According to her, the decision on the formation of the Working Group for the implementation of the Jadar project, a potential $2.4 billion investment by Rio Tinto, from 2021 was revoked. She added that they fulfilled the demands of environmental protests and put an end to Rio Tinto in Serbia. “With this, as far as the Jadar project and Rio Tinto are concerned, everything is over,” she added. Protests against the project have been ongoing for months.

Rio Tinto said it was “extremely concerned” by the prime minister’s statement. “Understandably, there are significant concerns about the potential impact of the mine on the local communities of the Jadar valley and we understand that we need to show that these concerns can be addressed and managed,” the company said. “We believe in Jadar, a world-class project with the potential to play an essential role in the transition to a low carbon future and are working through what this means for the project and our people in Serbia.” The company said it was also considering the “legal basis” for the decision.