Montalegre lithium mine ready by 2027

Portugal’s environmental agency APA has given the thumbs up for work to begin at a lithium ore mine in Montalegre to begin operations in 2027.

And the Romano Mine’s refinery will be the first in Portugal and the second largest in Europe, producing 18,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year, bringing in revenues of half a billion euros.
The CEO of the company Lusorecursos that will exploit it, Ricardo Pinheiro told the newspaper Negócios that “all the production will have a guaranteed buyer”.
“It is a great personal and professional victory after many years of work and a lot of resilience for a project that will have a huge impact nationally and internationally”.
Work on the project will begin in 2025 and will last two years with mining beginning in 2027 and investment expected to be around €650 million by that date.
The company expects to mine (most of the lithium ore is underground) 1.5 million tonnes per annum that will then be refined.
This ore will produce around 18,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide white powder. “Regardless of the clients, all of the lithium is sold from the outset. The buyers will come to us. We only have to negotiate and choose the contractual conditions: if the supply is for five or more years, if the price is fixed or pegged to he market”, said Ricardo Pinheiro in an interview in business daily Negócios.