The lithium mine project in Serra do Barroso (Boticas), Savannah, has not yet completed the environmental process. According to a statement sent to newsrooms by the project developer, the company now has six more months to adjust the environmental assessment.
“Savannah Resources has been notified by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) about the next phase of its Environmental Impact Study (EIA) review process for the Barroso lithium project,” the company said, explaining that the APA proposed that the environmental assessment process continues. Savannah now has six months to work “in collaboration with the APA” on the project.
According to the company, this work aims to “further optimize certain physical aspects of the project and the associated environmental, ecological and socioeconomic considerations, and submit them for consideration.” Items include adjustments to infrastructure, such as access roads and tailings storage areas, but also a better assessment of the impact of the mine on local businesses, resource availability and Savannah’s technical expertise, as well as a project in depth for local communities and the municipality.
This is an intermediate step before the final decision of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIA). After the presentation of the optimization measures and their acceptance, the APA will have up to 50 business days to proceed with their evaluation and issue a DIA resolution.
In a statement, Savannah says that the decision -which is not, for now, the expected conditional environmental authorization- will allow her “to work closely with the entities that make up the EPA Evaluation Commission, in order to guarantee that any changes that are perform in the project designs are in accordance with its proposals”, in addition to allowing it to integrate “all the work carried out in the two years since the presentation of the EIA”, which includes the announced Decarbonization Plan.
Savannah Resources Announces Decarbonization Plan to Implement at Barroso in Q2
Although facing an additional step, Savannah stresses, however, that there are deadlines defined by law, committing to submit “any revised plan to the APA as soon as possible.” But according to the legal deadlines, Savannah expects an environmental impact statement by March 2023, which, according to the company, does not compromise the project.
Assuming a positive decision is received from DIA at that time or sooner, we believe that development of the project will continue in order to supply concentrate for Europe’s first generation lithium conversion plants when they come online mid-year. the 2020s,” it says in a statement, adding that it has a “healthy cash flow situation, which will help us comfortably in this licensing process and in the next phase of the Definitive Feasibility Study.”
These statements are attributed to Dale Ferguson, who will become head of the project in Portugal, replacing David Archer, who spent nine years as CEO of Savannah Resources. In a statement, Dale Fergurson guarantees that he will be “increasingly in Portugal and London to advance commercial and licensing issues and complete the ongoing process to appoint a senior leader in Portugal.”
Source: Observadora
