Overview
Status | Inactive / Suspended |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
- Lithium
- Borate
- Sodium sulphate
|
Mining Method |
- Cut & Fill
- Bench stoping
- Undefined backfill
|
Mine Life | 50 years (as of Jan 1, 2023) |
Jadar is a proposed industrial project that will combine underground mining and a processing plant to produce lithium carbonate and boric acid from a newly discovered mineral called jadarite.
In January 2022, the Government of Serbia cancelled the Spatial Plan for the Jadar project and required all related permits to be revoked.
Rio Tinto continues to explore options with all stakeholders on how to progress this world-class opportunity to the highest environmental standards. |
Source:
p. 230
Rio Sava Exploration d.o.o. (Rio Sava), a fully owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Energy and Minerals Product Group, is the legal owner of the Jadar Project.
Contractors
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Summary:
The Jadar deposit, discovered in 2004 in western Serbia, is a concentration of lithium and boron in a mineral new to science named jadarite, LiNaSiB3O7(OH). The deposit is located in a valley with flat-lying farmland covering a surface area of 3.0 km by 2.5km. Known lithium and borate mineralisation lies at depths from 100 m to 720 m below surface.
The mineralization is hosted in a lacustrine sedimentary sequence of Miocene age dominated by calcareous claystones, siltstones, sandstones and clastic rocks (about 400 m to 500 m thick). The sequence dips to the north at between 0 and 25 degrees or more, but typically between 5 and 10 degrees, and it includes several thin tuff beds that provide valuable marker horizons for stratigraphic correlation. Miocene sediments lay unconformable on a basement of Cretaceous age.
The deposit includes three types of mineralization occurring as stratiform lenses of variable thickness, and hosted in gently dipping sequence of mainly fine-grained sediments that is dissected by faults:
- Jadarite LiNaSiB3O7(OH) mineralization, new to science and so far unique to this deposit; occurs within a stratiform sedimentary lacustrine sequence with sub-horizontal beds of jadarite as rounded grains, nodules, or concretions generally in the range 1 mm to 10 mm in a siltstone/mudstone matrix. Jadarite is mainly concentrated in three gently dipping tabular zones known as the Upper, Middle and Lower Jadarite Zones (UJZ, MJZ and L ........
Mining Methods
- Cut & Fill
- Bench stoping
- Undefined backfill
Summary:
The orebody will be extracted using underground mining methods which are variants of cut and fill, and bench stoping. Mining panels were generated on regular grids within each structural zone. Internal to these panels, individual mining stopes and associated development accesses were created for interrogation and scheduling.
The underground deposit to be mined is 3km wide and 2km long, and at times only 5 metres thick. At depths of between 300 metres to 650 metres, mining takes place far below surface water or aquifers.
The underground mine will be accessed via a twin shaft system located outside the Jadar River floodplain to the southwest of the LJZ. The main production shaft will be 8.5 m diameter and equipped with two 9 t skips capable of hoisting a peak 7,200 t/day of ore and rock waste material.
Ore will be drilled and blasted, and then transported to an underground crusher using a fleet of electric haul trucks, before being hoisted to the surface. The modern mining fleet will include remotely controlled equipment. Once mined, most of the voids will be filled in using a combination of rock from off-site quarries and waste residue from the processing plant.
Source:
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Source:
Summary:
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Source:
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Projected Production:
Commodity | Product | Units | Avg. Annual |
Lithium
|
Carbonate
|
t
| 58,000 |
Sodium sulphate
|
|
t
| ...... |
Boric acid
|
|
t
| ...... |
Reserves at December 31, 2022:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Indicated
|
85 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.76 %
|
|
Indicated
|
85 Mt
|
B2O3
|
16.1 %
|
14 Mt
|
Measured & Indicated
|
85 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.76 %
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
85 Mt
|
B2O3
|
16.1 %
|
14 Mt
|
Inferred
|
58 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.87 %
|
|
Inferred
|
58 Mt
|
B2O3
|
12 %
|
7 Mt
|
Total Resource
|
144 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.8 %
|
|
Total Resource
|
144 Mt
|
B2O3
|
14.6 %
|
21 Mt
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | Average |
Assumed price
|
Sodium sulphate
|
USD
|
......
|
Assumed price
|
Boric acid
|
USD
|
......
|
* According to 2023 study / presentation.
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2021 Study Costs and Valuation Metrics :
Metrics | Units | LOM Total |
Total CapEx
|
$M EUR
|
......
|
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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