- Write by:
-
Thursday, November 28, 2019 - 12:15:18 PM
-
553 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro - Portugal’s government came under fire from lawmakers on Wednesday for signing a contract giving exploration rights for lithium mining to a three-day old firm, but the environment minister said this won’t stop mining of the metal.
According to Mining News Pro - During a heated parliamentary hearing, lawmakers from left to right voiced concerns about the legality of the contract signed in March between Lusorecursos Portugal Lithium and the government, and the environmental impact of the mines.
Portugal is Europe’s biggest lithium producer, but its miners sell almost exclusively to the ceramics industry and are only now preparing to produce the higher-grade lithium that is used in electric cars and to power electronic appliances.
The government is finalising plans for an international licensing tender for lithium exploration to start this year.
The hearing was called after an environmental group filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to cancel the concession contract for rights to mining in the northern municipality of Montalegre.
The group claimed the contract was illegal because the name on the contract is of another firm formed just three days prior, as opposed to Lusorecursos, the company which the government, then led by PSD’s Pedro Passos Coelho, granted prospecting rights to in 2012.
Lusorecursos said the law states that a company can be created until the day the contract is granted. Responding to lawmakers at the hearing, Environment Minister Joao Matos Fernandes said it was “crystal clear” the government complied with the law.
The law in question, from 1990, states that an application must be submitted identifying the company, “incorporated or to be incorporated,” seeking to obtain the license.
The leader of Portugal’s People-Animals-Nature party Andre Silva criticised the move, calling it “yet another project by the Socialist Party destroying the environment in the name of economic growth.”
Protest movements have emerged across the country as requests for prospecting pile in from domestic and international companies, expressing concern about irreversible environmental damage such as soil pollution to destruction of the natural habitat of various endangered species.
The government wants to make Portugal Europe’s top producer of higher-grade lithium for electric car batteries, with the added perk of reducing dependency in the EU on imports from China. “Europe has lagged behind China,” Matos Fernandes said during Wednesday’s hearing. “Portugal will be at the forefront of this project.”
Short Link:
https://www.miningnews.ir/En/News/449923
Chinese carmaker BYD Co has postponed plans to produce lithium cathodes for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in Chile by ...
Australian-based Atlantic Lithium Ltd., which is developing Ghana’s first lithium mine, has taken a step toward raising ...
Truck drivers in Chile staged protests Monday in the mineral-rich north of the country and around the capital Santiago, ...
Canada’s mining industry is pushing for an carveout to the federal government’s proposed increase to capital gains ...
London-based Savannah Resources will if necessary ask Portugal’s government to authorize compulsory land acquisitions ...
India is considering offering incentives to encourage private companies to set up lithium processing facilities, as New ...
London-based Savannah Resources will if necessary ask Portugal’s government to authorize compulsory land acquisitions ...
Australia will spend A$566 million ($373 million) over the coming decade to map out resource deposits with a focus on ...
Equinor on Wednesday said it has entered an agreement with Standard Lithium to acquire a 45% stake in lithium projects ...
No comments have been posted yet ...