Route of Valjevo-Loznica railway to change due to jadarite exploitation

Despite the interest of the Chinese investor, the Valjevo-Loznica railway is not to be built for a while, as its route needs to be changed due to the upcoming exploitation of the jadarite ore, the so-called “Serbian oil”, Blic learns.

The Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure cannot specify when the works might continue. As they explain, the construction of a new 68-km one-track railway between the two towns in western Serbia is “one of the potential projects in the railway infrastructure”.

– At the moment, a part of the project documentation for the Valjevo-Loznica exists (the main project, the preparation of which was financed from the Russian loan for the modernization of railways in Serbia), but funds for the continuation of works, which stopped in 1999, have not been secured. Due to the exploitation of jadarite in this area, a section of around 7 km on this route needs to be moved. That is why the preliminary design is currently being changed, as is the planning documentation for the part of the route to be changed – the ministry says.

According to the old project of the CIP Institute of Transportation from 2013, which is currently being changed, the project has been evaluated at around EUR 220 million, and, as we've learned, the current value of the project of the construction of the Valjevo-Loznica railway will be determined only after full technical documentation has been prepared. The ministry confirms in its reply that China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) showed an interest in the project of the reconstruction of the Valjevo-Loznica railway last year, but doesn't say whether any concrete agreement has been reached.

In the meantime, as Blic learns from unofficial, but reliable sources at the Ministry of Energy, the explorers of the Rio Tinto company, who are now in the valley of the Jadar river, where a part of the Valjevo-Loznica railway should go through, should complete the explorations in the next few months.

– Rio Tinto plans to make the final investment decision on the beginning of the construction of a jadarite mine this year, and this will certainly cause the railway route to be changed. If everything is finished within the deadline, the construction of the mine and the processing facility might begin as soon as 2021, and the exploitation would start by 2023 in that case – Blic's sources say.

The jadarite reserves amount to around 136 million tons, according to an estimate by the Ministry of Energy, which could cover 10% of the global needs for lithium, which the jadarite, a mineral discovered in 2004, contains. In addition to lithium, the jadarite also contains boron, which is used in the production of mineral fertilizers and insulation materials.

As experts explain, lithium is considered the best ingredient for high-energy batteries which power electric vehicles, computers, mobile phones and industrial systems, as well as alloys for the air industry. It also has a wide application in the rocket industry and the production of glass and ceramics.

Memorandum of Understanding

Back in July, Rio Tinto and the Government of Serbia signed the Memorandum of Understanding, after which a joint work group was formed for the execution of the “Jadar” project. The explorations have shown that, thanks to the jadarite, Serbia has the largest reserves of lithium in Europe, whereas, in the world, only China and Chile have larger reserves.

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

CHINA CIVIL ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION PREDSTAVNIŠTVO BEOGRAD

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Saobraćajni institut CIP d.o.o. Beograd

CCECC

Valjevo Loznica railway

construction of Valjevo Loznica railway

jadarite

jadarite site

Jadar project