The Savannah company said this Monday that it is “absolutely false” that it is usurping land for the construction of the Barroso lithium mine in Boticas, following complaints made by members of the public and the Covas do Barroso Wasteland Community.
“It is completely false that Savannah is usurping land for the project. All activities carried out by the company comply with the law and are publicly disclosed,” the company told Lusa.
This Monday, the residents of Covas do Barroso accused the Minas Gerais company Savannah Resources of trying to “forcibly enter” the land, which they claim is empty and is already under legal proceedings.
“The area in question is disputed, the complaint has been registered with the court, so it is our understanding that until a decision is made, they are not allowed to enter the disputed area,” said Aida Fernandez, president of the local community of Baldios . de Covas do Barroso, who stressed that whenever a car tries to advance, the PNR is called in, as happened this morning, to deal with the incident.
The Barroso lithium mine concessionaire, which received a favorable conditional environmental impact statement (DIA) in May, said that “unfinished exploration work is being carried out at sites to which the company has been granted legal access to work.”
Savannah also said that “the start of these operations was preceded by a work program approved by the Directorate General of Energy and Geology (DGEG) and local authorities such as the GNR were informed in advance of the work plan.”
“Savannah sought to inform landowners in advance of its intention to move equipment to areas where it was working, making several requests for meetings to clarify the situation, to which Savannah never received a response,” the company added.
He also added that from 2021 he is “developing a land acquisition program based on dialogue and the offer of favorable financial terms and with values exceeding those practiced in the region, both for private owners and for local communities on vacant lots.” Covas do Barroso and Dornelas.”
“To date, owners have sold or agreed to sell 90 properties to Savannah,” he assured.
Since Thursday, residents of this town in the municipality of Boticas, Vila Real district, have said they are on “constant alert” to prevent vehicles from advancing onto land they say does not belong to Savannah.
Among the cases filed against Savannah, one of them involves land.
The lawsuit was filed by the Comunidade de Baldios de Covas do Barroso against Savannah and individuals and seeks restitution of land allegedly “usurped” by the company.
The MP was also recently called upon to “investigate the usurpation of vacant and private land through abuse of BUPI (a new digital platform that allows land mapping) and fraudulent registrations that benefit the mining company and the project in question.” .
The Barroso mine is part of Operation Influencer, which led to the resignation of Prime Minister António Costa. This process targets lithium exploration concessions in Boticas and Montalegre, both in Vila Real, a project for the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines, Setúbal, and the construction project of a “data center” in Industrial and Sines Logistics by Start Campus.
It was the first lithium project in Portugal to receive a positive opinion from the DIA, although subject to compensatory and mitigation measures.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.