Savannah Resources (AIM:SAV) said its final construction-related field programme at the Barroso Lithium Project in Portugal is nearing completion.
The project is designated a Strategic Project under the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act and ranks as Europe's largest spodumene lithium deposit.
Of more than 200 planned geotechnical test pits, 189 have been excavated and logged, with 23 remaining.
Geotechnical drilling has reached 83 metres of a planned 300 metres, while hydrogeological drilling has completed 696 metres of a planned 800 metres across 14 holes.
Two rigs are currently active on site, with a third due to arrive next week to begin geotechnical drilling in the Tailings Storage Facility area.
Laboratory testing on 128 pits is complete, and drill core samples will be sent to a dedicated lab in Madrid this week.
"We expect to have the programme completed in the coming weeks, ahead of the authorisation period granted by the Portuguese State, with remaining results expected from the labs in early Q4," said John Pereira, Savannah's Exploration Manager.
Pereira said the data will feed into detailed engineering work on roads, water storage and waste facilities, and that completing the programme will finalise all field inputs required for RECAPE approval, final investment decision and construction preparation.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
Savannah has executed 94% of its final pre-construction drilling programme at Barroso, with completion expected within weeks and lab results due in early Q4. This closes the last major field-data gap before RECAPE approval and final investment decision—the company cleared a Portuguese court injunction in late June and has now moved from restart to near-finish on the work that feeds detailed engineering for roads, water and tailings facilities, positioning it for construction-phase financing and the 2027–2028 timeline flagged in its DFS.
Completion of this drilling programme removes a material execution risk and unblocks the path to RECAPE sign-off and FID, both prerequisites for debt and offtake partners to commit capital. The company has a 20.0 Mt Probable Reserve and 14-year production profile and an unlevered post-tax NPV of $913 million at 8% discount, so the next catalyst—lab results and engineering outputs in Q4—will test whether those economics hold and whether financing can close on schedule.
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