Mihajlovic: "Serbia can be making money from mining. Lithium is a critical and valuable raw material"

Zorana Mihajlovic / Photo: Tanjug/Strahinja Acimovic

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic says that gold, copper and lithium are critical mineral raw materials globally, without which there can be no economic development, and that Serbia is one of the few countries rich in these metals.

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She stressed that a strategic approach is needed when it comes to the development of mining, without which economic development is impossible.

"Lithium, copper, gold are critical mineral raw materials globally, and that is something Serbia has. We should all know that without these raw materials, there can be no cars, wind turbines, solar power plants. There are no mobile phones without lithium. Lithium is very unevenly distributed in the world, few countries have it, and Serbia is one of them, and I think that we should talk about whether we will use that wealth or not," said Mihajlovic and repeated that "at the request of citizens, the project Jadar has been suspended, but the stories about a ban on mining are used exclusively for political purposes."

"We need a strategic approach and we need to discuss everything using arguments and see if we want, and to what extent, to be developing. All the stories about a ban on mines serve only political purposes and thus harm not only mining, but also the entire economy," Mihajlovic said while appearing on a TV station, the Ministry of Mining and Energy announced.

She also stated that Serbia can very much be making money from mining and added that the law has been changed, and that now any company that exploits ore must first offer it to our market, and only then export it. "When it comes to lithium, the idea was to have not only ore processing here, but also a battery factory and an electric vehicle factory," she added.

Photo: Shutterstock

The minister added that the green agenda brings more benefits than harms, because it is a new model of growth which, she pointed out, will provide energy, economic and political independence and stability to Serbia in the coming years and decades.

Mihajlovic also said it is urgent to build new energy capacities in Serbia and that energy infrastructure is just as important as traffic.

(Telegraf Biznis)