British-Australian mining group Rio Tinto reported a maiden ore reserve at its Jadar lithium-borates project in western Serbia on December 10.

Rio Tinto discovered the lithium borate deposit in the Jadar river valley in 2004. The site is estimated to contain 10% of the world's deposits of lithium, which is the primary raw material for production of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).

Analysts believe the dip in lithium demand in 2019 was a blip caused by slow global EV sales, and demand is pegged to rise rapidly in the coming years. An October report from data and analytics company GlobalData forecasts that with annual production of EVs set to grow from 3.4mn in 2020 to 12.7mn in 2024, and battery production growing from 95.3GWh to 410.5GWh, demand for lithium will to rise from an expected 47.3kt in 2020 to 117.4kt in 2024. This is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.5%. 

In a statement on December 10, Rio Tinto said that the Jadar project has the potential to produce both battery grade lithium carbonate and boric acid.

“The mineral resource comprises 55.2 Mt of indicated resource at 1.68% Li2O and 17.9% B2O3 with an additional 84.1 Mt of inferred resource at 1.84% Li2O and 12.6% B2O3,” the company noted.

It added that the feasibility study, launched in July 2020, should be completed at the end of 2021 and then the company will start the construction works.

The Jadar project includes the development of underground mines and the construction of a plant for the metallurgical and technological processing of concentrates. Expected end products are 99.5%-pure boric acid and lithium carbonate, which to be used in the production of lithium batteries.

The government and Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2017, after which a joint working group was formed to deal with the implementation of the Jadar project. 

Earlier this year Rio Tinto Energy & Minerals chief executive Bold Baatar commented: “Rio Tinto’s lithium project pipeline is an important part of our vision to pursue opportunities which are part of the transition to a low-carbon future. We look forward to working closely with the government of Serbia over the next eighteen months as we develop and validate our understanding of the project to the point when we can seek a final investment decision by the board of Rio Tinto.”

Rio Tinto has so far invested over $200mn in the project and the start of production is expected to take place in 2023 or 2024.