Savannah Resources PLC on Monday said that its 2023/24 drilling programme at the Barroso lithium project in Portugal is now underway.

The lithium development company focused on the Barroso project said that the two phase drilling programme ‘encapsulates all the resource, reserve, hydrogeological (water bores) and geotechnical related drilling’ required for the project’s definite feasibility study.

Savannah Resources said the first phase of the programme is expected to take around two months, with 60 holes to be drilled from 49 drill pads, totalling 3,235 metres.

Phase two of the programme will be further defined following receipt and analysis of the first phase’s results, Savannah Resources said, but is expected to take around six months and include around 10,200 metres of drilling from approximately 166 holes located on 75 drill pads.

‘Our drilling contractors, EDASU SL and SPI SA, have both worked on the project before so are highly familiar with the terrain and geology, and we have recently added more personnel to our field team so we have the capacity to log, analyse and store samples as efficiently as possible,’ said Savannah Resources Chief Executive Officer Emanuel Proenca.

Savannah Resources said data from the programme will be used to upgrade significant portions of the 21.4 megatonnes of indicated and inferred resources, which feature in the project’s overall existing 28 megatonnes of spodumene resource at a grade of 1.05% lithium oxide.

The upgraded resources will then provide the basis for the project’s first JORC reserve estimate, the company said.

Savannah Resources said it expects to complete the Barroso project’s definite feasibility study in the second half of 2024, intending to provide ‘regular news flow from its DFS-related field programme, including assay results from the drilling,’ over the coming months.

‘Away from the work on the ground, we are now reinforcing our engagement with other key local and national stakeholders including the relevant government ministries and agencies. We are also maintaining our efforts on the plan to identify commercial partners for the project who are willing to assist with the financing of the project’s construction and bring complementary skills or additional opportunities to a long-term partnership with Savannah,’ said Savannah Resources CEO Proenca.

‘We look forward to providing updates on the drilling campaign and the many other work streams we have underway over the coming months.’

Shares in Savannah Resources were down 0.4% to 3.39 pence each in London on Monday afternoon.

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