Serbia suspends lithium mine plans after protests

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Local authorities in western Serbia have suspended a plan that would allow mining giant Rio Tinto to operate a lithium mine. The mining had been expected to start in the near future, but a town council in Loznica voted on Thursday to suspend a regional development plan that permitted the excavation of lithium. The vote followed the suspension last week of two key laws in Serbia’s parliament that ecologists said would help the multinational mining company start the project. The decision to put the project on hold followed protests by environmentalists that shook the country’s populist leadership and posed the biggest challenge yet to the increasingly autocratic rule of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.