Project and Market Update

Savannah Resources PLC

15 January 2026

 

15 January 2026

Savannah Resources Plc

(AIM: SAV) ('Savannah', or the 'Company')

Project and Market Update

Savannah Resources Plc, the developer of the Barroso Lithium Project in Portugal, a 'Strategic Project' under the European Critical Raw Materials Act and Europe's largest spodumene lithium deposit (the 'Project'), is pleased to provide an update on various Project and market related developments following the approval of the up to €110m non-reimbursable grant (the 'State Grant') from the Portuguese State towards the Project's development, as announced by the Company on 9 January 2026.

Highlights:

·    Grant award formal signing: Following approval of the State Grant, Savannah expects the formal signing of the related investment contract to take place before the end of next week.

·    Definitive Feasibility Study ('DFS') & RECAPE workstreams:

Savannah continues to work towards completing the DFS and RECAPE (environmental licence compliance confirmation exercise) later this year. Recent and near-term goals include:

o  Mining: The optimised pit designs and mining schedule have been received from Savannah's consultant, Snowden Optiro, and are now being reviewed internally. This places Savannah on track to complete its maiden JORC Reserve estimate in the near future.

o  Infrastructure:

§ Water: Significant progress has been made in finalising the design of the Project's surface water management infrastructure and water balance. Completion is expected during Q1 2026.

§ Bypass Road: Submission of the revised Bypass Road design to the Portuguese authorities is expected to be made by mid-February.

§ Other infrastructure: All other infrastructure studies and designs remain predominantly on track for completion in Q1 2026, with some fronts such as water reservoirs, Tailings Storage Facility, waste dumps and the foundation properties of the process plant terraces subject to confirmatory analysis through the execution of the upcoming geotechnical investigation programme.

o  Planned fieldwork: Once the temporary land access order is granted (see below), the outstanding fieldwork will be undertaken. For geotechnical purposes, this will include small scale ground investigations at approximately 400 locations, about 40 drillholes and 30 water boreholes. There will also be around 12 drillholes (c. 1,000m) for further resource detail and upgrade at the Pinheiro orebody.

·    Temporary land access process: Savannah is still awaiting approval of the temporary land access order needed to complete the fieldwork required to finalise the DFS and RECAPE. The Company has remained in close contact with the Portuguese Government ministry and agencies involved and continues to expect this approval in the coming weeks. The Company believes that the €110 million non-reimbursable State Grant awarded by the Portuguese State clearly demonstrates the national commitment to the Project's development and, hence, remains very confident that the approval will soon be received.

·    Exploration: Recent surface exploration work undertaken by Savannah's team over targets in the western section of the C-100 Mining Lease has identified a new 400m long, north-south striking lithium anomaly in soils extension to the 600m+ Carvalha da Bácora pegmatite target. This anomaly will be further investigated in due course, as part of the wider, long term exploration programme Savannah is conducting across the Project to generate further significant, post-DFS, resource upside.

·    Lithium price movements & Commercial interest: Strong EV and battery storage demand last year, combined with tightening lithium raw material inventories and an improved market outlook led lithium prices to recover strongly during H2 2025. The spodumene concentrate price was the best performing of the major lithium products last year, rising by approximately 90% to around US$1,600/t, which also made it one of the best performing metals or metal products of 2025. Furthermore, this increase reflected a c.160% rise during H2 2025 from the sub US$600/t, 4-year low recorded in June. This correction highlights the potential speed of change in the fast evolving lithium market and this rapid upward trend has continued into the new year. Spodumene concentrate prices are already up by over 25% in 2026 to date and have moved through the US$2,000/t level for 6% Li₂O concentrate ahead of Chinese New Year. Given the improving market backdrop, interest in Savannah's Project and its unallocated future concentrate production remains strong, and commercial discussions are ongoing with a number of parties.

·    Stakeholder engagement & land acquisition: The Company has continued to strengthen its ties with local communities and has held a number of meetings with key local stakeholders in recent weeks, resulting in the preparation of a set of Memorandums of Understandings. The Company was also delighted to attend the recent "Festival Gastronómico do Porco" in Boticas and plans to hold a further five open public meetings during February to brief local stakeholders on the Project's development. Savannah's land acquisition programme has also continued, with two further purchases of private land plots made this week.

·    European and Industrial engagement: Savannah is joining with a number of other players in the European critical materials and clean technology industries in writing to the President and leadership of the European Commission to request that the forthcoming Industrial Accelerator Act includes a robust local content provision for critical raw materials, particularly lithium. This would reduce reliance on imported lithium, safeguard Europe's industrial resilience and strategic autonomy and ensure that the benefits of the clean tech transition are shared across the European economy. To achieve this, the signatories are calling for at least 20% of the lithium used in batteries in Europe to be mined and processed within the European Union by 2031, and that by 2036 this threshold should rise to at least 40%, in alignment with the timeline for recycled content requirements in existing EU regulation.

Emanuel Proenca, CEO of Savannah said, "The Company has had a great start to 2026 with the award of the up to €110 million State Grant last week. Equally importantly, work on many other fronts has been progressing too. The wider lithium sector has also enjoyed a strong start to the year which follows on from the impressive recovery in prices seen during the second half of 2025. This demonstrates the much improved dynamics and sentiment which have taken effect in the market, leading many in the sector to now expect much tighter conditions in the market this year and for prices to hold or even increase further from the levels they have reached.

"2026 is a critical year in the Project's development and we are determined to deliver on the milestones including the DFS, environmental licence, additional commercial partnerships and project finance which will allow us to make a Final Investment Decision later this year. By achieving these goals we expect to crystallise further value from the Project in Savannah's share price, backed by the much improved lithium market outlook.

"While we still await the approval for the temporary land access order needed to complete the current fieldwork, good progress is being made on the many other technical workstreams which we need to complete. We remain in regular contact with the Government bodies involved with the land access process and expect this approval in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I believe that the State Grant award sends a very clear message in respect of the State's long-term support for the Project's development."

Additional Information

Figure 1: The new soil anomaly identified on the C-100 Mining Lease. The map shows the Inverse distance weighting (IDW) elemental plots in parts per million (ppm) for lithium and location points of individual samples.

The lithium in soil anomaly highlighting the extension of Carvalha da Bácora target was identified after a field survey in October 2025. Samples were collected at 20m intervals along lines which were spaced 60m apart. In total 283 samples were sent to ALS' laboratory in Seville for analysis using the method ME-MS89L (sodium peroxide fusion), comprising of 269 soils, 5 duplicates, 4 standards (GTA-07 - low grade lithium) and 5 blanks (basalt), and results were processed using Inverse Weighted Distance (IDW) interpolation method. From this analysis a major N-S alignment (roughly 400m long and 100m wide) enriched in lithium was identified.

Competent Person and Regulatory Information

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based upon information compiled by Mr John Morris Pereira, Exploration Manager of Savannah Resources Limited. Mr Pereira is a Member of the European Federation of Geologists (Recognised Professional Organization responsible for issuing the Eurogeologist title - EurGeol), Master in Resources Evaluation, and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the December 2012 edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" (JORC Code) and is a Qualified Person under the AIM Rules. Mr Pereira consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based upon the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Regulatory Information

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

**ENDS**

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For further information please visit www.savannahresources.com or contact:

Savannah Resources PLC Emanuel Proença, CEO	Tel: [phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Advisor & Broker) David Hignell/ Charlie Bouverat (Corporate Finance) Grant Barker/Abigail Wayne (Sales & Broking)	Tel: [phone]
Canaccord Genuity Limited (Joint Broker) James Asensio / Charlie Hammond (Corporate Broking) Ben Knott (Sales)	Tel: [phone]
Portugal Media Relations Savannah Resources: Antonio Neves Costa, Communications Manager	Tel: [phone]

About Savannah

Savannah Resources is a mineral resource development company and the sole owner of the Barroso Lithium Project (the 'Project') in northern Portugal. The Project is the largest battery grade spodumene lithium resource outlined to date in Europe, was classified as a 'Strategic Project' by the European Commission under the Critical Raw Materials Act in March 2025 and was approved for a Portuguese State development Grant of up to €110m in January 2026.

Through the Project, Savannah will help Portugal to play an important role in providing a long-term, locally sourced, lithium raw material supply for Europe's lithium battery value chain. Once in operation the Project will produce enough lithium (contained in c.190,000tpa of spodumene concentrate) for approximately half a million vehicle battery packs per year and hence make a significant contribution towards the European Commission's Critical Raw Material Act goal of a minimum 10% of European endogenous lithium production from 2030.

Savannah is focused on the responsible development and operation of the Barroso Lithium Project so that its impact on the environment is minimised and the socio-economic benefits that it can bring to all its stakeholders are maximised.

The Company is listed and regulated on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the ticker "SAV".

 

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