For weeks now, the relentless wildfires in Portugal have powered fears that the devastation caused will play neatly into the hands of the lithium ‘lobby’. Communities desperate to save their rural ways of life from open-pit mining are full of apprehension.
And now, Savannah Resources – the company with the concession to mine in Covas do Barroso – could manage to expand its project following the results of the ‘first phase of new explorations’ – conducted against the will of local communities, and with full backing of the Portuguese government.
Correio da Manhã tabloid reports that the company is announcing ‘historic’ levels of lithium identified in deposits gleaned from 50,000 metres of probes undertaken since 2017. Negocios online suggests these findings “reinforce the potential for future expansion of the project’.
Former CEO, now technical director, Dale Ferguson has said in a statement “we are particularly encouraged by this latest batch of results which continue to confirm the quality and consistency of lithium mineralisation in all deposits”.
Citizens that have been fighting this project for the last eight years stress that the recent drilling that brought these good results went ahead ‘against the will of the people’ and because of an administrative easement signed by the government, giving Savannah access to private property.
The UDCB (association of people united in the defence of Covas do Barroso) believe the whole process has been an attack on people’s rights and dignity – and it claims that Savannah, these days, has become a vehicle to attract investment, more than anything else. “For this real results are not needed, all they have to do is make people believe mining will go well”, Francisco Venes, of UDCB tells CM.
Venes is not the only person to suggest there is a huge difference between promoting open-pit mining, and actually performing it, without ruining groundwater and causing pollution and devastation on a grand scale.
But as to the areas that have been burning, and the areas where lithium concessions have been mooted, there is a chilling link (see image below). Comments over social media have multiplied, perhaps this one giving ample food for thought:
“This is not normal — it’s business.
“Year after year, our forests burn as if it were inevitable. It is not. This involves criminal activity, hidden interests and a plan that is no longer hidden. Fires are not just environmental tragedies — they are business opportunities for some.
“Behind the flames are concessionaires, loggers, and interests in the soil and subsoil. And here comes lithium — the new gold of the European Union. Every hectare burned is land ‘freed’ for prospecting, concessions, and mining. Is it a coincidence that areas with lithium potential are under fire? Many say no.
“All of this fits into the grand European scheme: the race for electric cars and ‘green energy’ which, in practice, translates into the plundering of resources, the destruction of ecosystems and the expulsion of communities. Under the pretext of ‘climate change’, they sell us as progress what is only a new cycle of exploitation and profit for the few.
“Instead of protecting the people and the territory, the Portuguese state follows Brussels’ orders, pretending that these measures are for ‘the good of all’, while handing over the country to external and corporate interests.
“The people have already realised. It is not the climate — it’s a plan. It is not just fires — it’s business. And it is not just Portugal — it’s a coordinated attack on sovereignty, land and natural resources.
“Either the government breaks this web of interests, or the people will put an end to it. “Enough of destroying the country to enrich a few.
Wake up!!!!”
Source: Correio da Manhã/ negociosonline/ Facebook
