Serbia plans to take one of the leading places in the supply of lithium to the markets of European countries. The country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, noted the possibility of producing about 58,000 tons of lithium per year in local enterprises.
If all this metal were sent to the European Union (EU), it could be used to make batteries for 1.1 million electric vehicles. Thus, Serbia will be able to capture about 17% of the lithium market in the EU during the energy transition.
The Serbian leader noted that Belgrade is conducting negotiations on this matter with a number of European companies, including Mercedes, Volkswagen and Stellantis.
At the same time, Vucic considers it necessary to use most of this metal for the production of batteries and catalysts in the country.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended on July 19a “critical raw materials summit” in the Serbian capital where a memorandum of understanding between the EU and Serbia’s government on a “strategic partnership” on sustainable raw materials, battery supply chains and electric vehicles was signed Germany is also interested in the use of this material in the production of equipment.
The decision to stop lithium development jointly with the Australian-British company Rio Tinto was made in 2022.
This was preceded by environmental protests, whose participants opposed the mining of the lithium-bearing mineral jadarite in the area of the city of Loznica. But a Serbian court overturned this decision recently.