Savannah Resources (AIM:SAV) has declared its first JORC Ore Reserve Estimate at the Barroso Lithium Project in Portugal, a milestone the AIM-listed developer says will anchor the project's Definitive Feasibility Study.
Snowden Optiro, the firm's consultants, estimated the Probable Ore Reserve at 20 million tonnes grading 0.99% lithium oxide (Li2O), drawn from roughly 27 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Resources within the project's wider 39 million tonne Resource base (which now stands at 39.2 million tonnes at 1.05% Li2O following a revised estimate for the Aldeia orebody).
The Reserve underpins a 14-year production profile detailed in a separate Phase 1 Definitive Feasibility Study announcement published the same day.
Savannah has based the Reserve on a conservative concentrate price of $1,200 a tonne for 6% Li2O product, well below current spot prices of roughly $2,250 a tonne.
The company points to three further routes to extend Reserve life: converting the remaining 12.3 million tonnes of Inferred Resources through further drilling, a potential concession adjustment that could unlock 2.8 million tonnes of Indicated Resources at the Reservatório orebody, and eventual conversion of its unchanged 35-62 million tonne Exploration Target.
"The first JORC Reserve statement in any mining project is an important milestone", said chief executive Emanuel Proença, adding the company expects it to be "the first of many".
Barroso is classified a Strategic Project under the European Critical Raw Materials Act and is described by Savannah as Europe's largest spodumene lithium deposit.
