Rio Tinto has only bad options as it tries to salvage its $2.4
billion Serbian lithium project after the country's leaders
bowed to environmentalists and cancelled it last week.
The Anglo-Australian miner could sue the government, a step
likely to fail and further antagonise Belgrade, or bet that
pro-mining politicians emerge victorious in April parliamentary
elections, a result that would embolden opponents.
The mining titan has little experience charting where to go
next.
People inside Rio said that while they were aware of the
political tensions around the project, the government's
decision to pull the plug was a surprise that left the company
scrambling for a strategy on how to proceed.
