Retraction of: Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-68072-9, published online 24 July 2024

The Editors have retracted the Article.

After publication, concerns were raised about some of the analyses, interpretations, and conclusions presented in this Article. Most significantly:

  • no pre-exploration baseline is available for the measurements of contamination;

  • the Article did not adequately consider the impact on the environmental assessment of a prior 2014 incident at Stolice tailings storage facility, which incident led to a spill of mining waste in the area;

  • the Article uses strong causal language where it is not supported by available data/evidence.

Post-publication peer review has confirmed that although the data is robust, it is presently not sufficient to support some of the key claims made about the causal impact of the current mining development at Jadar Valley.

The Authors have been offered an opportunity to revise the manuscript and submit the corrected version for reconsideration.

Dragana Đorđević, Jovan M. Tadić, Branimir Grgur, Ratko Ristić disagree with the retraction. Sanja Sakan, Jelena Brezjanović, and Bogdan Šolaja did not reply to the correspondence from the Editors about this retraction. Vladimir Stevanović has passed away.