The General Director of the Jaroslav Černi Institute for Water Resources, Prof. Dr. Dejan Divac, refused the request from the association “Prvi prvi na skali” (PPNS) to provide studies conducted by the institution for the mining corporation Rio Tinto, as well as the contracts under which they were engaged in the Jadar project, said Dejan Milošević, the president of the association.
In the reasoning of the decision, which rejected the request of the Kragujevac association in its entirety, it is stated that on November 29, 2017, the Institute signed a confidentiality agreement with the company Rio Sava Exploration, whose founder is Rio Tinto.
The second point of that agreement stipulates that the Institute undertakes to respect and preserve the confidential data of the company Rio Sava.
Furthermore, it is stated that the consultant (Institute Jaroslav Černi) is not allowed to disclose or make available in any other way any data owned by the company Rio Sava without prior written approval.
In the Institute’s decision, it is also mentioned that during 2020, the company Rio Sava provided several amendments to the contract regarding the obligation to respect and preserve confidential data. Additionally, the Institute was bound by a record confirming certain data as trade secrets, establishing that the documents prepared by the Institute, as well as all data and information contained therein, based on the contractual relationship with Rio Sava, constitute trade secrets that the Institute is not authorized to disclose to third parties.
At the end of the decision, it is indicated that the entire subject matter of the “disputed request” is owned by the company Rio Sava Exploration and constitutes a trade secret. Therefore, the request is rejected in its entirety as “unfounded, as the Institute is not authorized to make confidential data available in any way without suffering adverse consequences due to breach of contract.”
Milosevic added that the PPNS association lodged an appeal against this decision with the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance within the legal deadline, and that the procedure is ongoing.
He reminded that according to data from 2022, the Institute Jaroslav Černi was listed as one of the contractors for the Feasibility Study of the underground exploitation of lithium and boron deposits at Jadar, owned by the Rio Tinto Corporation, and was entrusted with the preparation of nine studies.
According to the data at that time, the Institute conducted the Hydrological Study of the Jadar River in the area of future water supply intake, Water Supply Study, Laboratory analysis of filter cakes, Groundwater and Surface Water Monitoring, Wastewater Discharge Study, Hydraulic Engineering Study – flood protection and flood zone in the Jadar River valley, revision of the Hydraulic Engineering Flood Study of the Jadar River, Flood Protection Study, and revision of the Wastewater Discharge Study.According to the data at that time, the Institute conducted the Hydrological Study of the Jadar River in the area of future water supply intake, Water Supply Study, Laboratory analysis of filter cakes, Groundwater and Surface Water Monitoring, Wastewater Discharge Study, Hydraulic Engineering Study – flood protection and flood zone in the Jadar River valley, revision of the Hydraulic Engineering Flood Study of the Jadar River, Flood Protection Study, and revision of the Wastewater Discharge Study.
Source: Danas
