In this era of rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry,  lithium resources have the same status as oil in the 1970s.

　　Lithium is the core metal element of power batteries such as ternary  lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, and power batteries are  key components of energy storage systems and electric vehicles. Each electric  vehicle requires about 9kg of lithium. In the entire new energy industry, the  status of lithium can be described as the core of the core. Therefore, the price  of lithium continues to rise, and it is called "white oil", which compares the  importance of oil to fuel vehicles. For the future clean energy world, whoever  controls the supply chain of lithium resources will control the future of  lithium batteries.

　　For news about minerals, if you frequently browse the SES Power website,  you should find that we publish more news during this period. Why is this  happening, because in the past year, especially in the past two months, the raw  materials for lithium batteries have increased dramatically. Excluding any  political and global economic background, purely from the perspective of supply,  it is true that lithium batteries will increase in the next few years. of raw  ore will be in a period of severe supply shortage. SES Power has to care about  the direction of lithium ore, because it will affect the price of our customized  lithium batteries. We use 12V100Ah, 24V100Ah, 36V100Ah, 48V100Ah of square  aluminum lithium batteries from EVE, CATL, and BYD. This product is partly Used  to replace lead-acid, and now they are forced to rise to a certain extent. This  seriously affects our market development, especially in terms of battery energy  storage and home energy storage (3Kw HESS), not to mention lithium batteries  with special materials that can discharge at a normal rate of -40 degrees  Celsius.

　　Europe is a very important market for us, and Europe is actually rich in  lithium mines. Europe's largest lithium mine is now known to be planned in  Serbia, but on Thursday Serbia rejected the plan and revoked the lithium  exploration license of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto. This decision  heralds the Serbian government's final concession to environmentalists in order  to address people's environmental concerns. This also means that the key battery  metal, lithium, will face more pressure on its future supply.

　　Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabi said that day, "Serbia has 'completely  stopped' Rio Tinto's Jadar lithium project. All decisions and licenses (related  to the lithium project) have been revoked. We fulfilled all the demands of the  protests of environmentalists, and as far as the Jadar project is concerned,  this is over.” Of course, Brnabic did not answer the question of whether the  government would allow lithium mining in the future.

　　Rio Tinto said in a statement after Brnabic announced the decision that it  has always complied with Serbian law. "Rio Tinto is reviewing the legal basis  for this decision and the implications for our operations and employees in  Serbia."

　　Earlier this week, Rio Tinto had delayed the first output from the Jadar  project by a year to 2027, citing delays in key approvals in its fourth-quarter  production performance report. Now, this lithium mine plan may have been  completely dead.

　　In fact, less than three months before the Serbian election, the project  has become a hot topic in Serbia recently. Opposition over the project's  environmental concerns rose in December, leading to demonstrations in several  cities. Public pressure on Serbian Prime Minister Brnabic and President Vucic  continued to increase, even after the government proposed a referendum on the  mine.

　　Rio Tinto only announced last July that it would develop the $2.4 billion  lithium project. In theory, approval for the project should have been a safe  bet, as the mine was planned to be built on farmland rather than virgin forest,  and is only a 10-hour drive from the German car manufacturing hub. According to  Rio Tinto Group, the project can create more than 2,000 employment opportunities  in Serbia.

　　As originally envisaged by Rio Tinto, the Jadar lithium mine project will  produce enough lithium to power 1 million electric vehicles, in addition to  producing borates for ceramics and batteries, and sodium sulfate for detergents.  When operating at full capacity, the mine is expected to produce 58,000 tons of  refined battery-grade lithium carbonate per year, making it Europe’s largest  lithium mine and enabling Rio Tinto to remain Europe’s largest lithium supplier  for at least the next fifteen years.

　　The Jadar lithium project is one of Serbia's largest foreign investments to  date and is part of the government's efforts to attract investment and boost  economic growth. But environmental groups in Serbia say the new mine will  pollute the region's land and water.

　　It is worth mentioning that the decision announced by Serbia also shows  that it has become increasingly difficult to mine new mines around the world,  even for a commodity like lithium, which is in a key position of global carbon  neutrality. The opposition Rio faces in Serbia is also being repeated around the  world, as it is believed that the jobs and taxes provided by mining are often  insufficient to compensate for the irreversible damage to the local  environment.