2023-11-07 20:40:53
The miner Savannah Resources At the end of May, it received approval from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) for the development of the lithium extraction project in Barroso (in the town of Boticas), just 30 kilometers from Ourense. And at the beginning of last September, Faro de Vigo, of the Prensa Ibérica group, announced that another company, Lusorecursos, also obtained its “ok” for its mine, in this case just 15 kilometers from the Galician border. and which, in addition, will include the construction of a refinery. The works would begin in 2025 and the beginning of exploitation would take place two years later, according to what the company reported at the time, now under judicial scrutiny in a macro case for alleged corruption for which as soon as it became investigated it has led to the resignation of the prime minister of the neighboring country, the socialist Antonio Costa.
Both Savannah Resources and Lusorecursos are the two companies that accelerated in the north of Portugal (both in the Vila Real district) to extract lithium, a key material for the manufacture of batteries to meet the need for electric cars.
In the first case, the facility is planned to be built in the town of Boticas after receiving the positive Environmental Impact Declaration (DIA). In the second, and somewhat further north, The exploitation and refinery will be in Montalegrein a project known as Mina do Romano.
“The APA has made the exploitation of lithium in Mina do Romano, in the municipality of Montalegre, environmentally viable by issuing a favorable Environmental Impact Statement, subject to compliance with a wide series of conditions,” indicated the Portuguese Government Agency on the proposal from Lusorecursos, which will be forced to modify the location of the refinery, which in addition “must be the subject of an autonomous Environmental Impact Assessment procedure.”
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Be that as it may, Lusorecursos celebrated the milestone achieved and consider it an important step forward for their project, in which They plan to invest 650 million euros. The concession covers a total area of 825.4 hectaressimilar to the one Savannah Resources has.
Furthermore, the APA advanced that this project “includes a socioeconomic compensation package, which includes the allocation of 75% of the operating costs (royalties) to the municipality of Montalegre.” In addition, the favorable declaration requires the definition of compensation to local communities and land owners, as well as measures to mitigate or compensate the impact on the local fauna and flora, such as the Iberian wolf.
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