Mário Ferreira has multiple business interests, including in nation’s media
Prominent Portuguese businessman Mário Ferreira has increased his stake in Savannah Resources – the UK listed company planning hotly-contested lithium exploration in a World Agricultural Heritage site.
According to a statement released by Savannah, Mr Ferreira now holds10% of the share capital in the company – making him Savannah’s third largest shareholder and the largest individual shareholder.
Savannah’s plans are to start production under its “Lítio do Barroso” project in the municipality of Boticas (Vila Real district) in 2027.
Savannah CEO Emanuel Proença is quoted in the statement released today as saying: “The growing support of Dr Mário Ferreira and more and more Portuguese shareholders, demonstrated by the steady growth of the Portuguese stake in Savannah over the course of this year, is good news for us and reinforces our sense of responsibility (…) We know that all of them are putting their trust in us to participate in the future success of the company, and with it in building a sector in which Portugal will be decisive in building a more competitive, technological and sustainable Europe.”
Savannah says that it already has over 25 different investors with whom it has direct contact, as well as other retail investors.
Proença is also quoted as saying that “Savannah is increasingly Portuguese on the ground too, and its contribution to the economy and also to Europe’s energy transition efforts is increasingly clear”.
Ferreira – recently adding to his list of achievements by becoming the first Portuguese space tourist – is quoted in the statement as saying: “In an increasingly challenging and complex context, regarding the capacity of our economies and our companies to respond to the growing need for energy self-sufficiency, with increased recourse to renewable energy sources that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we believe that the way in which we not only produce but also store energy is also particularly critical.”
CEO of the Mystic Invest/Douro Azul group and owner of Pluris Investments, the largest shareholder in which is Media Capital, owner of television broadcaster TVI and several leading magazines, Ferreira said that he and his team want to contribute “to an increasingly sustainable economy, on all fronts”, thus, after “a careful evaluation process, we believe that Savannah Resources is the partner with which we want to embody a “commitment to the environment and society.”
Savannah Resources is the sole concessionaire of the Barroso lithium mining project in northern Portugal, which it says is the largest lithium spodumene resource so far identified in Europe. The company has concentrated its efforts there over the last seven years, going through already two CEOs in the process. The project is strongly opposed by the local mayor and many residents, who have joined together in the association Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso (UDCB), insisting they are adamant that the project cannot be allowed to go forwards.
Source material: LUSA
