Rio Tinto will put its controversial western Serbia lithium project on hold, a news agency has reported, quoting the CEO of Rio’s Serbian arm. The mining group wants to develop the mine near Loznica in the western Jadar river valley to extract lithium, used in electric car batteries, and borates, used in solar panels and wind turbines. In recent weeks protesters have taken to the streets and blocked roads, demanding authorities end the project. The backlash is causing a political headache for the ruling coalition loyal to president Aleksandar Vucic ahead of April elections. The company’s $2.4bn project is part of Serbian government efforts to bring in more investment and create economic growth. Loznica’s municipal assembly last week scrapped the land allocation for the mine. A report from Beta News quoted Vesna Prodanovic, chief executive of Rio Sava Exploration, as saying Rio would put it on hold. “We want to call for a public dialogue, to acquaint residents with all aspects of our project. “It is extremely difficult in such an intense anti-mining and negative campaign to have a reasonable debate on any topic.” Prodanovic said Rio planned to “reconsider and possibly improve” technical solutions it wants to use for the mine. Earlier this year, Rio said any development would meet all domestic and European Union environmental standards. But opponents say it would cause irreparable damage. Vucic has repeatedly said opening the mine would depend on the outcome of an environmental study and a referendum on it.