Portugal's Galp Energia, which constitutes over 100 companies engaged in utilities and delivery, is to acquire a 10% stake in the Mina de Barroso lithium mining project in the country's north, signalling a directional shift in Lisbon's planned energy transition.
Drill rig at Mina de Barroso. Credit: Savannah Resources
Drill rig at Mina de Barroso. Credit: Savannah Resources
The corporation will pay UK mining company Savannah Resources $6.4 million (€5.26 million) for its share in the project, for which it will receive as much as 100,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate per year - 50% of the project's anticipated output.
The project, which is still being assessed for its environmental impact, is one of many requests lodged with the government in Lisbon to develop the nation's reserves of lithium. Portugal is the largest lithium producer in Europe and has 60,000 tonnes of confirmed reserves of the metal. and its 2019 output of 1,200 tonnes supplies the domestic ceramics industry.
The deal is Galp's first since announcing last month that it would close the smaller of its two oil refineries in order to refocus on development of its low-carbon business. The corporation has earmarked 40% of planned 2019-22 capital for the transition.
Last year it became the largest developer of photovoltaic systems in Iberia, and it is leading the H2Sines project to build a green hydrogen plant with upwards of 1GW of installed electrolysis capacity.
Galp did not comment on reports in local media that it would build a lithium refinery on land made available by the closure of the oil refinery in Porto, others that it was holding discussions with Swedish battery maker Northvolt for a refined lithium supply agreement.
Portugal's energy minister Joao Pedro Matos Fernandes said that the government is supportive of any attempts to build a lithium refinery, and that various municipalities close to the sites of reserves of the metal have offered locations for a plant. He added that none of these offered were from the Matosinhos municipality where the Porto refinery is located.
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