Savannah plans to expropriate 472 properties to mine lithium in Boticas, North of Portugal

British mining company Savannah needs almost 600 hectares of land to pursue its lithium ore mining concession.

The company has already bought 100 plots of land, but there are 472 parcels that it needs to acquire.

The owners of the land have been given a month to reply to the company. Those that don’t want to sell will face having their land expropriated.

The parcels of land required for this project of national interest are in the parishes of Covas do Barroso and Vilar e Viveiro (in the municipality of Boticas, district of Vila Real), worth over €3 million, according to the news source Negócios.

The company has made public the names and addresses of the owners (to whom they have sent letters) and also the value of each of the offers proposed by the company for each parcel of land) with the aim of completing the acquisition of almost 600 hectares of land needed for the mining concession and for access to the north of the mine that has links to the motorway.

Among the hundreds of offers, are ones that range from as little as €3.69 to €78,000 with the landowners given up to 30 days to reply or present a counter offer based on an independent valuation.

The company has declined to reveal its next steps, but the government has not yet received a public use statement from Savannah to allow it to expropriate the lands.

When this happens, the green light will depend on the Portuguese government. Recently, the government was accused by landowners of having authorised Savannah to “invade” private land after the Secretary of State for Energy gave the company the go-ahead in November 2023, although the permit was only for 46 hectares (not including these 472 tracts of land), giving Savanna access in exchange for compensation.