Covas do Barroso residents protest again against Savannah lithium prospecting

Renewed gathering at the prospecting site

Around 40 people gathered again in Covas do Barroso, in the municipality of Boticas, to protest lithium prospecting work by Savannah Resources, a British company. Público reported that the group blocked the works on Tuesday, 27 October, while Lusa reported that about 40 people had gathered again at the same prospecting site on the morning of Wednesday, 28 October. The protesters say they want to defend their way of life and show that they refuse to live next to a mine.

Nélson Gomes, president of the Associação Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso (UDCB), told Lusa that the community does not want the project and cannot be forced to accept it.

“It is our way of life that is at stake. We have every right not to accept this project.”

Company position

Savannah said no works were planned at the protest site on Tuesday or on Wednesday, and that its field work follows a schedule set solely by the company within the easement granted by the Portuguese state. The company said it continues to work on several fronts, including completing the environmental compliance study for the execution project (RECAPE) and its financing. According to Lusa, the GNR was not called to the site. Público found no sign of the GNR at mid-morning on Tuesday, only company security guards.

Background to the blockades

The administrative easement granted by the government in May allows Savannah to access land where, according to opponents, the community keeps collective rights and uses, which bypasses local refusal to authorise the works. The opposition has run for eight years. On 9 October the UDCB interrupted works in one of the areas covered by the easement, and the GNR identified 27 opponents to the lithium mine.

Impact on local farmers

Maria Loureiro, a 58-year-old farmer who raises cross-bred cattle for meat, said her meadows are needed to pasture the animals. One of the plots she was affected by includes wooded land that supplies firewood and bedding litter, and she said the soil would not regrow vegetation for years once disturbed. She was offered 1,000 euros per drilling platform and refused it.

“I am against this project, so I cannot accept the compensation.”

Loureiro also said her plots are part of an agro-environmental project that requires her to protect the soil for five years to keep the support, and that she has applied for EU organic farming aid, which she fears the works will compromise. Nélson Gomes also raised concerns about water, saying the region is still in a dry period when heavy rain had been expected by this time of year.