Savannah Resources (LON: SAV) said on Wednesday it has signed three benefit sharing agreements with local communities that hold and manage communal lands (baldios) near the Barroso lithium project in Portugal. 

Barroso has been deemed a ‘Strategic Project’ under the European Critical Raw Materials Act and Europe’s largest spodumene lithium deposit. In 2025, Savannah lifted the reserve estimate by 40%. The London-listed company now pegs reserves at more than 39 million tonnes, up from a previous estimate of 28 million tonnes.    

Despite its strategic significance, the project has been met with opposition from local communities and environmental groups. The Barroso region, recognized as a World Heritage agricultural site since 2018, has raised concerns over potential impacts on land use, water and biodiversity. 

Benefit sharing agreements have now been signed with the Baldio of the villages of Alijó, Canedo and Penalonga, another with the Baldio of the Couto de Dornelas, and a third with the regional Secretariat of the Baldios of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. A land access and benefit sharing agreement with the Baldio of the villages of Alijó, Canedo and Penalonga include Blocks A and C of the Aldeia mining concession, the company said.  

An addendum to the agreement in place since 2020 was made with the Baldio of Couto de Dornelas which manages land on, and adjacent to, the western end of the C-100 mining concession and a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretariat of the Baldios of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (SBTMAD) establishes a technical and strategic partnership for the integrated planning, management and enhancement of an agroforestry area of approximately 100 hectares owned by Savannah. 

Portugal has long mined lithium for ceramics but has yet to produce battery-grade material at scale. The government this year awarded Savannah a €110 million ($128 million) grant to advance the project. 

Savannah plans to develop four open-pit mines at Barroso, with a combined capacity to produce enough lithium each year to supply batteries for about 500,000 electric vehicles.  

The company now has land access agreements with two out of the three baldios which manage land on the project’s mining concessions for community participation in the project’s oversight bodies, local reinvestment of the benefits generated and a fair rent-based compensation indexed to inflation.  

“This is not simply about securing access to land – it is about recognising that the baldios belong to the communities that have managed them for generations, and that those communities have a voice in decisions and access a fair share of the benefits,” Savannah Resources CEO Emanuel Proença said in a news release.  

“The partnership with SBTMAD adds a further dimension that we consider essential: active forest management and fire prevention, which are today among the greatest threats to this territory,” Savannah’s Community Engagement Manager Diogo Maia added. 

Savannah still expects to receive the final environmental licence in the third quarter of 2026 and make a final investment decision by year-end, with production targeted for 2028.