Cases / Mining · Serbia · 2022–2025
Jadar lithium project
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps
Serbia's government revoked the planning basis for Rio Tinto's Jadar lithium project in 2022 after mass protests, and the Constitutional Court's 2024 ruling led to its restoration. According to Bloomberg, Rio Tinto suspended the project in November 2025.
Revoked Jan 2022, restored 16 Jul 2024Spatial plan for the Jadar project
Revoked by the government after mass protests; restored after the Constitutional Court found the revocation unconstitutional.
Revoked by the government after mass protests; restored after the Constitutional Court found the revocation unconstitutional.
Status As of October 2026: Rio Tinto suspended the project in November 2025 according to Bloomberg; the June 2025 EU Court of Justice case over its strategic status has no outcome on record.
What?
Rio Tinto's Jadar lithium project in Serbia: a spatial plan revoked in 2022, restored in 2024, and a project suspended in November 2025 according to Bloomberg. Balkan Green Energy News
Where?
Jadar project, Serbia; protests in Belgrade; EU Court of Justice. Radio Slobodna Evropa (RFE/RL)
When?
January 2022 to November 2025. Mining.com (with RFE/RL)
Who?
Gained
- Rio Tinto — Regained the planning basis for the project in July 2024, before suspending it in November 2025 (Bloomberg). Mining.com (with RFE/RL)
Lost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
Not recorded in the sources reviewed.
How?
The government revoked the plan; the Constitutional Court overturned the revocation; the plan was restored; a strategic-status case was filed at the EU Court of Justice. Mining.com (with RFE/RL)
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
In January 2022 the Serbian government revoked the spatial plan for Rio Tinto's Jadar lithium project after mass protests, according to Mining.com.
In July 2024 Serbia's Constitutional Court found the government's revocation unconstitutional, and the government restored the plan on 16 July 2024. In August 2024, after the court overturned the 2022 halt, tens of thousands of people marched against the Jadar lithium mine in Belgrade and blocked railway stations, Radio Free Europe's Serbian service reported on 10 August 2024.
In June 2025 a case was filed at the EU Court of Justice over the status of Jadar as a strategic project outside the EU. The headline of Balkan Green Energy News names Marš sa Drine, an environmental group, as the claimant and the European Commission as the defendant. According to Bloomberg, as cited in the same report, Rio Tinto suspended the project in November 2025.
- 2022Government revokes the spatial plan after mass protests (January)
- 2024Constitutional Court finds the revocation unconstitutional; plan restored 16 July; tens of thousands march in Belgrade (10 August)
- 2025Case filed at the EU Court of Justice over Jadar's strategic project status (June); Rio Tinto suspends the project, per Bloomberg (November)
What was said
Claims, in the words of those who made them.
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Should the Jadar spatial plan stand?
Government and regulators
Serbian government (January 2022)
Revoked the spatial plan for the project after mass protests.
Mining.com (with RFE/RL)Courts
Constitutional Court of Serbia (July 2024)
Found the government's revocation unconstitutional.
Mining.com (with RFE/RL)Government and regulators
Serbian government (July 2024)
Restored the plan on 16 July 2024.
Mining.com (with RFE/RL)Communities and civil society
Protesters in Belgrade (August 2024)
Tens of thousands marched against the Jadar lithium mine and blocked railway stations.
Radio Slobodna Evropa (RFE/RL)How it looked
What was shown, beside what was recorded.
Shown
Recorded
- The government revoked the spatial plan in January 2022 and restored it on 16 July 2024 after the Constitutional Court's ruling.
- Tens of thousands marched against the Jadar mine in Belgrade in August 2024 and blocked railway stations.
- A case concerning Jadar's strategic project status was filed at the EU Court of Justice in June 2025.
Who gained
Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.
Reached nature or the ground
Not published
No figure published.
Gained elsewhere
Not totalled
Currency: · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.
Responses on record
- serbia-government (2024-07-16): Restored the spatial plan for the project on 16 July 2024, following the Constitutional Court's ruling. · Mining.com (with RFE/RL)
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
- 2024-07Outcome not on recordConstitutional Court ruling on the revocation of the Jadar spatial planConstitutional Court of Serbia · Administrative · → Government of Serbia
The Constitutional Court found the government's January 2022 revocation of the Jadar spatial plan unconstitutional. The government restored the plan on 16 July 2024. The record does not name the party that brought the case. Mining.com (with RFE/RL)
- 2025-06–OngoingMarš sa Drine v. European Commission (strategic status of Jadar)Court of Justice of the European Union · International court · Marš sa Drine → European Commission
A case was filed at the EU Court of Justice in June 2025 against the status of Jadar as a strategic project outside the EU. No ruling is recorded. Balkan Green Energy News
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What nature saw
Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
Spatial plan
Revoked, then restored
Revoked January 2022; restored 16 July 2024
Environmental impact assessment
Outcome not known
The record does not give its result
Project status
Suspended (Bloomberg)
November 2025, as cited by Balkan Green Energy News
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Court
- Unclear Constitutional Court ruling on the revocation of the Jadar spatial plan: outcome not on record.
Accounts
- Disputed Should the Jadar spatial plan stand?
Record
- None on record Outcome of the Jadar environmental impact assessment: not known in the record.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the environmental impact assessment was still incomplete as of August 2025.
- None on record Rio Tinto's suspension in November 2025 rests on a Bloomberg report reported through Balkan Green Energy News; Bloomberg's report could not be checked against the original.
- None on record Rio Tinto's own account of the November 2025 suspension is not in the sources reviewed; the suspension is reported by Bloomberg.
Did the harm stop?
According to Bloomberg, Rio Tinto suspended the project in November 2025; an earlier halt, in January 2022, was reversed in July 2024.
Who paid?
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Serbian court says govt decision to revoke Jadar lithium project permit unconstitutionalMining.com (with RFE/RL) · 2024-07
- Protest protiv litijuma u BeograduRadio Slobodna Evropa (RFE/RL) · 2024-08-10
- Marš sa Drine sues European Commission over Jadar project's strategic statusBalkan Green Energy News ·
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