The lush, green hills where Paulo Pires has for years brought sheep to graze above his picturesque Portuguese village may soon be transformed by the race to power electric vehicles.
Signs of change already give him sleepless nights. Hundreds of drill holes across the countryside show where miners want to excavate the land for lithium, a vital ingredient for batteries used in electric cars, smartphones and energy storage.
Pires and his idyllic surrounds are on one of the frontlines of a battle pitting companies eager to exploit Portugal’s 60 000 t of known lithium reserves against locals determined to preserve their rights over the land and stop the exploitation.
Its reserves may be modest compared to Australia and Chile, the world’s top lithium producers, but Portugal is central to Europe’s bid to cut reliance on lithium imports.
Tapping European deposits of the "white gold" is an important part of the European Union’s ambition to secure more of the battery value chain as the continent’s carmakers roll out electric vehicles, a European Commission spokesperson said.