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UN committee finds that Portugal withheld information about lithium mines from the public

A U.N. panel said that Portugal violated an international agreement by blocking the public's access to key information regarding Europe's biggest lithium mining project, during its environmental licensing procedure.

The environmental agency of Portugal, APA, gave the go-ahead in 2023 to London-listed Savannah Resources, subject to certain remedies. This mine will be developed in the northern Barroso area, which is a World Heritage Site for Agriculture since 2018.

Residents and environmentalists in the area have been opposed to the project. They said that Wednesday, the findings of the U.N. Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee strengthened their call for the license being revoked.

In a press release, the APA stated that despite its divergent interpretations of the application, it has "always acted in strict accordance with administrative procedures and applied the law", adding that all required information was already available.

Savannah Resources has declined to comment.

The U.N. panel found that Portugal had failed to uphold the rights of citizens to receive environmental information, and to participate in the licensing process. These rights were enshrined by the 2001 convention which Portugal ratified in 2004.

The committee also noted that the APA failed to provide environmental information to citizens within legal deadlines and, when it refused to do so, did not inform them of their rights to appeal.

Two Portuguese groups served as observers during the proceedings. In 2021, the Spanish Montescola Foundation filed a complaint against the actions of the authorities.

Montescola's President Joam Evans said the permit for environmental protection should be revoked.

Savannah, which wants to supply Europe's electric vehicle sector, said Barroso’s deposit of spodumene, an important source for lithium, is the largest in Europe. It is estimated that there are at least 28 millions metric tons high-grade lithium in this deposit. It hopes to begin production by 2027. Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, Editing by Andrei Khalip & Frances Kerry

(source: Reuters)