It has long been mooted, but yesterday saw a new signpost in the ‘great lithium race’ that could add a whole new dimension to Portugal’s economic recovery.
British company Savannah Resources announced a “52 per cent increase in the estimated lithium resources” at its Barroso mine at Boticas, (Vila Real).
As national media sources explained, it means Portugal has, almost certainly, the largest lithium reserves in western Europe.
But to make the most capital out of this, Savannah Resources has to secure a licence to “process the composites of lithium”, and this is exactly what it is planning.
Says Diário de Notícias, “the firm’s focus in the next few months will be to study the economic viability of lithium exploration” at its massive mine (occupying over 1,000 sq kms)
This will require “modification of the conditions of the current contract” – upping the allowance for exploration from seven million tons to at least 14 million – and “guaranteeing the right to construct a (smelting) plant”.
Previous stories have stressed the lack of smelting plants in Portugal.
It has been the stumbling block in the way of ‘much greater rewards , and up till now, has seen investors holding back. But now that Savannah is so sure of its mine’s “excellent potential”, it is all systems go.
Said the company’s CEO David Archer yesterday: “Mina do Barroso is shaping up as a major new European mineral discovery.
“With the strong growth prospects for lithium ion batteries for Electric Vehicles and for electricity storage from the grid this is a critical time to be bringing a project of Mina do Barroso’s scale, grade and location, on stream.
“We believe that Mina do Barroso has the potential to be a key piece of Europe’s emerging lithium value chain that could help support the shift by European car manufacturers to the production of Electric Vehicles.”
The spike in prices for so-called ‘lithium concentrate’ – or to give its technical term, spodumene lithium – has seen the government receive“at least 40 requests for licences”.
Interest suddenly is such that secretary of state for energy Jorge Seguro Sanches announced in March that licenses will be ‘auctioned off’ (click here).
As Savannah continues with its studies, Diário de Notícias stresses the company holds prospection rights to 2036, with the option to extend by another 20 years.
But elsewhere in the mining industry press, reports talk about the company’s ‘deepening losses on project scoping’, citing pre-tax losses of £2.8 million “compared to £1.8 million of red ink in 2016”.
In other words, results from the mine in northern Portugal could not come too soon.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
