i emailed tim last week and he responded quickly. i, on the other hand didn't check my email untill yesterday. here is his response word for word.
I understand your concern. As best we have heard (and we have our people in Serbia monitoring the events very closely), the protests/comments/actions are isolated to Jadar.
It’s probably not a good time to be shouting “look at us, we’re different”, as we sure wouldn’t want to draw a bullseye on our own back during irrational times. Most mining companies in Serbia right now are just keeping their heads down. There is much happening out of the headlines that involves embassies and other agencies from around the world, trying to calm the situation. Many believe that the situation will return to normal after the upcoming Serbian elections (and that much of what is currently happening is fueled by opposition parties trying to make gains).
It has been (and will continue) to be the policy of Serbia to see mining account for an ever increasing percentage of GDP and job growth. The locals (even the protestors) understand that mining, conducted properly, can and will be a contributing factor towards growth and prosperity of Serbia.
We are in a very different situation that RTZ. We are an (anticipated) underground operation with a very small surface footprint. Our surface land is located on an existing mining property which is government owned. We will not be using any private or residential or agricultural land in our processing/storage. Boron is very inert, doing no damage to the environment or workers. Our processing is a “close circuit” releasing nothing into the environment. Waste rock is cemented back down in the mine for permanent safe storage. We have strong local support amongst the local government, residents, mining union, etc. Piskanja is located in a well-defined mining district that has hosted mining operations for 100 years. There is no commercial agricultural land in our vicinity. On the other hand Jadar is to be an open pit (leaving a permanent ugly scar on the land), covering thousands of acres of some of the best farm land in Europe, and displacing many residents from their towns and farms. These are just some of the ways we are different. RTZ (maybe most importantly) has not endeared itself to the locals, and has a less than perfect international reputation, making them an easy target. So we are clearly in a much different (better) situation the RTZ.
Regards, Tim