tinto is crucial, and defeat could mean the fall of the first domino, threatening the entire region. Conversely, the regional impact of this struggle and its possible victory could inspire the populations of the region.
13 January 2026
