European lithium development company Savannah Resources has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with technology firm ABB for the construction of its Barroso Lithium Project in Portugal.
The UK company will undertake a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) as it aims to build a state-of-the-art mineral production operation for ultra-low carbon spodumene concentrate as a strategic raw material in Europe’s battery supply chain.
Under the early-stage agreement, ABB will outline production control and process solutions for lithium concentrate production and integrated spodumene mining operations in line with Savannah’s target of zero-emission operations by 2030.
European lithium mining
Having taken an initial 75% stake in the Borroso project in May 2017, Savannah has become its sole owner.
The mine is now well established as Western Europe’s most significant spodumene lithium project thanks to its lithium grade and scale.
Based on results received to date, Savannah says Mina do Barroso is the closest European analogue to the Australian hard-rock lithium surface mine developments, which produce lithium spodumene concentrates for international markets.
Since 2017, when there was no mineral resource estimate on the project, the company has completed more than 31,000m of resource-focused drilling and rapidly delineated a JORC Code (2012) compliant resource of 27Mt containing 285,900t of Li2O at an average grade of 1.06% Li2O (707,000t lithium carbonate equivalent, “LCE”) across five orebodies as of May 2019.
