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Mid-Nickel",103.5,99.73,3.78,13.78,6.78,[518,519,520,522,524,526,528,530,532,534,536,538],{"date":213,"value":512},{"date":216,"value":513},{"date":219,"value":521},99.19,{"date":222,"value":523},96.02,{"date":225,"value":525},98.23,{"date":467,"value":527},99.24,{"date":329,"value":529},101.29,{"date":339,"value":531},87.61,{"date":341,"value":533},92.44,{"date":344,"value":535},90.96,{"date":347,"value":537},92.24,{"date":350,"value":539},95.09,{"id":541,"uuid":542,"name":543,"slug":544,"full_slug":545,"content":546,"relatedArticles":747,"relatedVideos":748},112469254517883,"84b0ad53-b016-41a2-9294-e832a21f6276","Lithium central to new Serbia-EU strategic partnership","lithium-central-to-new-serbia-eu-strategic-partnership","article/lithium-central-to-new-serbia-eu-strategic-partnership",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":559,"content":569,"excerpt":726,"featured":51,"reporter":727,"_editable":731,"component":732,"seo_title":543,"categories":733,"visibility":739,"author_company":49,"featured_image":740,"seo_description":726,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":745,"formattedArticleDate":746},"5ad72503-c084-422a-b765-ab3bf596bd60","2024-07-22 00:00",[550,553,556],{"slug":551,"name":552},"european-union","European Union",{"slug":554,"name":555},"rio-tinto","Rio Tinto",{"slug":557,"name":558},"serbia","Serbia",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562,"content":563},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":564,"image":565,"bio":567,"linkedin":568},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":566},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":570,"content":571},"doc",[572,579,594,599,604,609,616,621,626,631,636,641,646,651,656,666,671,676,681,686,691,696,701,706,711,716,721],{"type":573,"attrs":574,"content":575},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[576],{"text":577,"type":578},"On Friday in Belgrade, Serbia and the European Union signed a strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains and electric vehicles.","text",{"type":573,"attrs":580,"content":581},{"textAlign":49},[582,584,592],{"text":583,"type":578},"The agreement came just days after the Serbian government gave the greenlight of Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium project in the country. The project could represent as much as 70% of Europe’s forecast mined lithium supply in 2035, according to ",{"text":585,"type":578,"marks":586},"Benchmark’s Lithium Forecast",[587],{"type":588,"attrs":589},"link",{"href":590,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":591},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/forecasts/lithium/reports/","url",{"text":593,"type":578},".",{"type":573,"attrs":595,"content":596},{"textAlign":49},[597],{"text":598,"type":578},"The deal comes as the EU continues to use policy to increase its critical mineral resilience and reduce its dependency on China, which dominates almost all of the battery supply chain.",{"type":573,"attrs":600,"content":601},{"textAlign":49},[602],{"text":603,"type":578},"“It marks a potential step towards achieving the main aim of the Critical Raw Material Act, to ensure access to a secure supply of critical raw materials,” Claudia Cook, a lithium analyst at Benchmark, said. “While Serbia sits outside of the EU, it will still allow for the shortening of supply chains and secures the EU supply closer to the EU.”",{"type":573,"attrs":605,"content":606},{"textAlign":49},[607],{"text":608,"type":578},"The partnership could also be a positive step towards Serbia’s accession to the EU, especially after the EU criticised Serbia’s handling of its elections in December last year.",{"type":610,"attrs":611,"content":613},"heading",{"level":612,"textAlign":49},4,[614],{"text":615,"type":578},"Lithium in Serbia",{"type":573,"attrs":617,"content":618},{"textAlign":49},[619],{"text":620,"type":578},"Of particular importance to this partnership on critical minerals is Serbia’s lithium potential.",{"type":573,"attrs":622,"content":623},{"textAlign":49},[624],{"text":625,"type":578},"The most advanced lithium project in the country is Rio Tinto’s Jadar project which halted development in 2022 after the Serbian government revoked its licence following pressure from environmental protests.",{"type":573,"attrs":627,"content":628},{"textAlign":49},[629],{"text":630,"type":578},"At the start of last year, Serbian courts overturned this decision claiming the initial ruling was unconstitutional, meaning the mine could come online towards the end of the decade.",{"type":573,"attrs":632,"content":633},{"textAlign":49},[634],{"text":635,"type":578},"Although the Serbian government has given Rio Tinto the greenlight, local residents and activist groups say they will continue to protest its development.",{"type":573,"attrs":637,"content":638},{"textAlign":49},[639],{"text":640,"type":578},"“The Jadar project will be subject to stringent environmental requirements in compliance with Serbia and EU regulations,” Rio Tinto said in a statement last week. A Final Investment Decision has yet to be made on the project.",{"type":573,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":578},"“While Rio Tinto has stated that they will adhere to stringent environmental regulations, they will also need to engage the public to ensure there is an understanding of what this entails,” Cook said.",{"type":573,"attrs":647,"content":648},{"textAlign":49},[649],{"text":650,"type":578},"At the Serbian Critical Raw Materials Summit 2024 ahead of the signing, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described Jadar as a “good project for Serbia.”",{"type":573,"attrs":652,"content":653},{"textAlign":49},[654],{"text":655,"type":578},"Rio Tinto intends to mine the sedimentary ore Jadarite at the mine and convert this to battery-grade lithium carbonate.",{"type":573,"attrs":657,"content":658},{"textAlign":49},[659,661,665],{"text":660,"type":578},"If the project goes ahead, it would be Europe’s largest lithium mine, and could represent as much as 70% of Europe’s forecast lithium production in 2035. This is equivalent to 5% of the region’s lithium demand, according to ",{"text":585,"type":578,"marks":662},[663],{"type":588,"attrs":664},{"href":590,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":591},{"text":593,"type":578},{"type":610,"attrs":667,"content":668},{"level":612,"textAlign":49},[669],{"text":670,"type":578},"Building an EV hub",{"type":573,"attrs":672,"content":673},{"textAlign":49},[674],{"text":675,"type":578},"The critical minerals partnership is part of Serbia’s ambitions to become a major player in the electric vehicle supply chain. It has already courted Stellantis, Mercedes and Volkswagen who recently signed a letter of intent to invest in the Jadar project.",{"type":573,"attrs":677,"content":678},{"textAlign":49},[679],{"text":680,"type":578},"To court the interest of automakers, Serbia said it would favour European automakers when selling the lithium mined in the country. This played well with Mercedes, Volkswagen and Stellantis who all signed a letter of intent to invest in EV supply chains in Serbia including lithium processing.",{"type":573,"attrs":682,"content":683},{"textAlign":49},[684],{"text":685,"type":578},"Stellantis already produces its Fiat Panda EV at its production line in Serbia.",{"type":573,"attrs":687,"content":688},{"textAlign":49},[689],{"text":690,"type":578},"“It will also ensure that the material from Jadar has a stable and guaranteed user,” Cook said. “As well as for the OEMs to shorten and secure their supply chain by having a European source of feedstock.”",{"type":573,"attrs":692,"content":693},{"textAlign":49},[694],{"text":695,"type":578},"This would be a huge boon for Europe at a time when China dominates the vast majority of the lithium ion battery ecosystem.",{"type":573,"attrs":697,"content":698},{"textAlign":49},[699],{"text":700,"type":578},"“It may go some way in lessening reliance on China, given China’s market dominance,” Cook said. “It makes sense for each region to secure and shorten their supply chains.”",{"type":573,"attrs":702,"content":703},{"textAlign":49},[704],{"text":705,"type":578},"A key demand from the Serbian government for backing the Jadar project was that the value-add of the lithium supply chain be kept within the country, Bloomberg reported. The presence of lithium refining in Jadar and the development of gigafactories and car manufacturing in Serbia helps achieve this.",{"type":573,"attrs":707,"content":708},{"textAlign":49},[709],{"text":710,"type":578},"InoBat, a battery developer backed by Rio Tinto, selected Serbia as the location of its nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) gigafactory due to be operational towards the end of this decade.",{"type":610,"attrs":712,"content":713},{"level":612,"textAlign":49},[714],{"text":715,"type":578},"EU-Serbia critical mineral partnership",{"type":573,"attrs":717,"content":718},{"textAlign":49},[719],{"text":720,"type":578},"The partnership signed on Friday lists five work streams in which Serbia and the EU will collaboratively work on:",{"type":573,"attrs":722,"content":723},{"textAlign":49},[724],{"text":725,"type":578},"Within the next six months, Serbia and the EU will develop a Strategic Project Roadmap detailing the actions to be taken to achieve the goals of the partnership.","On Friday in Belgrade, Serbia and the European Union signed a strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains and electric vehicles. The agreement came just days after the Serbian government gave the greenlight of Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium project in the country. The project could represent as much as 70% of Europe’s forecast […]",[728],{"slug":561,"name":562,"content":729},{"job_title":564,"image":730,"bio":567,"linkedin":568},{"filename":566},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"5ad72503-c084-422a-b765-ab3bf596bd60\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[734,737],{"slug":735,"name":736},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":738,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":741,"name":741,"focus":741,"title":741,"source":741,"filename":742,"copyright":741,"fieldtype":743,"meta_data":744,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/e8f5bb987a/bm-rt-jadar-environment.jpeg","asset",{"alt":741,"title":741,"source":741,"copyright":741},"Jul 22, 2024","22nd July 2024",[],[],1784052272180]