Rio Tinto plans for Serbia lithium mine suspended after protests

Local authorities put $2.4bn project on hold after scale of opposition shakes country's government

Local authorities in western Serbia have suspended a plan that would allow the mining company Rio Tinto to operate a lithium mine, after protests by environmentalists that shook the country's populist leadership.

The mining had been expected to start in the near future, but a town council in Loznica voted to suspend a regional development plan that permitted the excavation of lithium. The vote followed the suspension last week of two key laws in Serbia's parliament that ecologists said would help the multinational firm start the project.