Case Study | Covas do Barroso lithium mine

In the North of Portugal, the proposed lithium mine of Covas do Barroso is putting a test on water, land, and whether a farming community can keep living where it has for generations.

Covas do Barroso is an ancient farming community recognised by the United Nations as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Site (GIAHS). For generations, its patchwork of shared grazing lands, small family farms, oak forests and flowing rivers has fed families, shaped traditions and sustained everyday life. Today, those landscapes face transformation into an open-pit industrial mine.

The project concession covers approximately 593 hectares, of which around 71% consists of communal lands traditionally used for shared grazing and agriculture.The nearest homes are located roughly 200 metres from the proposed mining area. Amd the project is projected to consume up to 600,000 cubic metres of water annually.

The new mining project threatens to cause biodiversity loss, destruction of river habitats, and depletion and contamination of already scarce water resources. These concerns have culminated in a landmark legal challenge to the European Commission’s decision to grant the project “Strategic Project” status under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA).

What is at stake extends far beyond this one project. The EU Commission’s push to greenlight such a project opens doors to sacrificing more rural regions and fragile ecosystems for short-term profit.

The Barroso Project: From Local Opposition to EU Court

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.

Lizards, birds, streams, and centuries-old farming landscapes nestle in these hills. But the drive for increasing EU domestic lithium supply chains has placed this project under the spotlight. Europe’s dependence on imported critical raw materials, particularly for electric-vehicle and grid storage batteries, is now used as justification for fast-tracking mining projects inside the EU.

Under the 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act, the European Commission can designate mining ventures as “strategic projects”, granting priority treatment and political momentum. However, strategic status does not exempt a project from complying with EU environmental law, including water protection rules. Barroso received this status in 2025.

Serious questions remain as to whether the project meets the CRMA’s sustainability criteria. The Portuguese Public Prosecutor and independent hydrological experts have identified unresolved risks relating to water protection, tailings safety and compliance with EU environmental law. Procedural shortcomings have also been flagged: 1,776 technical documents were released for consultation, yet only 10 working days were initially provided for review, despite EU law requiring a minimum of 30 days. At the same time, repeated delays to the definitive feasibility study and lithium price volatility cast doubt on the project’s financial and technical robustness.

These environmental, procedural and economic issues prompted environmental organisations and local residents to take action. Community group Associação Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso (UDCB) and MiningWatch Portugal, alongside legal NGO ClientEarth, initiated legal action challenging the Commission’s decision. The legal battle has been going on since June 2025 and it is now at the European Court of Justice.

The water problem

Among the key concerns is the project’s unsafe design of the tailings storage facility, which expert evidence warns could result in ‘catastrophic failure’ during heavy rainfall and contamination of the Covas River, which streams to the Douro River. Independent analysis indicates that the proposed tailings storage facility would exceed expected industry norms by approximately 99 metres relative to its storage volume, intensifying the potential consequences of structural failure.

The Douro River supports key agricultural sectors, including wine, olive oil, and fruit exports – all of which are at risk from potential contamination. Approximately 40,000 to 45,000 people in the Douro region have livelihoods directly or indirectly dependent on wine production, including Port wine. The region features roughly 30,000 farmers, with the primary sector (including vineyard work) accounting for 38% of employment in the Douro.

The mine’s proposed water sources have also been questioned as unviable. In a region already facing periodic drought, large-scale water abstraction for lithium processing risks placing additional strain on communities who rely on springs and rivers for drinking water, livestock and irrigation. The current plans also do not meet necessary environmental conditions as they lack proper assessments in compliance with the EU environmental law. The proposed project has not demonstrated that it can comply with EU water protection law. The project itself acknowledges significant impacts on water bodies.

 “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.” Catarina Alves of the Associação Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso. 

Echoing these concerns, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment has warned that projects of this kind risk creating “sacrifice zones” incompatible with the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Despite this, the project was granted EU Strategic Project status. This means that the project enjoys political backing despite serious environmental questions remaining unresolved.

Undermining Europe’s Water Law

The Barroso case is unfolding at a critical moment for EU environmental governance.

The mine’s potential impacts directly engage the protections of the Water Framework Directive (WFD): one of Europe’s cornerstone environmental laws. The Directive enshrines the “non-deterioration principle”, which means, in essence, that a project cannot lawfully proceed if it poses a risk of worsening the status of rivers or groundwater.

Yet under the Commission’s simplification agenda, there are growing signals that the WFD could be reopened and revised to “facilitate access to critical raw materials”. This follows a long-standing effort of the industry lobby to loosen the protection of Europe’s water systems. Civil society organisations, including the HandsOffNature coalition, have warned that weakening the Directive would dismantle the legal backbone protecting Europe’s rivers, lakes and groundwater.

If safeguards like the non-deterioration principle are diluted, projects such as Barroso could face fewer legal barriers: they could be allowed to go ahead with inadequate safeguards even where risks to water systems are clear!

More sacrifice zones to come

Barroso is a test case.

It will show whether the EU will uphold its own environmental acquis under industrial pressure.

It will show whether clean water protections will remain non-negotiable.

It will show whether communities have a meaningful voice in decisions that reshape their land.

If laws like the Water Framework Directive are weakened, and if fast tracking under the CRMA reduces the time and scrutiny needed to assess environmental impacts, Barroso will not be the last sacrifice zone in Europe.

“They are only thinking about profit. They’re not thinking about the well-being of the people who live here, or about the environment. They’re not thinking about anything else at all, just profit.” Elisabete Pires, local resident and farmer.

Across Europe, more rivers, forests and farming landscapes could face the same fate.

The Commission must now choose: Will it defend Europe’s environmental rulebook and stick to its promise to only use sustainably extracted critical minerals? Or will it allow the push for short-term economic gains to erode decades of environmental progress?

Press Material

Press releases

• 12 June 2025 – NGOs challenge EU Commission’s backing of controversial lithium mine in Portugal
• 26 November 2025 – EU Commission doubles down on risky Barroso mine project – NGOs warn of new “sacrifice zone”
• 05 February 2026 – EU Commission sued by NGOs and communities over Barroso lithium mine decision
• 17 February 2026 – EU Council adopts improved water quality standards – but weakens cornerstone EU law to protect water

Legal materials

• Request for Internal Review – Covas do Barroso mine

Other readings

• Factsheet on Covas do Barroso
• Lithium: A major ecological challenge for low-carbon mobility
• A United Nations committee has raised concerns about transparency and public participation in the project’s licensing process.
• Achieving Zero Emissions with More Mobility and Less Mining

Footage/images to use

See here.