News

The community’s right to be informed about water at Mina da Borralha

In Diário de Trás-os-Montes, Avelino Pinheiro, director of the Mina da Borralha project, explains where the future mine’s water will come from, how it will be used and what happens to it afterwards, arguing that the people of Borralha have a right to that information.

The operation will run as a closed circuit. Water will come from the old flooded galleries, be pumped into reservoirs, treated after use and reused in the operation, with no abstraction from rivers, streams, springs or reservoirs and no discharge of industrial water into the environment.

The author notes that the project is still being refined during the licensing phase. Following dialogue with residents, water from the staff facilities and rainwater that comes into contact with the industrial area will also join the circuit, to be treated and reused. This commitment was presented at the 30 July meeting of the Mina da Borralha Monitoring Committee and Social Observatory and is recorded in the minutes.

He stresses that participation is measured by its influence on decisions, and that Borralha’s minerals belong to Portugal, so their development should create jobs and benefit the country while respecting water and the territory.

Author: Avelino Arantes Pinheiro, geologist, teacher and director of the Mina da Borralha project.

Read in Diário de Trás-os-Montes (in Portuguese)

The importance of debating ideas and projects with respect and arguments

In Diário de Trás-os-Montes, Avelino Pinheiro, director of the Mina da Borralha project, argues that the debate on the future of Trás-os-Montes should be conducted with respect for people, reference to sources and recognition of technical knowledge.

The author considers it legitimate to question the methods, data and conclusions of studies, and challenges critics to put forward arguments and proposals, so that staying in the place where one was born becomes possible.

Read in Diário de Trás-os-Montes (in Portuguese)

Borralha’s Tungsten: An Opportunity for Portugal’s Growth and Europe’s Technology Future

In Diário de Trás-os-Montes, Avelino Pinheiro explores how Borralha’s tungsten could support Europe’s technology industries and create opportunities for investment, skilled jobs and regional development in Portugal.

What connects Europe’s technology future to Trás-os-Montes? In his latest opinion column, Avelino Pinheiro highlights tungsten’s role in modern industry and Borralha’s potential contribution to Europe’s supply of strategic raw materials.

He argues that developing these resources could bring investment, expertise and skilled employment to Portugal’s inland regions. Realising that potential, he emphasises, requires environmental responsibility, planning and dialogue with local communities.

Read in Diário de Trás-os-Montes (in Portuguese)

The new Borralha Mine is modern and sustainable

The company Minerália is preparing to reopen the Borralha Mine, in Salto, which is currently undergoing the licensing process. The project envisages the extraction of tungsten, the creation of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs, and the promotion of social well-being and the regional economy, contributing to the development of Portugal’s inland regions.

Borralha Mine is preparing for a new chapter in its history. This sponsored feature in Alto Tâmega explores Minerália’s vision for the project and its proposed commitments to the environment, local jobs and community engagement.

Read the feature (PDF, in Portuguese)

Borralha’s Future: Investment, Jobs and Community Dialogue

In Diário de Trás-os-Montes, Avelino Pinheiro, director of the Mina da Borralha project, makes the case for a fact-based debate on Borralha’s future, highlighting environmental responsibility, community participation and opportunities for local development.

He presents Borralha as an opportunity to create jobs, attract investment and support local development, while emphasising the importance of environmental safeguards and public scrutiny. The column also highlights the Monitoring Committee and Information Centre as channels for residents to raise concerns, ask questions and follow the project’s progress.

Author: Avelino Arantes Pinheiro, geologist, teacher and director of the Mina da Borralha project.

Read in Diário de Trás-os-Montes (in Portuguese)

Borralha Establishes Committee for Community Participation

O Minho reports on Borralha’s new Monitoring Committee and Social Observatory, bringing together residents, local organisations, public bodies and the University of Minho to support community participation and dialogue.

According to Minerália, the committee provides a permanent forum for the community to follow the project’s development, raise concerns and participate in dialogue. It aims to strengthen transparency and trust throughout the process.

Read in O Minho (in Portuguese)

Monitoring committee established for the Borralha Mine in Montalegre

The company plans to extract tungsten through an underground mining operation in Borralha, in the municipality of Montalegre, Vila Real district, in a mining area that remained active until the 1980s.

The Monitoring Committee and Social Observatory brings together Montalegre Town Council, the Salto parish council, the University of Minho, residents, farmers, local associations and the company.

The article recalls that the Portuguese Environment Agency issued a favourable opinion with conditions in January, and that the public consultation on the environmental impact study received 653 submissions, with the water of the Venda Nova reservoir as the main concern. The company states that it will work with fully recycled water, reusing the rainwater accumulated in the old galleries, without abstracting from rivers, reservoirs or aquifers and with no discharge of industrial water.

Read in Jornal Económico (in Portuguese)

Borralha: Building the Future of Mining with the Community

In an opinion column published in Público, Luís Martins highlights community participation, transparency and trust as foundations for responsible mining, citing Borralha’s Monitoring Committee as an example.

Luís Martins starts from the strategic value of Portugal’s mineral resources to argue that this wealth only turns into development, jobs and population retention in inland regions where there is trust, transparency and participation. Complying with the law and presenting solid technical studies is essential, but a project only gains legitimacy when the community follows the decisions that affect its territory.

He presents the Monitoring Committee and Social Observatory of Mina da Borralha, proposed by Minerália and formally approved on 1 April, as a first in the country: an autonomous, permanent forum where local representatives, institutions, academia, farmers, residents and associations can question, propose and take part at every stage. He concludes that the mining of the future is defined by its capacity to generate shared value, starting with listening to those who live in the territory.

Portugal and the new geopolitics of mineral resources

Luís Martins, President of the Portugal Mineral Resources Cluster (CPMR), examines Portugal’s potential role in European economic security and the strategic importance of its mineral resources, including copper, tungsten, lithium and gold.

Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and export restrictions between major powers, the author argues that raw materials have become instruments of sovereignty and that Portugal should treat mining as strategic infrastructure, on a par with energy or ports. He recalls that the European Critical Raw Materials Act sets targets for 2030 and speeds up strategic projects.

He reviews the country’s potential: copper from the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Neves-Corvo, Aljustrel, Lagoa Salgada), tungsten from Panasqueira and Borralha, which he presents as a reliable source of supply for Europe, as well as lithium and gold. He proposes mining and industrial value chains that create skilled jobs, engineering and research in the regions, under demanding environmental control.

Why is Alentejo getting poorer?

In an opinion piece published in Público on 14 January 2026, Carlos A. Cupeto, a geologist and professor at the University of Évora, reflects on poverty in Alentejo and the role of mineral resources in regional development.

Drawing on the “Portugal Desigual” study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, the author notes that in 2024 Alentejo became the poorest region in the country, with its at-risk-of-poverty rate rising from 15.6% to 17.9% while the national rate fell. Geography explains part of it, but he also points to depopulation, loss of human capital, a fragile business sector and a culture of fatalism.

He argues that the region has strategic mineral and geological resources that remain unused, such as the gold at Escoural or the Lagoa Salgada project in Grândola, and calls for the political courage to develop them with environmental rigour and local returns, in a debate free of dogma about the roles of the state, companies and communities.

Read in Público (in Portuguese)