Press release

NGOs challenge EU Commission backing of controversial lithium mine in Portugal

12 June 2025

UDCB, MiningWatch Portugal and ClientEarth filed a complaint challenging the European Commission’s decision to grant preferential status to the controversial Mina do Barroso lithium project in northern Portugal.

The proposal for an open-pit mine was designated a ‘strategic project’ under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA).  This status allows it to enjoy preferential treatment in permitting, assessment of environmental impacts, and for financing. This fast-tracking comes despite evidence that the project could threaten local water resources, harm biodiversity, and disrupt the traditional, culturally significant farming practices that sustain the community of Covas do Barroso.

Associação Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso (UDCB), MiningWatch Portugal and ClientEarth say that the Commission failed to properly assess the environmental and social risks of the open-pit mine before granting it strategic status. 

ClientEarth lawyer, Ilze Tralmaka said: “This mine poses a serious threat to a fragile ecosystem and a unique cultural landscape, where a community has consistently voiced its opposition. The European Commission must not allow the green transition to be built on environmental harm and social injustice.”

Among the key concerns is the project’s unsafe tailings storage design, which expert evidence warns could result in ‘catastrophic failure’ during heavy rainfall, contaminating the Douro River system. The proposed water sources for the mine have been deemed unviable, and the site’s approval does not meet necessary environmental conditions.

“Labeling this project as 'strategic' serves only to justify environmental degradation and harm to local communities, while overlooking lithium’s uncertain economics and Europe’s continued inability to develop a coherent battery value chain” added Nik Völker from MiningWatch Portugal. “This sets a dangerous precedent: turning European peripheries into sacrifice zones, without clear planning, fairness, or accountability in the implementation of the green transition.”

Local residents have long warned that the project endangers not only their land but also their livelihood.

 “People here rely on clean water from springs and rivers: using it for drinking, farming, and livestock. If that water becomes scarce or contaminated, our way of life is at risk. For what? A few years of lithium traded for more cars and a new kind of pollution,” said Catarina Alves of the Associação Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso. 

The groups argue that planning to simply replace petrol cars with electric ones without rethinking the mobility system as a whole is a false solution. “Real sustainability means prioritising public transport, reversing the trend towards larger cars and SUVs, investing in recycling, and thereby reducing the need for new mining, while supporting – not sidelining – rural communities,” concluded Catarina Alves

The case also highlights wider concerns about the transparency and integrity of EU strategic project approvals. The NGOs are urging the Commission to adopt a rigorous, evidence-based process that independently verifies promoters’ claims and prioritizes projects that truly align with Europe’s sustainability goals.

The NGO alliance is calling on the Commission to review its decision.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• The Critical Raw Materials Act was adopted in 2024 to secure Europe’s access to essential materials for the green and digital transitions. The EU is also developing a Water Resilience Strategy to address increasing water scarcity, pollution, and the impact of climate change on water resources.
• The Mina do Barroso project was conditionally approved by the Portuguese Environment Agency in May 2023, despite local and expert opposition. Scientific research, conducted by Dr. Steven H. Emerman, unequivocally recommends that the project should be withdrawn on the basis of severe safety and environmental risks.
• The Mina do Barroso project is situated in the West of the Iberian Peninsula, a region that has seen a surge of interest in lithium extraction despite generally low ore grades and ongoing uncertainty around the economic viability of many proposed projects.
• Experts call for reducing lithium demand as a way of meeting societal needs while staying within planetary boundaries.
• The Douro River supports key agricultural sectors including wine, olive oil, and fruit exports – all of which are at risk from potential contamination. Notably, Port wine exports from the Douro region amounted to €284.4 million, representing approximately 30.6% of Portugal's total wine export value of €928 million.
• Environmental NGOs have the right to ask EU institutions and bodies – in this case the European Commission – to review one of their own decisions for contravening EU law related to the environment. The Commission must officially reply to this “internal review request” within 16 weeks, a deadline that can be extended up to 22 weeks. If the claimants find that the Commission’s reply does not fix the legal violation, the claimants can sue the Commission in the Court of Justice of the European Union.

About ClientEarth

ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account, and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. From our offices in Europe, Asia and the USA we shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.

About UDCB 

Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso (UDCB) is a local non-profit association that defends the environment, heritage and quality of life in Covas do Barroso.
We work to maintain the sustainable way of life that characterises the Barroso region and ensure that it continues to play its part in tackling climate change.
We defend the land and the community from projects that threaten our collective future and identity. We are people committed to the principles of communitarianism, respect for nature and the right to active civic participation and collective self-determination.

About MiningWatch Portugal 

MiningWatch Portugal is an independent and interdisciplinary monitoring network, designed to support civil society and especially local communities confronted with environmental legacy and social impacts of the extractive industry in Portugal. In this respect, the network performs monitoring of environmental and social liabilities of past and ongoing activities and also analyses the possible risk of new projects.