Boticas, Vila Real, Portugal, Feb. 6, 2025 (Lusa) - Savannah Resources confirmed on Thursday that it has already been notified of the injunction against the administrative easement that allowed it to carry out lithium prospecting in Boticas, and has stopped work.
"We confirm that we have been notified of the injunction. We were expecting it and have complied with it normally. The teams on the ground have now temporarily stopped the work they have been doing for the last two months, and are today only carrying out safety manoeuvres," reads a response from the company to the Lusa news agency.
In the same response, Savannah states that "the injunction is a right established by law, as are its consequences for everyone".
"We will deal with this case calmly, like the many others already brought by the same opposition group, and we hope to return to work quickly," the reply concludes.
At issue is an injunction filed by landowners against the ministry for the environment, which suspended the administrative easement that allowed Savannah Resources to carry out mining prospecting on land belonging to villages in Boticas, it was announced today.
The injunction was filed with the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Mirandela and, in a statement, the association Unidos em Defesa de Covas de Barroso (UDCB-United in defence of Covas de Barroso) explains that the "admission order suspends all work in the easement area until a future court decision".
The UDCB said that this decision is made under Article 128 of the Code of Procedure in Administrative Courts (CPTA).
The secretary of state for energy, Maria João Pereira, issued an order, published on December 6 in the official government gazette, authorising the creation of an administrative easement, for a period of one year, which allows the company Savannah Resources to access private land for lithium prospecting.
This decision was contested by affected landowners and local councillors.
Contacted by the Lusa news agency, the president of the UDCB, Nelson Gomes, explained that it was three landowners who filed the injunction to stop the easement, but that the suspensive effect covers all the land affected by the government's decision.
The UDCB also said that the ministry for the environment was notified during the day on Wednesday and that "it is obliged by law to comply with the decision".
Therefore, as of today, it said, the communities of Covas do Barroso and Romainho "will be on the ground 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".
"The time for servitude is over," the statement read.
Nelson Gomes told Lusa that the injunction was admitted by the court on 30 January, but, he explained, it only takes effect from the moment the parties are notified of the decision, which happened on Wednesday.
That's why, he emphasised, for now "the work has to stop".
"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's a very undemocratic process that we don't understand," said the president of the association.
Following the announcement of the administrative easement in December, the company 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.
The Lusa news agency has contacted the ministry for the environment and energy and is awaiting a response.
JE/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
