REG - Savannah Resources - Operational and Sector Update

Savannah ResourcesAnnouncement

Wed 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20251126:nRSZ9856Ia&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 9856I  Savannah Resources PLC  26 November 2025

 

 

 

26 November 2025

 

Savannah Resources Plc

(AIM: SAV) ('Savannah', or the 'Company')

 

Operational and Sector Update

 

Savannah Resources Plc, the developer of the Barroso Lithium Project in
Portugal (the 'Project'), a 'Strategic Project' under the European Critical
Raw Materials Act and Europe's largest spodumene lithium deposit is pleased to
provide an update on a number of its current workstreams and developments
within the lithium sector following its recent oversubscribed £9.8m
fundraise. With total cash reserves of c.£21m (c.US$27m), Savannah is in a
strong position to progress the Project towards a Final Investment Decision
next year.

 

Highlights

·    Lithium price movements & Commercial interest: Global demand for
lithium has continued to increase during H2 2025 and the spodumene price has
risen by c.80% since the end of June to around US$1,100/t today and surpassed
US$1,200/t in recent trading. The acceleration in market movements has been
particularly pronounced in November, with >5% price increases reported on
several days. Meanwhile commercial interest in Savannah's Project and its
unallocated future concentrate production remains strong and discussions are
ongoing with a number of parties.

·    Acquisition of the Aldeia Mining Lease: The Company is in the process
of completing the acquisition of this highly prospective 3 block Mining Lease
located adjacent to the Project's C-100 Mining Lease.

·    Project Financing: Staff from Germany's KfW IPEX-Bank ('KfW') visited
the Project earlier in November as the next step in the bank's due diligence
process in relation to a possible German Government guarantee on a project
finance loan of up to US$270m. Savannah also continues to engage with
additional providers of project finance through its adviser, Cutfield Freeman
& Co.

·    Appointment of experienced Operations Readiness Manager. Savannah has
further strengthened its technical team with the appointment of Mr. João
Nunes who brings over 28 years of experience in the mining industry, having
held senior leadership roles across mining operations, projects, consultancy
and engineering companies.

·    Stakeholder engagement & land acquisition: The Company continues
to strengthen its ties with local communities and was delighted to host around
100 residents at its latest social event in Boticas. During October an
additional promissory purchase contract was agreed on a group of land
properties. The joint owners include people who opposed the Project only 2-3
years ago.

·    Temporary land access process: The Company remains in close contact
with the Portuguese Government ministry and agencies involved in approval of
the temporary land access order needed to complete the drilling required to
finalise the Project Definitive Feasibility Study ('DFS'). Savannah continues
to expect this approval during the current quarter.

·    Other workstreams: The Company and its consultants continue to make
good progress with the other workstreams required to complete the DFS and
environmental licencing process as well as with additional workstreams which
will become the focus once these tasks are completed.

·    Developments in the European Market:

o  RESourceEU Plan: European President, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the
start of work on a new 'RESourceEU' plan in late October. The aim of this new
initiative is to secure access for Europe to critical raw materials from
alternative sources to China. This will include boosting "investment in
strategic projects for the production and processing of critical raw materials
here in Europe".

o  European Raw Materials Week: The message that Europe will accelerate and
further strengthen its work in this sector was also reiterated clearly during
the annual Raw Materials Week event in Brussels last week in which Savannah
was an active participant. Savannah's CEO was part of a high level roundtable
hosted by Mr Stéphane Séjourné, European Commission Executive
Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. This roundtable brought
together Members of the European Parliament, representatives of Member States,
and industry stakeholders to discuss the state of play in raw materials supply
and the upcoming ResourcEU Plan. Savannah was also invited to be part of a
panel discussion, co-organised with OECD, on the role of EU mining regional
ecosystems to implement the targets of the Critical Raw Materials Act.

 

Emanuel Proença, Chief Executive Officer of Savannah commented, "The recent
oversubscribed fundraise gives us fresh impetus to push on with the
development of our Project. We remain busy on all project-related fronts,
including finalising the acquisition of the additional Aldeia Mining Lease and
preparing for the upcoming fieldwork.

 

"In support of our efforts to reach these key project milestones, we are
delighted to welcome João Nunes to our team as Operations Readiness Manager.
João brings significant mining sector experience to the Company, having spent
nearly 30 years leading both complex construction projects and complete
operational teams at some of the largest operations in Portugal and Spain and
consulting on many more.

 

"While we focus on the many tasks at hand, the lithium market continues to
improve. The spodumene price particularly has responded well to increased
demand coming from downstream in recent months and has nearly doubled since
the end of June, with a dramatic acceleration this last week as the market
tightens. This trend is consistent with Savannah's view that lithium markets
will remain volatile but persistently tight for years to come, and for the
industry to function properly, incentive prices will need to be significantly
above the minimal threshold for our Project to thrive.

 

"It is also an important development to see the European Commission expressing
a strong focus and sense of urgency around the development of its domestic and
international critical raw material supply chains. We look forward to further
announcements around the proposed 'RESourceEU' initiative, including the
potential for investment in strategic projects for the production and
processing of critical raw materials in Europe. All of us at Savannah stand
ready to contribute."

 

 

Further information

 

Commercial interest & Lithium price movements

As it continues to move towards completion of the DFS next year, commercial
interest in the Company's unallocated spodumene concentrate remains strong.
This is in parallel with the spodumene concentrate price having moved beyond
the US$1,200/t level in recent trading, which represents a doubling of the
price since the end of June 2025 (c.US$1,100/t currently). Rho Motion report
that EV sales have continued to remain robust with a further 1.9m units sold
globally in October. This takes year to date sales to 16.5m units (+23% vs.
Jan-Oct 2024) and includes 3.4m units sold in Europe (+32% vs. Jan-Oct 2024) .
Meanwhile growth in stationary Battery Energy Storage Systems ('BESS') has
been outpacing that in EVs. In the ten months to October, Rho Motion reports a
38% increase in new capacity deployment (156GWh) versus the same period last
year and notes announcements of future capacity additions totalling a further
732GWh (+23% vs Jan-Oct 2024).

 

As a result of the improving demand situation, particularly the strong growth
in the BESS market, and the rapid rise in lithium prices, many analysts,
including Savannah's own broker Canaccord Genuity, have made substantial
upgrades to their lithium price forecasts over the short and medium term.

 

Savannah will look to leverage this more supportive pricing environment in its
ongoing commercial discussions with a range of counterparties.

 

Aldeia purchase process

Following the oversubscribed fundraise which was completed earlier this month,
Savannah has the capital required to complete the acquisition of the Aldeia
Mining Lease and is now preparing to finalise the purchase from the vendor.

 

Previous drilling by Savannah on Block A of the Aldeia Lease has defined a
JORC (2012 Compliant) Resource of 3.5Mt at 1.30% Li(2)O (45kt of contained
Li(2)O) including 1.6Mt at 1.31% Li(2)O in the Indicated category. The
resource at Aldeia Block A is located c.2km from the proposed processing plant
on the C-100 Mining Lease and, following the execution of a purchase option on
the Lease with its current owner in June 2019 (see 26 June 2019 RNS), Block A
was included in the 2023 Scoping Study on the Project.

 

At 1.3% Li(2)O, the deposit on Aldeia Block A, which remains open to further
extensions both laterally and at depth, has the highest lithia grade across
the two Mining Leases which is c.24% higher than the Project's global average
of 1.05% Li(2)O. Overall, Aldeia Block A currently accounts for c.11% of the
global JORC Resource (on a contained Li(2)O basis) at the Project. The Block
also features an additional Exploration Target of 2-4Mt at 1.0-1.3% Li(2)O and
further Exploration Targets exist on Block B (7-10Mt at 0.9-1.2% Li(2)O) and
Block C (2.0-4.0Mt at 1.1-1.5% Li(2)O) 1  (#_ftn1) .

 

Hence the Aldeia Lease represents a high grade spodumene lithium resource
bearing tenement with additional exploration upside which offers the potential
to significantly supplement the existing JORC resources on the C-100 Mining
Lease. It is Savannah's intention to include the existing Indicated Resource
at Aldeia Block A in the upcoming DFS on the Project.

 

The Barroso Lithium Project featuring the C-100 (C-100 Extension) and Aldeia
Mining Leases:

 

Project financing

As announced in December 2024 (see 3 Dec 2024 RNS), Savannah received
confirmation from Euler Hermes AG, the export credit agency acting for the
German Government, of the potential to receive an Untied Loan Guarantee (UFK
(https://www.ufk-garantien.de/en) ) from the German Government covering 80% of
a loan up to US$270m (capped at 60% of project capex) for construction of the
Project (see 3 Dec 2024 RNS). Since then, Euler Hermes and Germany's KfW
IPEX-Bank ('KfW') have been conducting due diligence on the Project and
Savannah, the latest step in which was for KfW staff to visit the Project
earlier this month and meet with a variety of stakeholders.

 

This potential funding support is based on the supply of lithium to Germany
through Savannah's offtake Heads of Terms with AMG for 90ktpa spodumene
concentrate for 10 years (see 20 June 2024 RNS).

 

Savannah also continues to engage with additional providers of project finance
through its adviser, Cutfield Freeman & Co, and has initiated a
comprehensive market sounding exercise as it moves towards finalising project
finance arrangements in H2 2026.

 

Appointment of Operations Readiness Manager

Savannah has recently appointed Mr. João Nunes to the position of Operations
Readiness Manager. João has over 28 years of experience in the mining
industry, having held senior leadership roles in mining operations in Portugal
and Spain, project development in Africa and Latin America, as well as
consultancy and engineering firms. He holds an MBA from Católica Lisbon |
NOVA SBE | MIT Sloan (Portugal and USA) and a degree in Mining Engineering
from Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal). His career covers all phases of
mine development, from studies and project design through construction and
operations, with a strong focus on operational excellence, sustainability, and
innovation. He is committed to advancing responsible mining in Portugal and
Europe in support of the energy transition.

 

New initiative from the European Commission

Following the recent introduction of export controls on rare earth and battery
materials by the world's largest producer, China, European Commission ('EC')
President Ursula von der Leyen announced the initiation of work on a new
'RESourceEU' plan in a speech in Berlin in late October. This new plan will
take learnings from the successful 'REPowerEU' initiative which helped the
bloc mitigate the energy crisis which developed due to the reduction in the
imports of gas from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

 

In her speech, President von der Leyen said, "Europe cannot do things the same
way anymore. We learned this lesson painfully with energy; we will not repeat
it with critical materials. So it is time to speed up and take the action that
is needed. Whether on energy or raw materials, defence or digital, Europe has
to strive for its independence. And this is our moment to do it."

 

The aim of this new initiative is to secure access to alternative sources of
critical raw materials for European industry. This will include boosting
"investment in strategic projects for the production and processing of
critical raw materials here in Europe" as well as focusing on joint
purchasing, stockpiling, developing critical raw materials partnerships with
third party countries and investing in overseas projects through the EC's
Global Gateway initiative.

 

Savannah remains actively engaged with key EC actors and will look to leverage
its relationships and ownership of a European 'Strategic Project', to secure
any practical support which may become available from the EC or national
Governments. This could include any potential funding through the Critical Raw
Materials Act ('CRMA') and the new RESourceEU initiative.

 

 

Savannah - Enabling Europe's energy transition.

 

**ENDS**

 

Follow @SavannahRes on X (Formerly known as Twitter)

 

Follow Savannah Resources on LinkedIn

 

 

For further information please visit www.savannahresources.com or contact:

 

 Savannah Resources PLC                                                  Tel: +351 963 850 959

 Emanuel Proença, CEO

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Advisor & Joint Broker)       Tel: +44 20 3470 0470

 David Hignell/ Charlie Bouverat (Corporate Finance)

 Grant Barker/Abigail Wayne (Sales & Broking)

                                                                         Tel: +44 20 7523 8000

 Canaccord Genuity Limited (Joint Broker)

 James Asensio / Charlie Hammond (Corporate Broking)

 Ben Knott (Sales)

 Portugal Media Relations                                                Tel: +351 962 678 912

 António Neves Costa (Communications Manager)

 

About Savannah

Savannah Resources is a mineral resource development company and the sole
owner of the Barroso Lithium Project (the 'Project') in northern Portugal. The
Project is the largest battery grade spodumene lithium resource outlined to
date in Europe and was classified as a 'Strategic Project' by the European
Commission under the Critical Raw Materials Act in March 2025.

 

Through the Project, Savannah will help Portugal to play an important role in
providing a long-term, locally sourced, lithium raw material supply for
Europe's lithium battery value chain. Once in operation the Project will
produce enough lithium (contained in c.190,000tpa of spodumene concentrate)
for approximately half a million vehicle battery packs per year and hence make
a significant contribution towards the European Commission's Critical Raw
Material Act goal of a minimum 10% of European endogenous lithium production
from 2030.

 

Savannah is focused on the responsible development and operation of the
Barroso Lithium Project so that its impact on the environment is minimised and
the socio-economic benefits that it can bring to all its stakeholders are
maximised.

 

The Company is listed and regulated on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative
Investment Market (AIM) and trades under the ticker "SAV".

 

 1  (#_ftnref1) Cautionary Statement: The potential quantity and grade of the
Additional Resource Targets is conceptual in nature, there has been
insufficient prospecting work to estimate a mineral resource and it is
uncertain if further prospecting will result in defining a mineral resource

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  UPDEAPFSAFKSFFA



            Copyright 2019 Regulatory News Service, all rights reserved