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Savannah ResourcesAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 9629O  Savannah Resources PLC  15 January 2026

 

15 January 2026

 

Savannah Resources Plc

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

 

Project and Market Update

 

Savannah Resources Plc, the developer of the Barroso Lithium Project in
Portugal, a 'Strategic Project' under the European Critical Raw Materials Act
and Europe's largest spodumene lithium deposit (the 'Project'), is pleased to
provide an update on various Project and market related developments following
the approval of the up to €110m non-reimbursable grant (the 'State Grant')
from the Portuguese State towards the Project's development, as announced by
the Company on 9 January 2026.

 

Highlights:

·    Grant award formal signing: Following approval of the State Grant,
Savannah expects the formal signing of the related investment contract to take
place before the end of next week.

·    Definitive Feasibility Study ('DFS') & RECAPE workstreams:

Savannah continues to work towards completing the DFS and RECAPE
(environmental licence compliance confirmation exercise) later this year.
Recent and near-term goals include:

o  Mining: The optimised pit designs and mining schedule have been received
from Savannah's consultant, Snowden Optiro, and are now being reviewed
internally. This places Savannah on track to complete its maiden JORC Reserve
estimate in the near future.

o  Infrastructure:

§ Water: Significant progress has been made in finalising the design of the
Project's surface water management infrastructure and water balance.
Completion is expected during Q1 2026.

§ Bypass Road: Submission of the revised Bypass Road design to the Portuguese
authorities is expected to be made by mid-February.

§ Other infrastructure: All other infrastructure studies and designs remain
predominantly on track for completion in Q1 2026, with some fronts such as
water reservoirs, Tailings Storage Facility, waste dumps and the foundation
properties of the process plant terraces subject to confirmatory analysis
through the execution of the upcoming geotechnical investigation programme.

o  Planned fieldwork: Once the temporary land access order is granted (see
below), the outstanding fieldwork will be undertaken. For geotechnical
purposes, this will include small scale ground investigations at approximately
400 locations, about 40 drillholes and 30 water boreholes. There will also be
around 12 drillholes (c. 1,000m) for further resource detail and upgrade at
the Pinheiro orebody.

·    Temporary land access process: Savannah is still awaiting approval of
the temporary land access order needed to complete the fieldwork required to
finalise the DFS and RECAPE. The Company has remained in close contact with
the Portuguese Government ministry and agencies involved and continues to
expect this approval in the coming weeks. The Company believes that the €110
million non-reimbursable State Grant awarded by the Portuguese State clearly
demonstrates the national commitment to the Project's development and, hence,
remains very confident that the approval will soon be received.

·    Exploration: Recent surface exploration work undertaken by Savannah's
team over targets in the western section of the C-100 Mining Lease has
identified a new 400m long, north-south striking lithium anomaly in soils
extension to the 600m+ Carvalha da Bácora pegmatite target. This anomaly will
be further investigated in due course, as part of the wider, long term
exploration programme Savannah is conducting across the Project to generate
further significant, post-DFS, resource upside.

·    Lithium price movements & Commercial interest: Strong EV and
battery storage demand last year, combined with tightening lithium raw
material inventories and an improved market outlook led lithium prices to
recover strongly during H2 2025. The spodumene concentrate price was the best
performing of the major lithium products last year, rising by approximately
90% to around US$1,600/t, which also made it one of the best performing metals
or metal products of 2025. Furthermore, this increase reflected a c.160% rise
during H2 2025 from the sub US$600/t, 4-year low recorded in June. This
correction highlights the potential speed of change in the fast evolving
lithium market and this rapid upward trend has continued into the new year.
Spodumene concentrate prices are already up by over 25% in 2026 to date and
have moved through the US$2,000/t level for 6% Li(2)O concentrate ahead of
Chinese New Year. Given the improving market backdrop, interest in Savannah's
Project and its unallocated future concentrate production remains strong, and
commercial discussions are ongoing with a number of parties.

·    Stakeholder engagement & land acquisition: The Company has
continued to strengthen its ties with local communities and has held a number
of meetings with key local stakeholders in recent weeks, resulting in the
preparation of a set of Memorandums of Understandings. The Company was also
delighted to attend the recent "Festival Gastronómico do Porco" in Boticas
and plans to hold a further five open public meetings during February to brief
local stakeholders on the Project's development. Savannah's land acquisition
programme has also continued, with two further purchases of private land plots
made this week.

·    European and Industrial engagement: Savannah is joining with a number
of other players in the European critical materials and clean technology
industries in writing to the President and leadership of the European
Commission to request that the forthcoming Industrial Accelerator Act includes
a robust local content provision for critical raw materials, particularly
lithium. This would reduce reliance on imported lithium, safeguard Europe's
industrial resilience and strategic autonomy and ensure that the benefits of
the clean tech transition are shared across the European economy. To achieve
this, the signatories are calling for at least 20% of the lithium used in
batteries in Europe to be mined and processed within the European Union by
2031, and that by 2036 this threshold should rise to at least 40%, in
alignment with the timeline for recycled content requirements in existing EU
regulation.

 

Emanuel Proenca, CEO of Savannah said, "The Company has had a great start to
2026 with the award of the up to €110 million State Grant last week. Equally
importantly, work on many other fronts has been progressing too. The wider
lithium sector has also enjoyed a strong start to the year which follows on
from the impressive recovery in prices seen during the second half of 2025.
This demonstrates the much improved dynamics and sentiment which have taken
effect in the market, leading many in the sector to now expect much tighter
conditions in the market this year and for prices to hold or even increase
further from the levels they have reached.

 

"2026 is a critical year in the Project's development and we are determined to
deliver on the milestones including the DFS, environmental licence, additional
commercial partnerships and project finance which will allow us to make a
Final Investment Decision later this year. By achieving these goals we expect
to crystallise further value from the Project in Savannah's share price,
backed by the much improved lithium market outlook.

 

"While we still await the approval for the temporary land access order needed
to complete the current fieldwork, good progress is being made on the many
other technical workstreams which we need to complete. We remain in regular
contact with the Government bodies involved with the land access process and
expect this approval in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I believe that the
State Grant award sends a very clear message in respect of the State's
long-term support for the Project's development."

 

 

 

Additional Information

 

Figure 1: The new soil anomaly identified on the C-100 Mining Lease. The map
shows the Inverse distance weighting (IDW) elemental plots in parts per
million (ppm) for lithium and location points of individual samples.

The lithium in soil anomaly highlighting the extension of Carvalha da Bácora
target was identified after a field survey in October 2025. Samples were
collected at 20m intervals along lines which were spaced 60m apart. In total
283 samples were sent to ALS' laboratory in Seville for analysis using the
method ME-MS89L (sodium peroxide fusion), comprising of 269 soils, 5
duplicates, 4 standards (GTA-07 - low grade lithium) and 5 blanks (basalt),
and results were processed using Inverse Weighted Distance (IDW) interpolation
method. From this analysis a major N-S alignment (roughly 400m long and 100m
wide) enriched in lithium was identified.

 

Competent Person and Regulatory Information

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is
based upon information compiled by Mr John Morris Pereira, Exploration Manager
of Savannah Resources Limited. Mr Pereira is a Member of the European
Federation of Geologists (Recognised Professional Organization responsible for
issuing the Eurogeologist title - EurGeol), Master in Resources Evaluation,
and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation
and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is
undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the December 2012
edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results,
Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" (JORC Code) and is a Qualified Person
under the AIM Rules. Mr Pereira consents to the inclusion in the report of the
matters based upon the information in the form and context in which it
appears.

 

Regulatory Information

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is
disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of
MAR.

 

**ENDS**

 

Follow @SavannahRes on X (Formerly known as Twitter)

Follow Savannah Resources on LinkedIn

 

For further information please visit www.savannahresources.com
(http://www.savannahresources.com) or contact:

 

 Savannah Resources PLC                                            Tel: +44 20 7117 2489

 Emanuel Proença, CEO
 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Advisor & Broker)       Tel: +44 20 3470 0470

 David Hignell/ Charlie Bouverat (Corporate Finance)

 Grant Barker/Abigail Wayne (Sales & Broking)

 Canaccord Genuity Limited (Joint Broker)                          Tel: +44 20 7523 8000

 James Asensio / Charlie Hammond (Corporate Broking)

 Ben Knott (Sales)
 Portugal Media Relations

 Savannah Resources: Antonio Neves Costa, Communications Manager   Tel: +351 962 678 912

 

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, was classified as a 'Strategic Project' by the European
Commission under the Critical Raw Materials Act in March 2025 and was approved
for a Portuguese State development Grant of up to €110m in January 2026.

 

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 AIM Market of the London Stock
Exchange and trades under the ticker "SAV".

 

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