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Thousands of people protested in western and central Serbia on Monday against a lithium project stemming from an agreement between the country and the European Union (EU) despite environmental concerns, the Associated Press reported.

The epicenter of the protests was in Šabac, in western Serbia, 31 miles northeast of a mining site where multinational company Rio Tinto is set to launch the project. It is simultaneously the largest lithium reserve in the Balkan country – and a lush area with thriving biodiversity.

“They have usurped our rivers, our forests,” activist Nebojsa Kovandzic told the newswire. “Everything (the government) do, they do for their own interests and never in the interest of us, citizens.”

Earlier this month, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the EU’s Green Deal commissioner Maroš Šefčovič signed a deal to allow excavation at the site.

The bloc considers lithium a “critical material,” as it is used in electric car batteries and mobile devices, wrote Reuters.

The site would become Europe’s largest lithium mine, reducing the EU’s dependence on China, which has close ties with Serbia.

The mining company argues the deal would create thousands of jobs, Radio Free Europe reported. However, critics say it would cause irreversible damage to the environment while providing little benefit to the public.

Deposits in the region were discovered in 2004, leading to an exploration project led by Rio Tinto. However, following major protests, the government suspended the project in 2022.

This month, however, Serbia’s top court overturned the decision, allowing the $2.4 billion project to resume, sparking environmental concerns anew.

Vučić said the mining would not resume before 2028, while Scholz assured the EU would only greenlight the project if it met the bloc’s environmental requirements.

Serbia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2012, but its accession has been hindered by environmental standards and concerns over democratic backsliding under Vučić’s leadership, among other obstacles.