The extremely underdeveloped Lopare municipality lies on extremely rich ore deposits that could be crucial for the development of Europe. This was shown by a geological survey which determined that there are large amounts of lithium on Majevica. While the locals fear major environmental pollution, the company that did the research announced exploitation and environmental associations received warnings from diplomatic representatives.
“Research is good, but it’s about the pollution. It’s not something you pile into a truck and drive if that were the case, there wouldn’t be a problem,” observes Nedjo Milovanovic, a resident of Lopare.
Controversy arose after the company “Ar Core” announced, upon completion of research that lasted for more than four years, that significant quantities of various ores, including lithium, were found under Majevica, which particularly worries the locals.
The raw material of the future. Many say exactly that about lithium, an ore that is essential for the modern auto industry, batteries, electric cars, and mobile phones. It is also very important for modern pharmacy and medicine. However, its exploitation is harmful to the environment.
And the local population especially knows something about this, because ecologists are increasingly vocal in their warnings that lithium mining is disastrous for the ecosystem.
“But it’s poison and this is how people die. When you look at it, few people will be in favor,” emphasized local resident Cvija Milovanovic.
The domestic public was most aware of the potential danger of lithium exploitation during mass protests in Serbia due to the intention of the international company “Rio Tinto” to exploit a deposit in Jadar near Loznica. Only about 60 kilometers from that location is the site in Lopare, where the announcement of the opening of the mine caused alarm among the locals, so the mayor gave up on the original idea that the future of the project should be considered in a referendum.
Despite the attitude of the local authorities, the company that did the research continued preparations for the start of exploitation, which will last from three to five years. The results of the research of the company, whose headquarters are in Laktasi and which does not even have a website, were made known to the public through a press release in which the development potential of exploitation was particularly emphasized. It is a subsidiary company “Ar Core AG” of a company from Switzerland, on whose website it is possible to find only a small detail about, as they say, their basic project “the largest lithium and boron mine in Europe with enormous potential and the possibility of mining that would last 65 years.
