Patrycja Brodziak’s Post

Hello everyone! Yesterday brought the very interesting news that the Lithium mining project in Serbia might be approved soon. It was rejected a couple of years ago, which caused a lot of hand wringing back then. I think the most interesting element of the Financial Times interview with the Serbian president Vučić is that he explicitly highlights how they are leveraging geopolitics to extract concessions: ‘EU officials “thought that we were going to give [the mine] to the Chinese”, Vučić said.’ (He later nuances that statement, but nudge nudge wink wink).   Elsewhere in the article: ‘Vučić indicated that he was confident he would also secure the necessary commitments from EU leaders for related investments in Serbia, such as battery manufacturing and electric vehicle production.’   So, very interesting, and fits in the trend that resource-rich countries don't want to just provide resources but want to move further in the value chain. The question remains how much advanced manufacturing fits in a country like Serbia. I'm all for having countries climb the value chain, but you also don’t want to set up countries for failure by creating the expectation that a couple of mines will entirely transform their economy. But this is just a thought, not the outcome of deep scientific work :) https://lnkd.in/eUgN3EMS

Some GOOD NEWS to close the weekend - particularly for Serbians after this evening’s defeat by England at the Euros! ⚽️ ‘Made In Europe - From Mine to Electric Vehicle’…now doesn’t that sound like a sensible idea! Here’s the GOOD NEWS! - that’s very much in prospect (as illustrated in Peter Tom Jones documentary of the same name from a few months ago - and more recently THIS news from the Financial Times! ‘Europe has virtually no domestic lithium production at present and Jadar would generate enough to meet 13 per cent of the continent’s forecast demand in 2030, according to Fastmarkets, a commodities research company’…the FT tells us. ‘Serbia is preparing to give Rio Tinto the green light to develop Europe’s largest lithium mine two years after Belgrade called off the project, paving the way for a significant boost for the continent’s electric vehicle industry’ I’ve been following this story very closely for some time, AND I took a trip out to Serbia last year to understand as many of the facts as possible… Whilst in the country, I spent some time at ANOTHER significant Lithium resource that’s being progressed in the country - this time, by a private enterprise. Petr Palkovsky CEO of Euro Lithium +Borates showed me around that resource…and his team gave me an invaluable geology lesson at the same time! I’ve also had occasion to discuss how this might all come together on various mining panels I’ve hosted over the past 18 months. (I’ll find any video of those and put a link in the comments section) #mining #gigafactory #automotive #criticalminerals

⛏️ International mining is not for the faint of heart or for those without the resources to support a project from discovery through years of ups and downs to eventually reach successful production. I say "successful production", because sometimes being allowed to produce doesn't mean you get to do what you want with the product. This is another example of why mining projects are so expensive and take so long to start. 🏛️💼📜 One of the hurdles that can come up at any time in the timeline is government intervention for any number of reasons. Sometimes it is under the guise of resource nationalism, but other times it is a result of changes in politics or law. The news has been full of headlines about recent events in Panama, but this is a story involving a lithium mine in Bosnia. ⚖️ Sometimes there is no alternative left other than challenging a government's position in court, something most mining companies are hesitant to do as it chills any hope of an amicable resolution to a dispute. It formally airs all of the laundry about the dispute, is expensive and time consuming. For many of of our Dentons colleagues and clients that join us during the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference (or any of the other mining events we participate in), you have heard my international disputes partners Mike Schafler, FCIArb, QArb, Diora Ziyaeva and Rachel Howie talk about how these proceedings work. I have had many conversations with them about preparing for these kinds of proceedings, and more importantly, trying to bullet-proof my transaction documents to avoid ending up here. The Assay sets out the details in the article attached by Katie Gordon. Of course this will likely not be the end of the story.

It's just not clear to me who is giving such false information to Thomson Reuters or #Finance #Times. The execution of the Rio Tinto (#RioSava), #Jadarit (lithium and boron mine) project was not stopped by ecologists (as it says in the article), but by the investigation of the Council of Europe (which was kept silent to Vice President #EC, Maroš Šefčovič). So the big question is whether these minerals will be able to be used in the EU industry due to the increasingly strict ESG and due diligence rules. 😎 https://lnkd.in/eVaRuw8J

Always happy to share thoughts with POLITICO Europe, and as always, a delight to exchange with Una, especially on the topic that is indeed critical: Lithium Please read the full article here https://lnkd.in/ecWhx-_p Some complementary (topline) thoughts: The Critical Raw Materials Act of the EU mandates that any mining activities involving critical raw materials in third countries, such as Serbia, must undergo a thorough Environmental Impact Assessment to ensure environmental and social impacts are properly and timely evaluated and mitigated. However, Serbia currently lacks the necessary legislative and regulatory framework to meet these stringent requirements. The Draft Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, though submitted to the Serbian parliament in October 2023, remains unadopted and contains critical gaps, such as not preventing the issuance of construction permits before the completion of the EIA. Within the Energy Community Treaty, Serbia should have transposed the EU’s directive on EIA by 2019. Past and current mining issues further highlight the inadequacies in Serbia’s framework. The experience with Chinese mining company Zijin has demonstrated severe environmental degradation and human rights abuses (https://lnkd.in/exfignjB) Public debate is severely limited, with activists opposing these projects and asking accountability facing suppression and being labelled as traitors. These practices completely contrast with the principles of transparency and public participation essential for not only for EIA process but are the cornerstone of democracy. Considering these deficiencies, it is imperative that the EU assesses the actual circumstances in Serbia before engaging in any mining projects. Failure to do so would represent a shortsighted action, undermining the EU’s commitment to environmental protection and sustainable development. Establishing and respecting these foundational elements must be a prerequisite for any further advancement of the lithium discussion in Serbia.

In our latest insight piece, Louise Woods and I examine the recent execution of an MoU between Serbia and the EU and how it might be received (particularly following recent protests in Serbia arising out of the Serbian Constitutional Court reversal of a 2022 government decision to revoke planning permission for the development of a lithium mine by Rio Tinto, in Jabar). The MoU focuses on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains and electric vehicles and is grounded in the common need to tackle climate change, pursue the energy transition and secure a stable and diverse supply of sustainable energy, materials and technologies while minimising the environmental impact. #energytransition #criticalminerals #miningmatters

#UNEA6 was an opportunity for the UN and Member States to demand more from a mining industry set to profit from the rush for minerals critical to the #energytransition. But a watered-down resolution aimed at reducing environmental damage when extracting minerals, meant it actually achieved very little. Read our key takeaways here ⬇

The sixth UN Environment Assembly (#UNEA6) concluded with the adoption a resolution which aims to prevent environmental damage when extracting minerals from the earth, many of which are vital for the energy transition. But politics and procedural roadblocks led to the final text being watered-down: ❌ Member States blocked action to improve environmental sustainability ❌ Countries dodged responsibility for environmental harms ❌ Overconsumption was on the agenda, but there were no plans to tackle it The UN and its Member States must be much bolder in their ambition to achieve a just #EnergyTransition and demand a more responsible mining industry. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eAcax5rb

We all see an urgent need and want to improve governance of mining practices, right? That's why the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) and IGFMining set to work to on a report that provides an analysis and case studies that highlight how environmental assessments (#SEA) can improve #mining sector #governance. Not to be confused with environmental and social impact assessments (#ESIA), which apply to individual projects, SEA applies more broadly and is defined by the OECD - OCDE as a range of analytical and participatory approaches that aim to integrate environmental considerations into policies, plans, and programs, and evaluate the interlinkages with economic and social considerations. How can SEA improve mining governance? - Providing better insight into environmental, economic, and social trade-offs, increasing the likelihood of positive outcomes. - Raising awareness about unsustainable development options to prevent costly mistakes and conflicts. - Increasing understanding of the cumulative impacts of multiple smaller developments and the opportunity to improve the coherence between projects. - Enhancing credibility of government decisions, leading to more public trust in the planning process and more support for plan implementation. EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) IPCC United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDP African Union Commissie voor de milieueffectrapportage (mer) Netherlands Enterprise Agency Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken Rene van Hell PBL Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving Andre Loozekoot Carmen Hagenaars EPRM RVO Emmanuel Makumba Mali, PhD Taco Westerhuis Jaime de Bourbon de Parme Pascalle Grotenhuis #criticalminerals #energytransition #energy #rawmaterials #extractives https://lnkd.in/eM3Skz9b

It´s one of these days when you feel really happy and proud! Today we have submitted the Environmental Permit Application (EPA) for our battery mineral mine in Finland. We at Eurobattery Minerals AB have thereby taken a major step towards the start of mining operations at the Hautalampi project. It has been a long road but now finally we are there! The whole EBM team has been working incredibly hard but special thanks goes out to our Managing Director in Finland, Ilari Kinnunen! Of course, the different analysis we made during these years and the pre-feasibility study from March 2023, all indicated that there were strong economic and technical fundaments for the processing and production of commercial grades of cobalt-nickel and copper at Hautalampi. But apart from the positive financial aspects, the news about the EPA is also good news for Europe. The EU is pushing hard for the Green Transition with the new Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). So, our work at Eurobattery Minerals is becoming increasingly strategically important, for Europe and for the environment in general. Because we want to deliver responsibly mined battery minerals – from Europe for Europe. We will follow the approval process closely and continue our good collaboration with the Finnish authorities, to make sure the process will be as fast and smooth as possible.