Savannah says Portuguese lithium project potentially 'major' producer

AIM-quoted resource development company Savannah Resources said on Thursday that its Mina do Barroso lithium project in Northern Portugal has the potential to be a "major European producer" of spodumene lithium.

Savannah's recently undertaken scoping study at Mina do Barroso demonstrated "robust project economics" with the potential to deliver substantial shareholder value at the project, which it considered to be of "low technical risk" with open pit mining and conventional processing to produce a spodumene concentrate for export sale.

The London-based firm strong outcomes based on an average annual run-of-mine production of 1.3Mt per year, over 11 years, pointed to a life of mine EBITDA of $805m, or $72m per year.

Savannah's chief executive, David Archer said, "Mina do Barroso is developing fast and it is clear that it will be a key feature in the upstream part of the European lithium value chain and will help to drive European lithium independence."

"Since acquiring the project just over a year ago we have achieved an enormous amount, having delivered not only a maiden mineral resource estimate but two major mineral resource estimate upgrades with the current estimate at 14Mt at 1.1% Li₂O, and now, a scoping study. We are committed to maintaining this pace as we continue to fast-track towards production," he added.

Savannah shares, Savannah shares, which had been recommended as a "buy for the adventurous investor" over the weekend by the Mail on Sunday, had climbed 5.09% to 13.92p by 0830 BST on Thursday,