Loznica

Loznica exists because the Drina River needs crossing—and because someone discovered jadarite in the valley behind it. This Mačva region town sits 94 kilometers from Belgrade, on Serbia's western border with Bosnia. For most of its history, Loznica's identity was agricultural: the fertile Mačva plain stretching east produced grain that fed Yugoslav cities. The Drina flowing west connected to Bosnia's highland economy. The town was a junction, not a destination.

Then Rio Tinto found lithium. The Jadar deposit—136 million tonnes of jadarite, the largest known high-quality lithium reserve in Europe—sits in the agricultural heartland behind Loznica. The mineral could meet 10% of global lithium demand; in June 2025, the European Commission designated it one of 13 strategic raw materials projects outside EU borders. Serbia suddenly mattered to the European battery supply chain in ways it hadn't since copper.

But extraction comes with costs the agricultural economy never imposed. The Jadar River feeds the Drina, which flows through Bosnia to the Sava and Danube. Activists warn of boron contamination fourteen times above permissible limits; several thousand protesters filled Loznica's streets in 2025. By 2026, Loznica becomes ground zero for a familiar conflict: critical mineral extraction versus agricultural preservation, national economic strategy versus local environmental concern, EU battery ambitions versus Balkan water quality. The Drina, as always, flows both ways.