However much a portion of Serbian citizens may be looking forward to the newly called parliamentary election and the opportunity to influence a change of government, there is one company that is likely anticipating the trip to the ballot box just as keenly: Rio Tinto.

Heading to the polls could potentially resolve the dilemma: have they thrown €640 million “to the wind”, or could the Jadar project be revived? Or will they ultimately have to resort to solutions such as selling the project or initiating arbitration? After all, it is hard to expect Rio Tinto to forgive Serbia a single euro.

One thing is certain: the company’s permits expire in the first half of 2027, and it urgently needs to figure out its next steps. The main question mark is who they will be speaking with after 25 October. Will it be the old authorities, who backed down under pressure from citizens and withdrew their blessing, or a new government with whom they could discuss the pros and cons of the project more reasonably?

A company in hibernation

What is certain, and can be gathered from the latest financial report for 2025, is that the company has entered a state of hibernation – or as it is officially termed, “care and maintenance”.

The report for this year will almost certainly confirm this trend. What is already noticeable in 2026 is a change in management, along with a new wave of redundancies accompanied by severance packages.

An interesting indicator is the cash outflow from operating activities, which shows that in 2025 Rio Sava (Rio Tinto’s Serbian subsidiary) paid over five billion dinars to domestic and foreign suppliers, and slightly over a billion to employees. Payments to foreign suppliers literally exploded, increasing twelvefold from 246 million to three billion dinars. At the same time, capital expenditure plummeted from 2.25 billion dinars two years ago to a nominal 6.9 million dinars in 2025 (just under €60,000). On the other hand, they have largely retained the assets acquired so far, pointing to a strategy of staying quiet and waiting for the situation to play out.

Finally, the financial “infusion” to the company was scaled back from 10.5 billion dinars in 2024 to “just” 4.1 billion last year. Given the reduction in capital expenditure and land purchases, it is logical for the amount received from the parent company to drop while the firm hopes for a shift in Serbia’s policy towards the Jadar project. All of this caused cash on the company’s account to drop from 2.74 billion to 548.5 million dinars (€4.7 million).

Public opposition in Serbia to the project has altered the course of a firm that once had deep pockets and was buying up land en masse, turning it into a company cutting costs, settling liabilities, and entering hibernation until a resolution is reached.

Revenue and expenditure

Since Rio Sava has come nowhere near extracting ore, sales revenue was, as expected, 0 dinars, whilst other operating income remained negligible.

On the other hand, figures show that last year the project continued to incur certain expenses (2.19 billion dinars, or nearly €19 million) for various production services – specifically for technical analyses and exploratory work required for the project. Intangible expenses were also substantial (2.05 billion dinars, or €17.5 million), where consultancy services and fees to overseas affiliates are typically booked, as was the case here.

A notable development was a marked increase in staff costs – rising from 1.18 billion to 1.52 billion dinars. As the increase was primarily driven by other personal expenses (up from 224 million to 531 million dinars, or €4.5 million), the report indicates that this was mainly caused by redundancy payouts for departing employees.

All of this resulted in an operating loss of 5.85 billion dinars (€50 million). However, this is not unusual for a company in the project development phase prior to generating revenue.

These figures further confirm a business in hibernation transitioning to “cold storage”, while burning through cash reserves to clear obligations – all in the lead-up to the elections in Serbia, which have now arrived.

“Under construction”

If you were to ask Rio Tinto what assets it owns in Serbia, the major share would carry the tag “under construction”. This applies to the acquired houses and land plots valued at 1.9 billion dinars (€16.2 million). A further 2.27 billion dinars (€19.4 million) is held in intangible assets, representing the patent for processing raw materials containing lithium and boron.

All of this is waiting to be activated one day (or not). The assets that are currently active are worth a mere 27.8 million dinars, consisting of equipment used in Belgrade and Loznica (computers, vehicles, furniture, etc.).

Altogether, Rio Tinto has assets worth around €36 million tied up in paperwork, studies, and land parcels in the Jadar Valley. These assets are tangible on paper, but they will only become truly viable if the project is revived. If the project were scrapped, all of this would have to be written off. The fallback option would be to sell the project and its assets to recover a portion of the funds.

How Rio Tinto is financed in Serbia

The equity entry reveals the model through which Rio Tinto funds its operations in Serbia. The share capital paid in according to the books stands at 23.4 billion dinars, or roughly €200 million.

However, there is a much larger item: reserves. This is where additional capital injections from the parent company are recorded to finance exploration and other operations. In 2025, these reached 51.15 billion dinars (around €436 million), marking a 4.1 billion increase over 2024.

Combining these figures, we see that Rio Tinto has poured a total of 74.5 billion dinars – or roughly €640 million – into Serbia.

All that money went into research, studies, drilling, consultants, lawyers, local community support, and salaries. Since the company predictably had no revenue, the bulk of those funds turned into a loss, which has accumulated to 70.8 billion dinars (around €604 million). In short, that is how much Rio Tinto has spent in Serbia on the Jadar project to date. The remaining 36 million represents physical assets, such as land, licences, and equipment.

It is also possible that headquarters carried out some investments directly (e.g. for overseas analyses, lobbyists, or global law firms) that do not appear on the subsidiary’s balance sheet, meaning the total investment could be even higher.

The investment was originally slated to be several times larger following Rio Tinto’s decision to commit $2.4 billion, but the project’s suspension halted further capital inflows.

When all these figures are balanced out, the company is now worth 3.72 billion dinars (€31.8 million) on paper, down from 5.64 billion a year earlier.

Where Rio Tinto stands in Serbia today

While awaiting the election outcome, Rio Tinto in Serbia remains a company that, on paper at least, defies basic economic logic.

The cash it held at the end of 2025 was barely enough to cover half of its liabilities.

Furthermore, that cash was sufficient to cover only a single month of operations.

Nevertheless, when comparing liabilities against assets, the business is far from over-indebted. With the parent company on hand to step in with financial backing, it is logical for Rio Sava to keep running and retain hope for a positive resolution.

(Forbes Serbia, 11.09.2026)

https://forbes.n1info.rs/biznis/jedna-kompanija-jednako-se-raduje-izborima-kao-i-gradjani-biralista-ce-reci-da-li-je-640-miliona-evra-baceno-u-bunar-ili-jos-ima-nade/