Rio Tinto mothballs $2.95bn Jadar lithium project in Serbia

Rio Tinto has halted further improvement of the $2.95bn (£2.24bn) Jadar task successful Serbia arsenic portion of a broader effort to streamline operations and prioritise near-term opportunities.

The determination to mothball the task was confirmed earlier this week pursuing an interior memo circulated to unit outlining the determination to spot the task into “care and maintenance”, reported Bloomberg.

A spokesperson for Rio Tinto confirmed the contents of the interior enactment but declined to remark further.

The Jadar task has not yet begun accumulation and has encountered aggregate setbacks successful caller years, including permitting delays and large section opposition.

Although the tract hosts high-grade lithium resources, advancement has been hindered by fluctuating authorities enactment and wide assemblage resistance.

The excavation became a focal constituent during a play of broader nationalist discontent, further complicating progress.

Rio Tinto was cited by Bloomberg in the interior connection saying: “Given the deficiency of advancement successful permitting, we are not successful a presumption to prolong the aforesaid level of walk and assets allocation.”

The determination to mothball Jadar aligns with CEO Simon Trott’s propulsion to simplify Rio Tinto’s operation and absorption superior connected maturation opportunities.

Under Trott’s guidance, the institution has been reorganised into 3 halfway divisions: robust ore, aluminium combined with lithium, and copper.

This determination forms a portion of the wider effort to optimise the company’s portfolio and amended operational efficiency.

Rio Tinto remains the lone large, diversified mining institution to person made a important concern successful lithium, prompting investors and analysts to intimately show the company’s strategy regarding the artillery metal.

Last year, Rio Tinto acquired Arcadium Lithium successful a $6.7bn currency transaction, its archetypal large-scale acquisition successful 17 years.

The acquisition brought 3 lithium projects already nether improvement into Rio Tinto’s portfolio, complementing its ongoing concern successful the Rincon lithium excavation successful Argentina.

However, the lithium marketplace has experienced a important downturn, with prices down astir 85% from their 2022 peak.

This year, Rio Tinto plans to summation its superior expenditure to the highest level successful implicit a decade.

"Rio Tinto mothballs $2.95bn Jadar lithium task successful Serbia " was primitively created and published by Mining Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.

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