Boticas, Portugal, June 29, 2026 (Lusa) - Savannah Resources may resume work on the Barroso lithium mine in Boticas, which had been suspended following an interim injunction, after the Ministry of the Environment issued a Reasoned Resolution reaffirming the project’s public interest.
Savannah announced on Monday in a statement that, following the ministry’s submission of the Reasoned Resolution, it plans to “resume work on the ground in the coming days”.
The geotechnical work currently underway in the municipality of Boticas, in the district of Vila Real, was suspended on 9 June after the Administrative and Tax Court of Mirandela accepted an interim injunction.
The interim injunction was brought by the Covas do Barroso Communal Lands Shareholders’ Assembly against the Ministry of the Environment and Energy, following a second administrative easement granting the company access to communal and private land.
The geotechnical works aim to improve understanding of the land and foundations on which the processing plant and other infrastructure required for the next phases of the Barroso mine will be built.
The ministry’s document, to which Lusa had access, states that the temporary administrative easement, covering 24 plots, was established to comply with the conditional favourable Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) issued in 2023 and to enable the preparation of the Environmental Compliance Report for the Engineering Project (RECAPE).
It also states that once the works (geological surveys and geotechnical boreholes) are completed, the topography of the affected land will be restored.
The document, signed by the Deputy Secretary of State for Energy, Jean Paulo Gil Barroca, also states that the lithium project “has an impact on local economic development, notably through the creation of jobs”, whilst also contributing “to retaining the population and to the territorial cohesion of a region marked by desertification”.
The ministry argues that mineral deposits “are essential for daily life and constitute some of the most important raw materials from an economic perspective, whilst at the same time being subject to a high risk of scarcity”.
It adds that “investment in lithium mining aims to stimulate the national economy by promoting foreign investment and creating jobs in the mining sector and associated value chains, and may also lead to the creation of a local lithium refining and processing industry and to attracting, particularly to the interior of the country, industries that require this raw material, thereby fostering the development of these regions”.
It pointed out that the Barroso mine was recognised by the European Commission in 2025 as a strategic project under the European Critical Raw Materials Regulation.
The Ministry of the Environment authorised an initial easement in December 2024, prompting landowners to file an interim injunction and leading to the suspension of exploration work for 15 days in February 2025.
Emanuel Proença, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Savannah, stated in the press release that “the granting of this Reasoned Resolution is a step that was anticipated”.
“It is recognition of the work carried out by our teams, both now and in the past, which has always been conducted under scrutiny. It is also confirmation of the Portuguese state’s confidence in the Barroso Lithium project, particularly its importance for the creation of a lithium and battery value chain in Portugal,” he added.
“This is, finally, yet another instance in which a small opposition group, which continues to spread fear and lies, has seen its efforts to halt a project that will bring more jobs and further development to the Barroso region thwarted”.
The company intends to begin construction in 2027 and commence production in 2028.
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