Around 1,000 people are expected to gather this week in a Portuguese mountain village to protest against a lithium mine that Brussels has designated as strategically important to Europe. The protest is planned to take place from 6 to 10 August at the Quinta do Cruzeiro farm in northern Portugal, and will feature debates and live music alongside public protest and villager testimonies. The target is the Mina do Barroso, an open-pit lithium mine planned by London-listed mining developer Savannah Resources. But it is surrounded by farming landscape recognised by the UN’s food agency as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System, the only such site in Portugal. "A narrative of inevitability has been built around lithium mining projects in Portugal and the supposed public interest is rarely subjected to meaningful public debate," said UDCB member Diogo Sobral.