EU-backed Barroso targets 2027 start with AMG offtake; Iberian refineries eyed for balance

Savannah Resources, developer of the Barroso lithium project in northern Portugal, has placed about one-quarter of future output with AMG, an industrial lithium refiner, and is marketing the balance to European converters and battery-chain customers as it advances financing for a 2027 start-up. The AMG agreement covers 25% of production for five years, aligning with Barroso’s plan to produce roughly 191,000 tonnes per year of spodumene concentrate; Savannah is in talks with additional partners to pre-sell remaining volumes to underpin project debt.   

Offtake Mix and Financing Objectives

Savannah says it still has 50%–75% of Barroso’s output to place, beyond the tranche earmarked for AMG’s European refinery system. Under their June 2024 deal, AMG also has an option to lift offtake to 90,000 tpa and extend to 10 years if it delivers a full financing solution—terms that could materially de-risk construction funding. Management is pursuing staggered pre-sales across multiple refineries in Portugal or Spain and other EU-adjacent hubs to lock in revenues ahead of a final investment decision targeted for 2026, when the company also expects final environmental authorisation. “Portugal will play a very important role. We’ll be here to make sure that Portugal plays its part,” CEO Emanuel Proença told analysts.   

Market Access and Regional Supply Chain

Savannah frames Barroso as a domestic raw-material platform for the EU’s battery build-out. The company points to potential downstream offtake synergies with new European capacity, including China’s CALB, which plans to invest €2 billion (about $2.34 billion) in a battery plant at Sines, Portugal, and a parallel North African hub emerging in Morocco, where Gotion has a $6.5 billion gigafactory project and the COBCO consortium has begun producing battery materials at a $2 billion complex. These facilities, if realised on schedule, could anchor regional demand for EU-sourced spodumene concentrate by the time Barroso is online.     

Permitting, Timetable and Community Context

Barroso has been designated a “Strategic Project” under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, which can streamline support across member states. Savannah is advancing permitting following Portugal’s earlier environmental clearance on the optimised mine design, while acknowledging ongoing dialogue with local stakeholders after community opposition in the Barroso region. The company targets first production in 2027, a year after Keliber in Finland (2026), keeping Europe’s two most advanced hard-rock projects broadly sequenced to the EU’s raw-materials policy goals.     

Commercial Structure and Product Slate

The planned output—around 191,000 tpa of 5.5% Li₂O spodumene concentrate—underpins Savannah’s statement that it will produce sufficient lithium for roughly 500,000 EV batteries per year once fully ramped. Beyond the AMG offtake, Savannah has signalled volumes could be split across Iberian and wider-EU refineries, with residual tonnage offered directly into the battery value chain to diversify counterparty risk and enhance bankability of project finance.