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Paper short abstract:

Having in mind that the extraction of raw materials and minerals is a complex and contested social process, the focus of this research is on parallels between controversies over shutting down TPP Pljevlja, Montenegro, and opening a jadarite mine (ie. lithium) near the city of Loznica, Serbia.

Paper long abstract:

The ongoing energy transition which aims at replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy impacts many aspects of human life and provokes various locally generated controversies across the globe. In the Western Balkans economies thermal power plants and coal mining industries are particularly important generators of a large number of direct and related jobs and the largest revenue source for the local budgets. Although coal use is one of the biggest causes of greenhouse gas emissions and although coal-fired power plants are among the worst sources of toxic air pollutants in the Western Balkans countries, people living in the towns whose economy is based on electricity production from coal-fired power plants worry that the strategies and actions on phasing-down coal will inevitably affect loosing thousands of related jobs and finally lead to the total collapse of entire towns. As the local people are exposed to contradictory and conflicting information on environmental, health and economic consequences of coal combustion in their towns as well as on advantages and disadvantages of phasing-down coal, controversies over environmental issues contain many phenomena that need anthropological clarification. Having in mind that raw materials and minerals (in particular) are highly socialized products whose extraction is a complex and contested political, economic and social process, the focus of this research is on parallels between controversies over shutting down TPP Pljevlja, Montenegro, and opening a jadarite mine (ie. lithium) near the city of Loznica, Serbia.