Resident landowners deliver broadside to government’s ‘invasion green light’
Resident landowners have successfully challenged the government’s decision to give a private company intent on open-pit lithium mining within a protected agricultural community the green light to invade their property.
With the filing on an injunction with the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Mirandela, the association Unidos em Defesa de Covas de Barroso (UDCB-United in defence of Covas de Barroso) explains that all work being undertaken by Savannah Resources within the ‘easement area’ granted recently by the government must stop.
It is not an end to the problem, but a pause, while UDCB’s case is deliberated.
Opposition to the project promoted by Savannah Resources has been relentless, and is backed by the local municipality.
A new association recently formed, extolling the virtues of relinquishing the area’s natural wealth to the returns from lithium mining exploration – but it has been given extremely short shrift by UCDB which insists the “time of servitude is over!”
This long battle between locals and Savannah Resources rounded a new curve in December last year when secretary of state for energy Maria João Pereira issued an order authorising the creation of an ‘administrative easement’, allowing Savannah permission to access private land for prospecting for the period of a year.
The decision – made over the heads of both local people and the municipality – was decried by both, and contested, which is what has led to developments today.
President of UDCB Nelson Gomes explains that the injunction was actually admitted by Mirandela court on January 30, but it could only take effect from the moment all parties had been notified of the decision, which happened yesterday.
He added that the injunction was filed by three landowners, but its suspensive effect overs “all the land affected by the government’s decision”.
To ensure that no entity fails to comply with the court’s decision, locals will be on the ground today in Covas do Barroso and Romainho “to ensure the immediate suspension of work, and stop a project that threatens their well-being, the mountains and the future of the region of Barroso”, Gomes told the state news agency.
“Our aim is precisely to stop the project because, at the moment, there is total destruction of both private and common land. This invasion that is taking place makes no sense to us at all. It is a very undemocratic process that we don’t understand,” he said.
Following the announcement of the administrative easement in December, Savannah Resources announced that it could “resume the fieldwork and drilling required” for the definitive study (DFS) and the environmental compliance process for the Barroso lithium project, and that it expects to complete these stages in 2025.
The company has already said that it plans to start production in 2027.
The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) made lithium exploration at the Barroso mine environmentally viable by issuing a favourable conditional Environmental Impact Statement in May 2023, but this has been contested by public prosecutors, who say the environmental impact statement should be annulled because it is “in breach of the law”.
As this text went up online, the Resident received a statement from Savannah Resources which read: “We confirm that we have been notified of the injunction. We were expecting it and we have complied normally. The teams on the ground have already temporarily stopped the work they have been doing for the last two months, and today they are only carrying out security manoeuvres.
“The injunction is a right established by law, as are its consequences for everyone. We will treat this case calmly, like the many others already brought by the same opposition group, and we hope to get back to work quickly.’
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
Source material: LUSA
