Citizens concerned over illegalities, “administrative negligence” at play
A public consultation exercise over a proposed extension of the Alvarrões lithium and feldspar mine in Guarda municipality ended last week “with a very high turnout of 257 comments and manifold complaints”, writes Mining Watch Portugal:
With the project proposal under consultation, its owner Sociedade Mineira Carolinos intends to extend the open-pit mining areas near the villages of Gonçalo, Vela and Seixo Amarelo, on the northeastern slope of Serra da Estrela. The minerals exploited are considered to be of strategic and critical importance by the European Commission under its Critical Raw Materials Regulation (CRMA) but, to date, they have not been used to refine lithium for batteries. The bulk output is currently shipped to the Mota Ceramics Solutions (MCS) group’s facilities in Mangualde, Viseu district, and used as an aggregate in the production of ceramics.
According to the licensing authority, the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology (DGEG), the Alvarrões mine was sanctioned for non-compliance, followed by an administrative offense process in 2023 and 2024 that led to the suspension of activities in the exploration area.
With the presented expansion project, the applicant company intends to unblock the situation arising from operations in an area of 15.67 hectares, thus exceeding the Mining Plan approved by the DGEG with an area of 6.45 hectares by a factor of 2.4.
In recent weeks, citizen initiatives and public bodies such as parish councils and the Guarda City Council have been expressing their concern about the project, not only in terms of the operations that exceed the legalized areas, but also in terms of the negative environmental and social impacts that would possibly worsen in the event of a further extension of the mining area.
Since the beginning of August, the local citizens’ group “Ação Floresta Viva”, made up of Portuguese and foreign residents of the area who came together in 2022 after the devastating fires in Serra da Estrela, has been warning about the risk of the Alvarrões Mine, with information sessions in the localities and a public petition.
With its participation in the public consultation, the initiative presented 20 reasons for its rejection of the project including the illegality of the operation and the administrative negligence of the authorities since 2019, the existing impacts on watercourses and farms downstream of the mine, the lack of consideration of the UNESCO Estrela Global Geopark, and the negative impacts on real estate values and sustainable tourism in the region.
João Luciano, spokesperson for Ação Floresta Viva, points out: “The proposed expansion of the mine threatens the environment of our villages and the Serra da Estrela. With possible severe social and environmental impacts, for example on local quality of life and public health. That’s why our movement is calling for the project to be rejected, based on the lack of transparency and proper assessment of possible risks. We advocate sustainable alternatives that preserve natural resources and the well-being of our communities.”
In another contribution to the public consultation, MiningWatch Portugal highlights the inconsistencies and shortcomings of the mining project, as well as the inadequacy of the documentation provided by the project proponent and the national authority DGEG. The contribution regrets that the regulator was unable to provide the Mining Plan currently in force, “one of the essential documents that would clarify the possible illegality of the operations”, in good time for the assessment of the Environmental Impact Study under public consultation. The contribution also highlights possible structural issues of water and soil management at the project’s three open-pit sites and highlights the possible negligence of national and European extractive legislation.
Nik Völker, founder of MiningWatch Portugal, comments: “It seems rather bizarre that companies in the sector continue to brag about their responsible mining practices, while their operations on the ground exceed the licensed area several times over and fail the most basic environmental remediation and waste management measures. There is a big gap between the extractive sector’s perception of its own performance and the manifest non-compliance of operations on the ground, as seems to be the case with the Alvarrões Mine.”
Originating from a pre-existing project, the Alvarrões Mine concession was acquired by Sociedade Mineira Carolinos in 2016. Mota Ceramics Solutions (MCS) holds a majority stake in the company through its subsidiary Felmica. An exploration campaign and the possible development of a lithium mining project in Alvarrões has been targeted by MCS’s cooperation with the company Lepidico since 2017. In 2019, the cooperation did not continue, as the Australian company decided to abandon its involvement in Portugal in favor of a lithium project in Namibia.
Mining Watch Portugal is an independent and interdisciplinary monitoring network, designed to support civil society and especially local communities confronted with environmental legacy and social impacts of the extractive industry in Portugal. In this respect, the network performs monitoring of environmental and social liabilities of past and ongoing activities and also analyses the possible risk of new projects. When needed, it helps with advocacy actions to influence decision makers in Portugal and Europe so that local communities can voice their concerns and claims, and thus shape their own future.
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