The Serbian government and Australian-British multinational corporation Rio Tinto on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding on the implementation of project "Jadar," which is a lithium-borate reserve near the country's western city of Loznica.

The agreement was signed between Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining Aleksandar Antic and Simon Trott, managing director of Rio Tinto for salt uranium and borates, in the presence of Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.

Thirteen years ago, geologists of Rio Tinto discovered deposits of a mineral rich in lithium (used for batteries for electric cars) and borates (used for insulation fiberglass and wind turbines) at the Jadar basin, and named it jadarit.

Since the discovery was made, Rio Tinto has been performing studies in order to prepare for the development of mine and exploitation of the mineral, and has invested 90 million U.S. dollars in the project so far.

The company claims Serbia is the only place in the world where jadarit can be found.

The Serbian government stated in a press release that the memorandum foresees the establishment of joint working groups that engage on the faster development of the project.

If it obtains all necessary papers, the company might establish a mine at the location of Jadar basin, 140 km away from capital Belgrade, by 2023 and invest in the technology to process mineral jadarite into lithium and borates.

According to government's release, Antic said that the memorandum will "accelerate all activities concerning the opening of the mine and the beginning of the exploitation, which will immensely influence Serbia's development."