Reuters

Rio Tinto shares slump as Serbia pulls plug on its $2.4 billion lithium project

MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Shares in Rio Tinto tumbled on Friday after Serbia revoked its lithium exploration licences over environmental concerns, hurting the Anglo-Australian miner’s ambition to become Europe’s largest supplier of the metal used in electric vehicles. The decision by Serbia comes as it approaches a general election in April, and as relations between Belgrade and Canberra have soured after Sunday’s deportation of tennis star Novak Djokovic from Australia https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/detained-djokovic-fight-australian-deportation-court-2022-01-14 over its COVID-19 entry rules. It is also a major setback for Rio, which was hoping the project would help make it one of the world’s 10 biggest producers of lithium, a key ingredient in batteries.

Source: finance.yahoo.com