Rio Tinto interested in lithium exploitation in Serbia

Mining and metallurgy giant, Rio Tinto, announced it is planning lithium exploitation project in Serbia, Australian "The Sydney Morning Herald” reports.

Although the project most likely will not start in the next year or two, one of the managers at British-Australian company, Rio Tinto, Alan Davis, said Jadar location in Serbia is “exquisite” due to its potential in lithium and boric acid.

He added “Serbia is open for business and is eager for development”.

According to the newspapers, lithium price boosted after demand for lithium-ion batteries drastically increased. It is expected there will be a demand on the batteries by producers of electrical cars such as "Tesla" and "Nissan". They are in demand as the source of energy in household.

The newspapers however reports exploitation of lithium in Serbia in the near future should not be expected since Rio Tinto announced huge investments in their mining operations in Australian Queensland and Mongolia and it has been hit with lower prices of their basic products such as copper and iron ore.