Yet another expert warns of flawed data powering authorisation for Barroso lithium mine

An expert from a Canadian university has concluded that the air quality studies used to support the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Portugal’s Barroso lithium mine in Boticas have “significant limitations”, according to the association Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso (UDCB), the citizens group fighting relentlessly against this project.

The group is organising a public meeting tomorrow (Saturday) in Boticas, in the district of Vila Real, to analyse the potential impacts of the Barroso lithium mine on air quality – and to assess environmental studies that formed the basis for the project’s approval.

This mine was given the go-ahead by Portuguese Environment Agency, APA, which issued a conditional favourable EIS in 2023. British-based company Savannah Resources intends to begin construction in 2027, and commence production in 2028.

Tomorrow’s presentation will focus on the work carried out by Professor Douw G. Steyn – a specialist in air quality and environmental meteorology at the University of British Columbia in Canada – who analysed the technical and environmental documentation produced as part of the EIS process for the mine.

In a press release, the association states that according to the analysis, the air quality studies used to support the EIS have “significant limitations”, including “short-term monitoring campaigns, insufficient characterisation of local meteorological conditions, inadequately described modelling, and a lack of information considered essential for assessing the potential impacts of dust emissions associated with mining operations”.

Douw G. Steyn’s report concluded that the “information currently available does not allow us to determine with certainty what the impacts of the mine will be on air quality, human health and the environment” – thereby calling into question “the conclusions that underpinned the project’s environmental approval”.

In his report, Professor Steyn classified the “lack of a transparent explanation regarding the dispersion model used to understand the spatial (and temporal) distribution of the pollutants emitted” as a “serious omission”.

He calls for “a comprehensive analysis of the heavy metal content in the materials to be extracted, with a consequent adjustment of the monitoring plans” and points out that one of the “dust mitigation measures consists of wetting the roads as a suppression mechanism”. As the region “suffers from a well-known water shortage, especially in summer” he explains this is “an issue that cannot be ignored”.

With regard to air quality, the EIS issued in 2023 stated that “the operation of the Barroso mine will result in minor negative impacts, and it was concluded that the limit values established by current legislation will be complied with”.

It further concluded that “the anticipated impacts will be temporary, occurring mainly during the mine’s operational period, and will be minimisable and reversible following the closure and landscape restoration of the area” (roughly 13 years later), requiring the implementation of an air quality monitoring programme with four sampling sites (Covas do Barroso, Dornelas, Antigo and Vila Grande).

The measurements to be carried out in the first year must cover a minimum of 14% of the year (52 days).

At tomorrow’s meeting, according to UDCB, Professor Steyn’s report’s conclusions will be presented to the public, a debate will be held, and queries will be addressed regarding one of the environmental aspects which, in the association’s view, is “most relevant” to the proposed open-cast mining project that has communities in uproar, and fighting against it for the best part of the last decade.

In May, the ministry for the environment authorised a second administrative easement, allowing Savannah to access communal and private land for geotechnical work; this was challenged in court through an interim injunction filed by the Governing Board of the Communal Lands of the Parish of Covas do Barroso, which led to the suspension of prospecting activities for around 20 days.

Savannah announced on Monday that work would resume after the ministry for the environment issued a Reasoned Resolution invoking the public interest of the project – again an interest that local people simply do not accept.

As to previous indications that environmental approvals were given in spite of indications that all is not as it seems, nothing could be more illuminating than the request by the Public Prosecutor’s Office that the environmental impact statement be annulled, on the basis that it is flawed by a violation of the law.

The trouble with this local campaign – backed to the hilt by the municipal council – is that the government is right behind the British based company that seeks to open-pit mine in countryside that holds UNESCO World Agricultural Heritage status. The government has even said it will be funding Savannah to the tune of €110 million – something that has stuck in the craw of affected communities, who feel they have been ‘sold out’ in favour of big business.

The local town council of Boticas said only a few days ago that the decision by the government to push through with the second administrative easement “is an affront to the people of Covas do Barroso, who for years have been waging an intense struggle against the exploitation of the Barroso mine for the extraction of lithium and other minerals which, from all that is known about the process, primarily benefits foreign capital to whom the State has handed over one of Europe’s largest lithium deposits, without the slightest regard for national interests or the livelihoods of local people”.

The Resident will bring news of any decisions emerging from tomorrow’s public meeting as soon as we get it.

Source material: LUSA/ UDCB press release