Savannah suspends some lithium prospecting in Portugal after injunction
LISBON - London-based Savannah Resources has suspended prospecting works at some sites of its lithium project in northern Portugal due to a precautionary injunction filed in a court by some landowners, the company said on Thursday.
The injunction only covers land that is not owned by the company.
Savannah said in a statement it was notified by the Mirandela Administrative Court of the injunction, which aims to reverse the government's authorisation in December for the company to access land belonging to others to do more prospecting.
"We were expecting it and we accepted it as normal ... teams on the ground have already temporarily stopped the work they have been doing for the last two months," it said.
The company has said Barroso's spodumene deposit is the most significant in Europe and the latest prospecting results point to a larger deposit than the previously estimated 28-million metric tons of high-grade lithium for batteries. It plans to start commercial output in 2027.
It requires around 840 ha for its four-mine project, but Savannah has just a fraction of that.
Private owners hold around 24% of the land needed, while 75% is made up of communal land.
Savannah was granted access to over 520 hectares of land, which it does not own, for a year.
The project has put the European Union's ambition to reduce dependence on countries such as China for strategic raw materials to the test as it faces opposition from local residents and environmentalists.
"With serenity, we will treat this process like the many others already attempted by the same opposition group, and we hope to return to work quickly," Savannah said.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation