Savannah Resources (LSE:SAV) has upgraded its resource estimate for the Barroso Lithium Project located in Northern Portugal, supporting the company’s view that the asset is “Europe’s largest lithium project”.
Barroso contains a resource of 39 million tonnes @ 1.05% lithium oxide for 411,900 tonnes across five orebodies.
All of the resource bearing orebodies on the project remain open to further expansion in multiple directions.
Following an increase of more than 200% against Barroso’s previous exploration target, the latest exploration target ranges between 35-62 million tonnes at an average grade of between 0.9 and 1.2% lithium oxide.
Based on the project’s spodumene lithium mineralogy, alongside results achieved to date, Savannah believes Barroso is the closest European analogue to Australian hard-rock lithium projects which produce highly sought-after spodumene lithium concentrates for international markets.
Since Savannah acquired the project in 2017, more than 50,000m of resource-focused drilling has been completed.
Savannah Resources says the Barroso Project is established as the largest spodumene lithium asset in the European Union (EU) and was classified by the European Commission as a ‘strategic project’ under the Critical Raw Materials Act in March 2025.
Accordingly the project’s potential has been cited as one likely to make a key contribution to the EU’s secure supply of strategic raw materials, as well as its adhere to environmental, social, and governance criteria.
The Critical Raw Materials Act aims to reduce dependence on third countries by boosting domestic extraction, processing, and recycling. The EU has set a goal of producing 10% of raw materials for its needs from mines within the area.
According to the European Commission, the EU will need 18 times more lithium in 2030 than it consumed in 2020, and 60 more times by 2050. Domestic battery manufacturing is forecast to reach 800 gigawatts in Europe and the EU currently reliant on imported battery-grade lithium raw material.
Savannah Resources is focused on supplying European lithium for the energy transition.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Savannah Resources
