The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) gave another 10 business days, until April 19, for the public consultation of the lithium mine project, in Boticas, whose term was contested by the population and the municipality, as announced.
The revised Environmental Impact Study (EIA) of the Barroso mine, which the company Savannah Resources wants to explore in the municipality of Boticas, Vila Real district, had an initial public consultation period of 10 days, between March and Tuesday (4 of April). , a term that the municipality and the association Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso (UDCB) considered short.
The APA, through the Participa portal, announced the extension of the public consultation for an additional period of 10 business days, until April 19, after the hierarchical appeal filed by the Câmara de Boticas.
In the information signed by the president of the board of directors of the APA, Nuno Lacasta, it is explained that this extension is due to the “special complexity and extension of the project information subject to reformulation in the terms of the law” and the “manifest interest on the part of the public and interested parties, namely the municipality of Boticas, in making a pronouncement and the consequent understanding of this aspect by the APA in the spirit of the Aarhus Convention”.
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“Without prejudice to the provisions of the ‘simple environment’ diploma, I consider this decision possible, exceptionally, to the extent that the final resolution period subsists,” says Nuno Lacasta.
The deadline to issue the Environmental Impact Statement (DIA) is May 31 and the company has already said it expects the project to obtain its environmental license in 2024.
Last week, the president of the Chamber of Pharmacies, Fernando Queiroga, said he was “perplexed” by the rejection, by the APA, of the request to extend the 10-business-day period for the public consultation of the Barroso’s EIA on mine, which he considered “unfair and totally unreasonable”.
Savannah’s EIA was rejected in June, but under Article 16 of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) legal framework, it was reformulated and resubmitted for evaluation.
In light of this legislation, the APA made 1,776 files available on the Participa portal for public consultation for 10 business days. As of this Monday, 378 participations regarding the Barroso mine project were submitted through the Participate portal.
Fernando Queiroga said that it is “of a completely new project and it is humanly impossible to analyze all the documentsmaking a careful analysis, not only because of its volume, but also because they are technical aspects that require the hiring of external services”.
Because the APA’s response, which arrived on March 27, was sent “from a general mail, the sender being unknown, since it was not signed by any technician or member of the board of directors,” the mayor filed a hierarchical appeal addressed to Nuno. lacasta.
The Barroso mine, which will have an estimated duration of 17 years, will be located in the parishes of Covas do Barroso, Dornelas and Vilar e Viveiro, in Boticas, but it also crosses the parish of Canedo, in Ribeira de Pena.
According to the non-technical project summary, the reformulated project eliminated activities during the night period and concentrated the noisiest activities on weekdays between 12:00 and 15:00 hours.
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Open pit exploration for lithium and other minerals is planned and the planned concession area is 593 hectares.
It is in the exploration phase that indicate the “significant impacts of the project”, showing “significant unfavorable” effects in terms of landscaping, mainly associated with the installation of the washing plant, stone removal in the cuts and dump fill, also in the allocation of water resources, with changes in drainage patterns and hydromorphological conditions, and in the social component, due to the need for land acquisition and economic displacement.
As positive impacts are mentioned the “strategic positioning of Portugal in relation to European lithium policies and the dynamism of the socioeconomic framework”, the “revegetation of the affected areas and the implementation of the Environmental and Landscape Recovery Project (PARP).
Plans for Air Quality Surveillance, Wolf Surveillance, surveillance of surface and underground water resources will also be executed, specifically in the reservoirs that will be created with the construction of the reservoirs and in the Covas River.
Source: Observadora
