Savannah Resources Plc (LON:SAV) Chief Executive Officer David Archer caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss the interest in lithium, the Mino do Barroso project, the intersections supporting the project fast track and meeting the lithium demand
Q1: David, there’s a lot of interest in lithium at the moment, why is that?
A1: It really is a major point of focus in the resources industry at the moment and this is really on the back of some things in the world at the moment. I suppose, first up is the move towards electric vehicles, the pollution that’s associated with conventional internal combustion engines has now become intolerable and that together with global warming is really making for a very major impetuous towards EV’s and EV’s have big requirements for lithium.
As well as that, there’s also strong demand building for electricity storage systems to actually store electricity, particularly generated from renewable sources so again, that’s requires lots of lithium in the production of batteries.
Q2: Savannah Resources have a lithium project going on at the Mino do Barroso project, what is it about that project that you like?
A2: Well, I think one of the key things is there’s already a mining lease over it with a 19-year term and that really means that any licencing requirements will be very minimal and means we are able to drive the project into production very quickly.
The other technical features are that we’ve got very good grades, it’s lithium mineral quartz spodumene which is really the gold standard in terms of lithium minerals that you’re looking for. We’ve got very good recoveries and the product is the high quality that will be highly sought after to by battery manufacturers.
Finally, it’s in Portugal which is a wonderful jurisdiction and it’s well supported by infrastructure including the nearby port, the second largest port in Portugal, around about 140 kilometres away.
Q3: We saw the announcement that the intersections support the potential to fast track the project, what is your plan from here?
A3: The plan is to start the drilling once more and we’ll be following up on those very good results that we announced today, both on a new deposit called NOA and also looking to expand the mineralised envelope at both Reservatorio and Grandao. I think the other key element that we’ll be looking at is to look to reach out to battery manufacturers and car manufacturers and look to build commercial relationships, both around offtakes and investment.
Q4: How do you think the mining industry will meet demand for lithium?
A4: It’s going to be very challenging, mines and new mines have very long latencies, certainly in the case of the brine part of the lithium industry, that’s proven to be a very major problem. The way I see it is the spodumene producers, most of which are in Australia and of course, Savannah Resources, are probably much better placed, it’s a much more conventional mining challenge generally with open pit mines. The processing of spodumene is very standard and these are the sorts of mines that can be brought relatively quickly into production to meet this very large demand increase that’s anticipated for lithium.
