Saratoga Investment Corp 7.50% Annual Report 2024

Plain-text annual report

SAVANNAH RESOURCES PLC Company No 07307107 ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 1 CONTENTS Page BUSINESS REVIEW Company at a glance 2 Chairman’s Statement 5 Chief Executive’s Report 12 ESG Report 17 Strategic Report 36 Barroso Lithium Project Overview 60 GOVERNANCE Report of the Directors 78 Remuneration Report 80 Corporate Governance Statement 84 Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities 87 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Report of the Independent Auditors 88 Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income 96 Consolidated Statement of Financial Position 97 Company Statement of Financial Position 98 Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity 99 Company Statement of Changes in Equity 100 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 101 Company Statement of Cash Flows 102 Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements 103 GLOSSARY 131 COMPANY INFORMATION IBC COMPANY AT A GLANCE Company overview and evolution Savannah Resources is a natural resources development company. Its primary listing is in the UK, on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and the Company’s shares are also traded in Germany on the Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart Börses and in the US on the OTC Pink Market. The Company is committed to developing and maintaining a culture of integrity, social responsibility, environmental awareness and protection, and good governance in the conduct of its business. Current focus – the Barroso Lithium Project Since its creation and listing in 2010, the Company has owned, progressed and divested several projects in diﬀering commodities and geographies and is now wholly focused on the Barroso Lithium Project in Portugal (the ‘Project’, the ‘BLP’). This Project, with ﬁrst production targeted for 2027, has the potential to become a signiﬁcant component of Europe’s new lithium battery value chain. This new value chain is being championed by the European Commission as an integral part of the bloc’s energy transition strategy as it looks to become less dependent on external sources of raw materials and technology and create an economy with net‐zero production of greenhouse gas emissions as part of its eﬀorts to tackle climate change. Through the EU’s 2023 Critical Raw Materials Act, legislators have set a target of at least 10% of Europe’s demand for critical raw materials, such as lithium, to be sourced from domestic supply from 2030. The Barroso Lithium Project is uniquely positioned to safely and responsibly produce enough lithium raw material for at least 0.5 million vehicle battery packs per year (3.0m plug‐in electric vehicles were sold in Europe in 2024). Project history and work to date Lithium, feldspar and quartz mineralisation were identiﬁed in the Project area during the 1980s and a 30‐year Mining Lease was granted over the Project in 2006 to a previous owner (C‐100 Mining Lease, extendable by a further 20 years from 2036). Savannah acquired an initial 75% stake in 2017 which it increased to a 100% stake in 2019. To complement the C‐100 Mining Lease, Savannah also secured an option to acquire the adjacent three block Mining Lease Application area (now the C‐190 Mining Lease). This option was exercised in 2019 and the transaction can be completed by Savannah making a formal request to transfer the C‐190 Mining Lease to a company with the Group (and becoming liable for the acquisition cost), this will increase the Project’s footprint by around 50% to 8.36km2. Across the two Mining Leases, Savannah has completed over 40,000m of drilling to date as part of an extensive evaluation programme on the Project, which has also included two Scoping Studies (2018 and 2023). Through Savannah’s evaluation work, the Barroso Lithium Project now contains the largest spodumene lithium resource in Europe with a current JORC 2012 compliant Resource of 28Mt at 1.05% Li2O (725kt of lithium carbonate equivalent). The fact that Savannah’s Project bears spodumene mineralisation is important as this lithium‐bearing mineral has underpinned the development of the lithium industry in Australia into the largest lithium raw material production centre in the world. Hence, safe and responsible mining and processing of spodumene, are well‐established industrial practices. Savannah has applied this industry knowledge to its own development plans for the Barroso Lithium Project so that its impact on the natural environmental and local communities is minimised and all relevant Portuguese and European regulations are met or exceeded. Milestones achieved to date After an exhaustive three‐year process, which included two extended periods of public consultation, the Portuguese environmental regulator awarded the Project a positive environmental impact declaration (‘DIA’) with conditions in May 2023. The approved design for the Project features numerous measures to minimise its impact. Examples of these include, an innovative water system combining onsite collection with signiﬁcant recycling which allows the Project to be self‐sustaining for its water needs, a dry‐stack tailings storage facility which negates the need for a traditional ‘wet’ tailings dam, the comprehensive rehabilitation of all impacted land and water courses, and a new road which will keep Project‐related traﬃc out of local villages and towns. 2 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 COMPANY AT A GLANCE Importantly, the June 2023 Scoping Study which was based on this approved design showed the Project’s economic capacity to absorb the costs associated with this minimal impact approach. Based on expected average annual production of just under 200,000t of spodumene concentrate (26ktpa lithium carbonate equivalent), the Project was forecast to generate an average annual EBITDA of USD205m and annual net free cash ﬂow of USD124m. Overall, a post‐tax Net Present Value (‘NPV’) of USD953m was generated alongside an Internal Rate of Return (‘IRR’) of 77% and a payback period of just 1.3 years. Supported by the Project’s key environmental approval and the robust economics of the 2023 Scoping Study, Savannah initiated a Strategic Partnering Process in late 2023 and received signiﬁcant commercial interest from a range of groups from both within and outside of the lithium industry. The initial outcome from the process saw established lithium industry player, AMG Critical Materials N.V. (‘AMG’), invest GBP16m into Savannah and become its largest shareholder with a 15.8% stake in June 2024. This investment was coupled with a heads of terms agreement for 5 year offtake for 45ktpa of spodumene concentrate (representing ~25% of planned production) from the Project at market prices. Savannah and AMG can increase this offtake to 90ktpa over 10 years (representing ~50% of production) if AMG can assist Savannah in securing an acceptable ‘full ﬁnancing solution’ for the Project. A signiﬁcant step forward was made in this potential ﬁnancing process, when Euler Hermes AG, the export credit agency acting for the German Government, conﬁrmed the Project’s eligibility for a guarantee on a loan up to USD270 million in December 2024. Savannah’s latest milestone has been the classiﬁcation of the Barroso Lithium Project as a ‘Strategic Project’ by the European Commission (‘EC’) under the Critical Raw Materials Act in March 2025. The EC has selected the Project, alongside 46 others, as they contribute to the EU's secure supply of strategic raw materials, adhere to environmental, social and governance criteria and, are technically feasible and demonstrate clear cross‐border beneﬁts for the EU. As a result, Strategic Projects should beneﬁt from coordinated support by the Commission, Member States and ﬁnancial institutions to become operational. Current work and development timetable Savannah is currently working on the Project’s Deﬁnitive Feasibility Study (‘DFS’) and the conﬁrmation phase of the environmental licencing process. It expects to complete these two tasks by the end of 2025. Once achieved, these major milestones for the Project would be followed by a Final investment Decision, securing of a development ﬁnancing package and further strategic partnerships. Subject to ﬁnancing, construction is expected to start in 2026 with commissioning and ﬁrst production targeted for 2027, to coincide with the forecast of tightening conditions in the lithium market and higher prices. Sharing the beneﬁts of the Project with all stakeholders Alongside the signiﬁcant returns the Project could generate for Savannah’s shareholders, it could also contribute over USD900m in taxes and royalties to be shared between the local authority and Portuguese Government. However, this is only one of a host of socio‐economic beneﬁts that the Project can generate for its stakeholders in the future. Savannah has been actively engaged with local stakeholders since it ﬁrst became involved with the Project in 2017 and has been supporting local organisations, working with local businesses and employing local people throughout that period. Once in production, the Project’s socio‐economic impact will be signiﬁcantly scaled up. This will include the creation of c.350 direct jobs and around 2,000 indirect and induced jobs in the wider economy. In addition, key infrastructure including a new road connecting directly with the highway network will be shared with the local population, and far greater ﬁnancial resources will be committed to supporting community initiatives, education and training. Savannah’s Key Pillars Corporate • Experienced: 15 years as a listed mineral exploration & development company, Board features 5 experienced international Non‐Executive Directors (‘NEDs’) supporting 3 C‐suite executives who cover key work areas, and growing technical and support teams featuring seasoned professionals • Focused: Pure play lithium development company • Strong Governance/Low risk: UK registered Plc, regulated by UK law and London Stock Exchange compliance & controls; Operating in Portugal, an EU member state SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 3 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Project • Critical: Recognised by the European Commission as a secure, responsibly managed, domestic supply of a ‘Critical’ and ‘Strategic’ material for Europe’s energy transition • Achievable: A well advanced project with conventional mining, processing & lithium mineralogy and a modest CAPEX • Expandable: Already Europe’s largest spodumene lithium resource, but open to further extensions • Valuable: Value recognised by industry partner (AMG), but full value still to be reﬂected in share price • Financeable: Modest CAPEX, high IRR. Eligible for up to USD270m loan guarantee from German Government • Investable: Great project, experienced team, EU location, positive lithium market outlook, upside 4 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 COMPANY AT A GLANCE Further information available at www.savannahresources.com. CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 5 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Signiﬁcant progress made against a challenging backdrop It is a pleasure to be delivering my ﬁrst annual statement to shareholders as Chair of your Company. Savannah made some very important progress with its wholly owned Barroso Lithium Project in Portugal during 2024 despite it being another challenging period for the lithium sector and marked by ongoing global geopolitical uncertainty. Savannah ﬁnished the year strongly with our team back in the ﬁeld preparing for our next major drilling campaign. This followed other signiﬁcant achievements including, our clear and comprehensive response to Operation Inﬂuencer, the creation of our ﬁrst strategic partnership with AMG accompanied by a direct investment of GBP16m in the Company, signiﬁcant growth in the Company’s Portuguese shareholder base, the receipt of ﬁrm backing for the Project from the country’s government and parliament, and a doubling in the Company’s share price. Given the backdrop of wider events, this progress was both hard won and very signiﬁcant. With so much ‘noise’ in the media, global politics and capital markets at present, I think it is more important than ever to focus on the facts when trying to interpret underlying trends and key themes. In Savannah’s universe, that includes looking at battery demand as demonstrated by EV sales and growth in battery energy storage systems (‘BESS’), the trend in lithium prices and relevant activities inside and outside of the lithium sector. Across these three indicators I see reason for optimism as we move further into 2025. This optimism has been further fuelled in recent weeks with the Barroso Lithium Project being selected among the ﬁrst group of European projects to be classiﬁed by the European Commission as ‘Strategic Projects’ in March 2025. This classiﬁcation greatly validates our Project and should result in coordinated support from the Commission, Member States and ﬁnancial institutions to become operational. Drilling at the Barroso Lithium Project during the Phase 2 DFS programme Source: Company CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT 6 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Returning to market fundamentals, such as battery demand, and contrary to many reports in the mainstream press, EV sales were strong last year. The Chinese market continued to dominate, recording 1m+ sales per month for the ﬁrst time and seeing 40% year on year growth to 11m vehicles. Growth was also seen in North America (+9% to 1.8m EVs) and the Rest of the World (+27% to 1.3m EVs) and although European sales declined by 3% to 3m units, largely due to a weakening German market, growth was seen in many countries, including the UK and Portugal. Overall, EV sales grew by 25% to 17.1m worldwide last year and have started 2025 strongly too (source: Rho Motion). Rho Motion is forecasting sales of 20m units in 2025 (+18%) with growth in all major markets, including Europe. Growth in battery grid storage capacity in 2024 was even more impressive than EVs, surpassing early expectations for the year with over 200GWh of capacity installed worldwide, a 53% increase year‐on‐year (source: Rho Motion). As with EVs, China also dominates the BESS sector, seeing a 66% increase in its grid scale battery storage capacity and accounting for 59% of the world’s overall capacity. However, Europe saw the fastest rate of growth at 110% with North America matching China at 66% year‐on‐year. While other battery technologies exist in this rapidly growing sector, it is still dominated (87% of total energy storage installations) by Lithium iron phosphate (‘LFP’) batteries. Hence, despite the persistently challenging economic environment, we have clear evidence of strong demand growth in the two key applications for batteries, lithium’s key demand segment of the future. Despite this reasonable short‐term demand, lithium commodity prices continued to decline following the c.80% fall recorded in 2023. Lithium chemical prices fell by over 30% and spodumene was down around 14% vs. year end 2023 levels (based on S&P Global Platts data). Importantly, in the case of spodumene concentrate, the 2024 year end price of USD830/t is still well above our Project’s breakeven average price of USD650/t (for 6% Li2O spodumene concentrate based on the 2023 Scoping Study). As a pre‐production company, Savannah is largely insulated from current prices. However, as recent ﬁnancial results from current producers and those commissioning projects have shown, current price levels for spodumene and lithium chemicals are uneconomic for many and therefore unsustainable given the growth in output required to meet forecast future demand. During 2024, the lithium producers frequently responded to the sustained price pressure by cutting production to stimulate price recovery. While this initially had some positive impact during Q1 and Q2, the trend was reversed in Q3 before a subsequent minor rally began on the back of more production shutdowns and a slight improvement in sentiment. Pleasingly, this upward trend has continued into early 2025. Having been through a number of lithium cycles myself already with my previous companies, Orocobre and Allkem, I’m conﬁdent that pricing will improve over time to a level at which all participants along the battery value chain can thrive again and this view continues to tie in with the market consensus. Demand is still forecast to grow signiﬁcantly over the next decade with prices rising alongside it as market conditions tighten and move into deﬁcit from 2028 onwards (source: Canaccord Genuity). All of which suits Savannah as we continue to target ﬁrst production from the Barroso Lithium Project in 2027. While current pricing trends are yet to demonstrate a ﬁrm recovery in demand, I believe other activities in and around the market continue to ﬂag lithium’s ongoing signiﬁcance and strategic importance for the future. For example, the sector did see some notable M&A activity during the year, indicating that the industry itself continues to mature and see opportunity in the current low‐price environment. This began last January with the completion of the merger of, Allkem with Livent to create a new lithium major, Arcadium Lithium (‘Arcadium’). Arcadium subsequently received a USD6.7bn proposed takeover from Rio Tinto in October, which represented a 90% premium to Arcadium’s market value at the time. That deal completed in March 2025, making Rio Tinto one of the largest producers in the sector. In addition, in August, Pilbara Minerals proposed an all ‐share acquisition of Brazilian developer, Latin Resources, for USD369m, a 57% premium to Latin’s share price at the time in a deal which completed in February 2025. There was also greater engagement in the sector from key governments. In Europe, the Critical Raw Materials Act came into eﬀect, and as I ﬂagged earlier, we were delighted when the Barroso Lithium Project was classiﬁed by the European Commission as a ‘Strategic Project’ in March 2025. We now look forward to engaging with the authorities to leverage this support as well as additional potential opportunities that may stem from other relevant new policies which the European Commission is enacting. All in all, this should create a CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 7 Financial Statements Governance Business Review stronger and more supportive development framework for the minerals industry and battery value chain in the region. We also enjoyed critical support from the Portuguese Government during the year which showed the value it places on our Project by granting the temporary land access order in December which we needed to continue our ﬁeldwork on land at the Project which the Company does not own. In the USA, many companies beneﬁtted from funding through the Inﬂation Reduction Act. Following the return of President Trump to oﬃce that source of government funding is now in question. However, the ongoing signiﬁcance of critical minerals to the US, has been made abundantly clear in other ways by the new President, including through his interest in making Greenland a US territory and in receiving access to Ukraine’s critical mineral wealth in exchange for ongoing support and brokering of a peace deal with Russia. China too continues to push hard at all points in the battery value chain both domestically and internationally, to maintain and grow its already dominant position. Hence, I believe, many of the elements for a supportive background to our continued progress are appearing or are already in place. My sector experience tells me that the path ahead will likely have further bumps and turns, but that we will be able to complete our journey and reach our target of becoming a major European lithium producer. Drilling at the Barroso Lithium Project and Savannah’s geologists examining drillcore samples Source: Company Savannah’s key successes in 2024 The Company made some very important progress during 2024 both at the Project and corporately, which continues to contribute to the de‐risking of Project and the optimisation of the Company as an investment opportunity. Our key achievements at the Project during the year are summarised below. CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT Progress towards the major DFS and environmental licence milestones These two milestones are the next key deliverables on the Project, and the Board and I are supporting the team to push hard to achieve these goals. Completion of the ﬁrst phase of the drilling required for these studies in May 2024 represented a good start, particularly with the programme delivering the highest lithium intercepts recorded to date at the Project from the Pinheiro deposit and showing again the potential extensions to other orebodies. Even though we have already outlined Europe’s largest spodumene resource, this Project clearly has much more to oﬀer in terms of resource potential. The data from our current drilling programme is critical for a number of aspects of the DFS, including resource modelling and pit design, and for the environmental licence for its various hydrology‐related studies. However, there is much work that goes into the DFS aside from the drilling, such as infrastructure planning and design, and the team also advanced these key themes during the year in partnership with our highly experienced consultants. The environmental team also continued to gather the all‐important background data required for the RECAPE submission to the environmental regulator. Combined with the key design features which will come from the DFS, this baseline data will conﬁrm Savannah’s ability to construct and operate the Project in line with all the conditions set as part of the positive DIA award in 2023. Savannah expects to complete the DFS and submission of the environmental licence by the end of 2025. Further expansion of the team With Project work ramping up during the year, Savannah responded by adding staﬀ in key areas. This not only included those critical to the technical work, such as geologists and ﬁeld assistants (with some hires coming from the existing local population), but also in Community Relations and in Communications. Our Project is able to attract good quality staﬀ and the fact that the vast majority are Portuguese underlines the interest and support the Project enjoys domestically. Furthermore, a considerable number are now living full time in the Project area while others are spending signiﬁcant time there, utilising the additional staﬀ accommodation we have added recently. Overall, the team in Portugal approximately doubled during the year to over 25. Deepening our integration with local stakeholders During the year our community relations and communications teams organised a comprehensive programme of meetings, events, initiatives and media publications which signiﬁcantly boosted our engagement with local stakeholders. Equally importantly, however, is the greater interaction and organic relationship building which has come through increasing the size of our team living and working locally. I will leave you to read more about stakeholder engagement activities in subsequent sections of the Report, but I’m pleased to conﬁrm that we are seeing positive results from this greater, more proactive, engagement. This may not always be apparent to those viewing from afar and simply seeing headlines about the Project, but at the local level there are now many more people willing to engage with us, speak in favour of the Project or show their support in other ways. At the same time, the impact of those vehemently opposed to the Project is being diluted as the discussion and presentation of this critical raw material project in the media becomes more balanced. It is clear to us, while understandable concerns among local communities about the future impact of the Project remain, stakeholders are wanting and valuing accurate information being made available, not misinformation. In this way they can make informed decisions about the Project and make plans about what it will mean for them. I believe that an increasing number share our view that the Project represents a signiﬁcant opportunity for the local population and the region and we welcome ongoing dialogue, feedback and engagement. Land acquisition and access Savannah continued with its land acquisition programme during the year and completed a further 9 transactions during 2024. This took the total number of properties owned by Savannah to 106 by year end with a further 13 under promissory notes with EUR2.1m paid to local community members for land to date. Acquisitions have continued into 2025 with new transactions already completed. However, to keep Project workstreams such as the DFS on track, Savannah undertook the legal process which grants it temporary access to land it does not currently own on the Project's concession area. After some delay caused by the change in Government during the year, the new Government demonstrated its support for the Project by granting the temporary land access order in December 2024, allowing Savannah to start immediate preparation for ﬁeldwork in the areas 8 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 9 Financial Statements Governance Business Review concerned. With an eye on the Project’s future development, the Company subsequently initiated the process for compulsory acquisition of relevant land which it does not own at the Project but Savannah continues to also oﬀer relevant landowners the opportunity to sell or lease land to the Company based on its previously proposed frameworks and rates. Award of the C‐190 Mining Lease In December 2024, the ‘C‐190’ Mining Lease application over the 3 block ‘Aldeia’ area was awarded to its current owners, the Portuguese company Aldeia & Irmão, S.A.. The new Mining Lease, which is adjacent to the C‐100 Lease has an initial duration of 25 years and can be extended twice, initially by a further 15 years and then by a further 10 years. With 3.5Mt of resource already outlined on Block A of the Lease area and following some exciting exploration results recently reported from Block B, this was an important development for the Project and reaﬃrms that mining is seen by the government as a priority land use in this area due to its signiﬁcant mineral wealth. Our major achievements on a corporate front included: Our strategic partnership with AMG We now have AMG Critical Materials N.V (‘AMG’) onboard as our ﬁrst strategic partner, largest shareholder and proposed ﬁrst offtaker. This was the initial outcome from the Strategic Partnering Process we ran during 2023‐24. The GBP16m equity investment by this established lithium group last June, which was made at a signiﬁcant premium to the share price at the time, gave us a greater ﬁnancial reserve with which to push on as quickly as we can with the current work programme. Meanwhile the connection into Germany, as demonstrated in December when the Project’s eligibility for a German Government loan guarantee of up to USD270m was announced, further shows the scale of the long ‐term value of this relationship. I am sure many more beneﬁts of this European‐focused partnership will present themselves as we proceed together, and we are looking forward particularly to collaborating on the study for potential joint construction of a spodumene‐to‐ lithium carbonate reﬁnery in Portugal or Spain. Growth of our Portuguese shareholder base Savannah has also greatly beneﬁtted from the signiﬁcant support it has received from our new Portuguese investors. Portuguese individuals and institutions, including retail investors from the Boticas region as well as some of the country’s most prominent entrepreneurs and businesses such as Mario Ferreira and Grupo Lusiaves, now own close to 20% of the Company. This follows consistent buying in the market over the last year and the size of the shareholding clearly demonstrates the growing in‐country interest and support for the Project and Savannah. This interest is not only as a simple investment opportunity, but also because many Portuguese people want to support the development of a new national industry based on Portugal’s substantial natural resources, its existing infrastructure and high‐quality workforce. Reconﬁguring the Board for project development Savannah’s Board has seen signiﬁcant change over recent years and my thanks go again to my predecessor in the Chair, Matthew King and to former Non‐Executive Directors James Leahy and Mary Jo Jacobi who all stepped down in June 2024. I’m sure I speak for all in saying that their direction and counsel over many years as the Company ﬁrst developed and then streamlined its portfolio of projects is greatly appreciated. Following Emanuel Proença’s appointment to the Board in April and my own appointment as Chair and Diogo de Silveira’s appointment as Deputy Chairman in June, we welcomed Mike Connor to the Board in August 2024 as the representative of AMG. Mike, who joined our Board as a Non‐Executive Director, is Chief Corporate Development Oﬃcer at AMG and a member of its Management Board. Mike has been involved in building AMG’s own lithium business and played a signiﬁcant role in creating the strategic partnership with Savannah. Hence, he is well placed to act as the link between our companies and to provide insight to Savannah based on AMG’s deep lithium sector knowledge. With Mike’s appointment and the other changes made last year, I believe Savannah now has the skills and experience necessary on its Board to successfully direct the development of this Project. While every project is diﬀerent, the development of mining projects typically follows well established processes in relation to their ﬁnancing and technical development. We have Board members, including myself, who have been intimately involved in such projects in a variety of commodities, including lithium. However, and of equal importance to the successful development of a project, is the ability to operate in the jurisdiction concerned. Knowledge of local business practices and relationships with key CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT stakeholders is essential. Hence, with two Portuguese Directors in senior positions at the Company, we believe we have the local expertise to successfully steer the Project through to production. Gaining greater political support In addition to the European Commission and German Government support highlighted above, we have also enjoyed valuable support from the Portuguese Government and parliament. Clear government support was shown by the award of the temporary land access order in December, and again in February 2025, via the ‘Reasoned Resolution’ from the Minister for the Environment and Energy which led to the immediate lifting of the suspension on our ﬁeldwork activities. Furthermore, in September, following a debate in the Portuguese Parliament about domestic lithium development, only 6% of MPs voted to try to restrict our Project. Cross party support in Portugal for economic development, including the creation of the battery value chain in Portugal remains strong. The UK Government also remains an advocate of the Project, and we were delighted to win the 2024 Overseas Direct Investment Award from the UK‐Portugal Business Alliance. We were also very pleased to welcome HM Ambassador Lisa Bandari at site, as well as the Australian Ambassador to Portugal, Indra McCormick, and representatives from the German Embassy. Savannah’s key challenges during the year As I said above, our achievements in the year were hard won and for completeness and transparency it is important to highlight some of the issues which our team have faced and eﬀectively dealt with during the year. Project opposition and misinformation I have already spoken about the noise around the Project from those who are vehemently opposed to it being increasingly countered by a growing number in our local communities who support the Project and those just wishing to understand the facts and not wishing to be labelled with the extreme views and behaviour of others. However, as we advance the Project, I have no doubt that those which remain against its development will continue to distribute more misinformation and seek ways and means to hinder progress. Shareholders should be assured that we are equally committed in our resolve to maintain progress, to work safely, respectfully and within the law, to listen and respond to genuine concerns from stakeholders, to continue the distribution of accurate information about the Project, and to keep engaging regularly with all of the Project’s local stakeholders. We are also ﬁrmly committed to upholding our legal rights to conduct this important work and to seek redress from those involved if we are impacted by wrongdoing or misinformation. Change of national government The ﬁrst half of 2024 was also marked by a change of government in Portugal with the centre‐right Democratic Alliance (AD), led by Luís Montenegro, forming a minority centre‐right government and replacing the previous majority government of the Socialist Party (PS). Following this, Savannah was eﬀective in developing relationships with the new incumbents within the new government and other public entities. However, the change of government did lead to a delay of more than half a year in the development of the Project due to the time taken to receive approval for the temporary land access order we required to proceed with our ﬁeldwork on land situated on the Project's concession area, which the Company does not own. As a result, it was necessary to push back delivery of the DFS and conﬁrmation of the environmental licence into the second half of 2025 and ﬁrst production from 2026 to 2027. However, as I have highlighted, the Project will still be coming online at a time of much more favourable market conditions and higher prices. Operation Inﬂuencer The Operation Inﬂuencer investigation which the Portuguese Public Prosecutor initiated in November 2023 obviously impacted the Company’s brand and share price at the time and into early 2024. However, Savannah responded quickly, comprehensively and professionally with a full independent legal review and legal opinions on its business, the ﬁndings of which were released on 30 January 2024. The independent legal review found no evidence which would give rise to liability of the Company. It also found no evidence of improper oﬀers, improper payments, or other forms of wrongdoing by the Company regarding the suspicions set out in the Investigation. The separate legal opinions also conﬁrmed that, based on the ﬁndings of the independent legal review, but also on the functioning of the Portuguese permitting process, past legal experience, and constitutional protections, under no realistic circumstance would the Project's 10 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT execution and its expected future cash ﬂows be at risk from the Investigation's ﬁndings. The conclusions of the independent legal review and the legal opinions demonstrated Savannah's solid legal position in relation to the alleged facts and circumstances contained in Operation Inﬂuencer. Though the investigation continues and no guidance on future steps or outcome can be given at this stage, Savannah had no further signiﬁcant contact with the investigating authorities during the year and has been able to continue with all its work unencumbered. Financial Overview From an opening cash position of GBP9.7m, Savannah recorded its highest ever cash balance of GBP22.0m in June 2024 following the GBP16m equity investment from AMG. With the ﬁrst phase of DFS‐related drilling completed by May, Savannah was keen to maintain this momentum and utilise its replenished cash reserves in support of the second phase of the planned programme. However, the delay caused by the completion of the temporary land access process, meant the second phase of drilling was delayed and spending in the second half of the year was less than expected, though staﬀ costs did rise as forecasted due to the larger team and key workstreams not related to ﬁeldwork continuing. Overall ongoing investment in the Portuguese asset base reached GBP4.6m (2023: GBP2.3m). As a result, the Company ﬁnished the year with GBP17.7m of funds in bank, which is now being committed to the completion of the DFS and conﬁrmation of the environmental licence later this year. In terms of the broader ﬁnancial performance, Savannah recorded a loss from continuing operations of GBP4.4m (2023: GBP3.5m). Administration costs for 2024 amounted to GBP4.3m (2023: GBP3.5m), representing a 23% increase, and is driven by investments in building a strong team for the development of the Project. Foreign exchange losses rose from GBP0.1m to GBP0.4m as a result of the strengthening of the GBP against the EUR and AUD, in which the group held cash balances which matched the planned expenditure. On the other hand, by the careful cash management the Group reported Finance Income of GBP0.3m (2023: GBP0.1m). Discontinued Operations Income of GBP0.2m (2023: loss GBP0.2m) is primarily driven by the reduction of the tax provision (Note 19). Outlook In my previous reports to shareholders I have said that Savannah is in its strongest ever position with the Project and I continue to believe that is the case. Lithium is established as a metal critical to future global economic growth and tackling the impacts of climate change. We have an excellent Project and a capable team. Corporate activity remains high with one of the largest M&A transactions in the whole mining sector seen in lithium during the year. Europe has committed to developing a domestic critical raw materials industry, our Project has been among the ﬁrst to be classiﬁed as a Strategic Project, and the Portuguese Government has demonstrated its support on multiple occasions. Savannah has cash in the bank to allow the continuation of our value adding work on the Project and we have a supportive, highly credible ﬁrst strategic partner. We also retain 100% of the Project and at least 50% of the future lithium offtake. Hence, we have the signiﬁcant leverage with which to strike other partnerships and secure further ﬁnance. Given that backdrop, we should look to the future with great conﬁdence and seize the opportunity to progress our Project as quickly as we can towards production while continuing to build meaningful ties with local stakeholders. In that way, we will be ready to take advantage of the more favourable conditions and higher prices, which will return to the market in the future. We must also communicate our story as widely as we can to increase awareness of Savannah as an attractive investment opportunity in the battery metals and energy transition sectors. We were pleased with the 100%+ improvement in the Company’s share price during the year, but much greater value remains to be crystallised in our market value. 2025 is set to be another very important year in the development of Savannah and the Barroso Lithium Project. The team and I look forward to reporting on our progress as we move forward. My thanks go to our shareholders, staﬀ, and stakeholders for their ongoing support and to our dedicated team for their continuing hard work. Rick Anthon Chairman Date: 9 April 2025 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 11 Financial Statements Governance Business Review 12 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 I am delighted to have this opportunity to provide an update for shareholders on what was my ﬁrst full year in the CEO role at Savannah. We took a number of very important steps towards development of the Barroso Lithium Project during 2024, which will make 2025 a pivotal and exciting year for the Company. In my ﬁrst CEO’s report to shareholders last year, I listed some key observations which I had made about our business during my early months in the role. I also identiﬁed the key areas (project development and delivery, team building, growing our mandate for the Project’s development, and changing the perception of Savannah) which I would be focusing on to make the Barroso Lithium Project a reality and to deliver greater value to shareholders. I provide an update on the progress made in those key areas below. 1. Project development & delivery Project delivery is fundamental to everything we do and it remains the top priority for me and the team. Development of the Project and eventual supply of responsibly sourced lithium raw material into the European market represents Savannah’s best opportunity to generate maximum value for shareholders. Fulﬁlling this goal would also mean that Savannah makes a meaningful contribution to economic growth locally, nationally and potentially in a number of other countries as well while playing its part in society’s eﬀorts to tackle climate change and decrease geopolitical and geoeconomic tensions. Our near‐term goals are delivery of the DFS and the RECAPE submission for the Project by the end of 2025. Achieving those targets will keep us on track to start construction of the Project in 2026 and to reach the greatest milestone to date for the Project and the Company, ﬁrst production, in 2027. Our job is to make every eﬀort to reach that point and hence we need to control and manage as many of the inputs and variables in the multiple processes involved in achieving that goal as we can. To this end, we successfully managed and executed a number of elements during the year. This included, securing additional ﬁnancing and our ﬁrst strategic partnership, building out our team, completing the ﬁrst phase of drilling and other important ﬁeldwork, advancing DFS design work and environmental studies away from the ﬁeld, strengthening our ties with the local community and frequently engaging with key Portuguese State entities and government stakeholders. We also continued with our land acquisition programme, adding more plots during the year and passing the 100‐plot milestone. Knowing that we would not be able to acquire all the land plots we need to complete the DFS‐related ﬁeldwork, we also applied for a temporary land access order from the government to gain permission to work on ground we do not own. This application was made well in advance of access being required. Unfortunately, the change of government in Portugal during the year (the application had been made to the previous government) meant that the granting of the order took much longer than expected, which impacted our timeline. Most importantly though, the order was eventually granted in December 2024 and we moved straight into the ﬁeld. Drilling commenced in January 2025 and as at 31 March 2025, 57 holes have been drilled for a total of 6,204m. Any slippage from the timetable is a frustration for all, and though the cause was a matter which we could not control, we have taken learnings from the experience, which we are already applying. The most obvious of these is on future land management. We have stated many times that our preference is to reach amicable agreements with owners on sales or access rights to land on the Mining Lease. We have been pursuing this policy since 2021 and have purchased over 100 plots to date and injected EUR2.1m into the local community as a result. Savannah will continue to oﬀer landowners the opportunity to sell or lease land. However, we have chosen to also initiate the process for compulsory purchase of relevant land at the Project, in advance of it being required, in order to maintain the Project’s development schedule. This is a very commonly used legal process in relation to infrastructure projects in Portugal and has been used previously in the region surrounding our Project for hydroelectric dams and roads. It also oﬀers a practical solution for completing purchases in a variety of situations, e.g. for plots with inheritance issues, undeﬁned ownership, or very small dimensions. Though not our chosen approach, it is the appropriate time to utilise this legal process. Overall, our goal is to continue to increase the level of control we have in all aspects of the Project’s development schedule. No doubt there will be other CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 13 Financial Statements Governance Business Review unexpected situations as we move forward with the Project, but we are ﬁrmly focused on clearing as many obstacles from the path as we can so that the technical team and our consultants can progress eﬃciently with their work. We can then demonstrate this Project’s economic, environmental and social credentials to the required level of accuracy to secure the licencing, ﬁnance and commercial support we need to make this Project a great success. 2. Team building As a function of the Project’s ongoing progress towards key milestones and future development, the team in Portugal has increased by 109% since the start of 2024 with the Company’s total staﬀ, including those in Australia and the UK now standing at approximately 40, excluding Non‐Executive Board Directors. 82% of our staﬀ are Portuguese nationals and our demographic is approximately 70:30 male to female, which is signiﬁcantly more balanced than the current industry standard (source: McKinsey). We continue to promote employment of local community members wherever possible and are delighted that more chose to join the team during the year. With the Project and Company maturing, not only have we made excellent hires to our technical team in support of the ongoing appraisal work, but also in functions such as Community Relations, Communications and HR. The extra capacity in these areas is proving critical as we increase our engagement with stakeholders and the wider population and look to introduce more formal business processes into the Company. Based on the number of inquiries and applications we continue to receive, interest in working for Savannah is growing and we look forward to further expanding our team in 2025 and beyond. CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT CEO Emanuel Proença and other members of the Savannah team in the Boticas Information Centre Source: Company 14 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 In parallel with our team building, we are also increasing and improving Savannah’s footprint in the local area so that our colleagues, old and new, have suitable places to live and work. In recent months we have completed the comprehensive refurbishment of the former core shed to create our ‘Geology Centre’, which now features substantial oﬃce space for our technical team alongside the warehouse area for logging core and cutting and preparing samples. The Centre has also become an excellent space for hosting our regular community events to which we are now regularly attracting more than 100 people. We are also in the ﬁnal stages of ﬁtting out a new 30‐person oﬃce in the town of Boticas, close to our Information Centre. This will provide working space for the Environmental, Community Relations, Communication, Technical, and Administration teams, as well as for additional employees as they come onboard. In terms of accommodation, we have taken on and refurbished additional houses in the local area, so that colleagues can live there permanently or stay for extended periods. As of today, we have 16 colleagues permanently living in the local area, the majority of which were existing local residents, with a further 7 living there during the week. A corporate oﬃce in Lisbon has also been opened. Once in operation, the Project is expected to employ approximately 300 people directly, so there is clearly much work for us still to do in terms of securing more work and living space for our growing team and contractors. In addition to strengthening bonds within our own team, the great beneﬁt we have seen from having more of our staﬀ living and staying locally has been the extra opportunities it provides to build ties with the local community. We are simply more ‘present’ and that has proved to be of great value and will be even more so in the future. 3. Getting support to achieve the achievable In last year’s report I talked about the Project being ‘achievable’ for Savannah based on its scale, conventional mineralogy and modest capital requirements, and making sure that we ‘achieve the achievable’. Part of making that happen is partnerships and ﬁnance and a major success of 2024 was the completion of our ﬁrst strategic partnership. With its combined experience in open pit spodumene mining in Brazil (another lithium producing Portuguese speaking country!) and lithium chemical production in Germany, AMG is an ideal partner for Savannah. Its investment of GBP16m last June at a signiﬁcant premium to the prevailing share price, and becoming our biggest shareholder in the process, was an early demonstration of AMG’s positive view on Savannah and the value it places on spodumene offtake from a reliable, European source. This is further underlined by its willingness to take a leading role in helping us to secure a full ﬁnancing solution for the Project. Already this has led to a strong endorsement for the Project from the German Government and associated entities through the form of a potential USD270m loan guarantee. We are very excited to pursue these ﬁnancing opportunities with AMG, as well as the joint study we are planning on a potential reﬁnery. This ﬁrst deal also leaves us still owning 100% of the Project and at least 50% of the future offtake. Hence, we have signiﬁcant leverage available to attract other partners and associated ﬁnance. We will continue to engage with other potential partners during the remainder of the year as we move towards the next milestones and then project ﬁnancing and start of construction in 2026. We will also progress discussions with potential partners for our by‐products (feldspar‐quartz and potentially mica) during the year. On both fronts it will be exciting to see the additional commercial interest the Project generates. 4. Leveraging our mandate I believe our mandate to develop the Project increased signiﬁcantly during 2024 and into early 2025 with more stakeholders stepping forward to give us their backing. Successive Portuguese Governments have now demonstrated their support for the Project through critical approvals on environmental licencing and land access. It was particularly pleasing to read in the Reasoned Resolution submitted to the Mirandela court by the Minister for Environment and Energy in response to a claim made by three local landowners in February 2025 that the government, “…believe that any postponement of the execution of the administrative act (the temporary land access order) being challenged in court is …seriously detrimental to the public interest, and that its full eﬀectiveness should be maintained”. This Resolution not only allowed us to immediately restart our work on land concerned, it also clearly reconﬁrmed the Portuguese State's view on the value of the Project to Portugal and the strength with which it will act to support its ongoing development. We also had the wider Portuguese Parliament voting strongly in favour of lithium development last September. CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 15 Financial Statements Governance Business Review CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT This national government support was decisively complemented in March 2025 by the European Commission’s classiﬁcation of the Project as a ‘Strategic Project’ under the Critical Raw Materials Act, which came in force during 2024. This validation is a massive boost to our mandate to develop the Project, and the classiﬁcation should also result in practical assistance from the Commission and its agencies in getting the Project into production. Engaging with the key actors and leveraging this opportunity will now be an important task during the remainder of 2025. Away from government, and alongside AMG making a signiﬁcant investment and becoming our largest shareholder, we saw rapid growth in our Portuguese shareholder base which now represents close to 20% of our register. Notably, our Portuguese shareholders range from members of our local communities through to an institution, a prominent entrepreneur and a major Portuguese business. Earlier this year we also saw the formation of the ‘Future of Barroso Association’ by a group of local people. They represent those in the community who wish to engage with the Project to ensure that the opportunities it generates are maximised for local people. Savannah looks forward to engaging more with this group going forward, as part of its wider stakeholder engagement activities. While wider agendas across these stakeholder groups may vary, they, like all our other existing shareholders, share a desire to see this Project move forward. Together, they make for a very strong support base for the Project and provide great conﬁdence to us. We will be sure to highlight and utilise this mandate as we push forward. 5. Changing the perception of Savannah I said last year that I thought this was the biggest challenge that Savannah faced. I think it still is, but that does not mean that we haven’t made some very signiﬁcant improvements to Savannah’s brand over the last year. Throughout this report you will read about the great work that our Community Relations and wider team have done at a local level to build trust and deepen ties with our local communities. This has yielded results, as demonstrated by local people applying jobs with us and the attendance we see at our community events. Much work remains to be done, and we understand that many identiﬁed concerns still need to be addressed. We are committed to doing this and remain ﬁrm in our view that with regular engagement, provision of accurate information, eﬀective community‐related policies, and by listening more than talking, we will continue to build understanding and acceptance. This will also further reduce the impact of the small group which wishes to stop the Project’s development. Welcoming local stakeholders to our Information Centre in Boticas Source: Company 16 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT In the media, thanks to the hard work of our expanded Communications team, we have seen improvement in the balance of coverage the Project receives both within Portugal and elsewhere. Importantly, we have been able to secure more media coverage ‘on our terms’, i.e. not just where we are being asked to respond to some misinformation or allegation voiced by those against the Project. We are also speaking more regularly on the investment attributes of the Project having received more interest from business journalists. The Project is perhaps too frequently ‘big news’ in Portugal and given its signiﬁcance to Europe’s energy transition it also attracts good interest elsewhere across print, radio, TV and online. During 2025, we will continue to try to translate this widespread interest into coverage on the Project’s many positive attributes including its strong investment case. Away from the press, we marketed the Company extensively last year to industry participants through the strategic partnering process and at conferences, and to investors via online presentations, roadshows, podcasts and investor events. Already in 2025, we have marketed in the UK, Portugal, Australia and at multiple industry and investor events. More is planned for the remainder of the year as we look to raise awareness of Savannah in key markets and with key stakeholders. To conclude, the team and I have a very clear job to do, which is to deliver the Project. Our top priority short term goals being completion of the DFS and conﬁrmation of the environmental licence. Alongside that we will continue to strategically build out our team, engage with the European Commission following the ‘Strategic Project’ classiﬁcation, re‐engage with potential commercial partners and strengthen our position in the local community as a respectful, responsible and supportive organisation. While the challenges ahead are many, the opportunities are even greater and the team and I am looking forward to pushing ahead as quickly as we can and reporting our progress as we go. Exciting times lie ahead for Savannah and my thanks go to our shareholders and stakeholders for their ongoing support. Emanuel Proença Chief Executive Oﬃcer Date: 9 April 2025 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 17 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Savannah continued to develop its ESG commitments during the year, in line with its development of the Barroso Lithium Project. This was demonstrated by the establishment of a sustainability board committee and further increasing staﬃng in areas such as environmental management, community relations and communications. We remain determined to demonstrate that a natural resource company, like Savannah, can ﬁt with the conservative perception of an ESG compliant company. We believe we can achieve this through the role we will play in the energy transition and the highly responsible and transparent way we conduct our business and deliver on our goals which include dedicated environmental stewardship, and sustained stakeholder engagement and beneﬁt sharing. Savannah continued to play an active role in local community events during 2024 Source: Company ESG REPORT Environmental The Company’s principal environmental focus throughout the year was the ‘Environmental Compliance Report of the Project Execution’ or ‘RECAPE’ phase of the Project’s environmental licencing process. Following submission of the Project’s Environmental Impact Assessment and subsequent receipt of the positive Declaration of Environmental Impact (‘DIA’) from the regulator in 2023, a positive outcome from the RECAPE phase, will conﬁrm compliance with the DIA and allow the Company to complete the environmental licencing for the Project. Savannah can then begin construction (subject to a positive Final Investment Decision and project ﬁnancing being obtained). The RECAPE submission needs to demonstrate compliance with the conditions imposed by the DIA, thus allowing veriﬁcation that the assumptions and expectations associated with the Project’s DIA approval are met. In practical terms, the RECAPE instruction requires the updating of several environmental criteria and for this reason it was necessary to develop several studies using ﬁeld activities, such as: • Biodiversity study – minimising the Project's impact on local Biodiversity (ﬂora and fauna), is a commitment achieved through a combination of close monitoring and specialised advice. For this reason, the speciﬁc monitoring programme which was begun in 2023 was continued to update existing data and to generate new data to help better manage the Project’s future operational practices. • Noise study – to optimise the existing Noise Management Plan, several exercises were carried out, including noise simulations. The identiﬁcation of the Company's commitments is necessary so that legal requirements are met and the Project’s noise is minimised. ISO 14001: 2015 – Environmental Management Systems In addition to the RECAPE work, the Company started the implementation and certiﬁcation process for the International Organisation of Standardisation’s (‘ISO’) 14001 standard, an internationally recognised standard for environmental management systems (‘EMS’). ISO 14001 provides a framework for organisations to design and implement an EMS and continually improve their environmental performance. By adhering to this standard, organisations, such as Savannah can consolidate its ESG strategy and ensure it is taking proactive measures to minimise their environmental footprint, comply with relevant legal requirements, and achieve its environmental objectives. The framework encompasses various aspects, from resource usage and waste management to monitoring environmental performance and involving stakeholders in environmental commitments. Alongside, Savannah’s speciﬁc commitments to the environment and relevant legislation in relation to the Barroso Lithium Project, achievement of the ISO 14001 standard will signal our broader commitment not only to regulatory compliance and ongoing environmental improvement but should also foster greater stakeholder trust as the Company looks to secure additional commercial partners and project ﬁnancing. During the year, Savannah began work on the Environmental Management Manual required for the Standard and the other EMS documents required. • Vibration study – any disturbance caused by blasting will be minimised through the application of best practices and constant monitoring, to keep vibrations below the limits established by legislation. The continuous study of this environmental parameter is essential for a good understanding of the potential impact on the entire area surrounding the Project, so that the Company can respond quickly and eﬀectively in any situation. • Archaeology/Heritage Study – although archaeological and cultural research was conducted during the EIA, ongoing monitoring is required with more targeted and systematic surveys carried out over the past year. • Water study – as with other environmental parameters, although the baseline reference situation was exhaustively characterised during the EIA, continuous monitoring is also required in support of the RECAPE submission. 18 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Water sampling & rehabilitation of previous drilling locations underway at the Barroso Lithium Project Source: Company ESG REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 19 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Together these will describe the organisation, the means and methodologies adopted to ensure eﬀective management of the EMS and to continuously improve our global environmental performance to contribute to the economic pillar of sustainability. In turn this will allow Savannah to have the capacity and means for other sustainability initiatives, in all aspects of its operation. This systematic approach to environmental management will provide senior management with information to create options to contribute to sustainable development through: • Protection of the environment, through the prevention or mitigation of adverse environmental impacts • Mitigating the potential adverse eﬀects of environmental conditions on the organisation • Supporting the organisation in fulﬁlling compliance obligations • Improving environmental performance • The control or inﬂuence of the way in which the organisation's products and services are designed, manufactured, distributed, consumed and given ﬁnal destination, using a life cycle perspective that can prevent environmental impacts from being unintentionally transferred to other stages of the process life cycle • Obtaining ﬁnancial and operational beneﬁts that may result from the implementation of environmentally sound alternatives that strengthen the organisation's position in the market • Communicating environmental information to relevant stakeholders Essentially, it can be said that by implementing ISO 14001, the company can increase opportunities to prevent or mitigate adverse environmental impacts and increase beneﬁcial environmental impacts, in particular those that have strategic and competitive implications. The Company expects to complete the certiﬁcation process later in 2025. • Constant monitoring of local air quality during the operating phase and real‐time reporting of data to stakeholders. • Dust suppression through regular dowsing of site roads from water trucks and use of ‘fog cannons’ at plant delivery point. • Future air quality to beneﬁt from targeted reductions to Scope 1 & 2 emissions to net zero and additional reductions to Scope 3 emissions. • Comprehensive action plan prepared to deal with any air pollution incidents. • Rehabilitation and revegetation of impacted areas on the Project beginning during operating phase using native species of plants. • Location of new areas that can be used in the future as oﬀsetting areas. • Ongoing monitoring of key land and aquatic fauna in the area, including the Iberian Wolf. • Baseline monitoring of local air quality completed. • Annual monitoring of local air quality, during exploitation works on the NOA pit. Air quality management • Baseline monitoring of local ﬂora and fauna completed plus two seasonal ﬂora and fauna surveys completed for the RECAPE phase of the environmental licencing process. • Survey of local land use completed. • Annual monitoring for the Iberian Wolf completed. Biodiversity Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities/commitments Summary of Environmental protection measures and commitments made at the Barroso Lithium Project: ESG REPORT 20 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 • Decarbonisation studies to be continued. Next steps to include: o More detailed analysis of the options available for 100% renewable energy provision as part of the Deﬁnitive Feasibility Study on the Project. A number of viable options are available to secure 100% renewable energy supply to the Project including regional solar and wind generation, on market purchase, via direct Power Purchase Agreements, or a combination of these. o Studies with a number of mining equipment OEMs to determine a site‐speciﬁc solution for a transition to a battery ‐operated mining ﬂeet and associated charging infrastructure. • Execution of study ﬁndings to deliver on the deﬁned emissions targets through ﬁnal project design, ongoing optimisation during production. • 3rd party Scope 1‐3 emissions assessment completed in 2019. Scope 1 & 2 emissions inventory estimate revised and restated in 2022 (see below). • Commitment to move towards net zero Scope 1&2 emissions during operating phase and target additional Scope 3 reductions announced in 2021. • Decarbonisation strategy initiated in March 2022 with study led by the Portuguese environmental consultant, ECOPROGRESSO. First phase of study concluded (announced in Feb 2023): o Conﬁrmation that battery powered electric mining equipment will provide the most eﬀective and ﬂexible means to reduce Scope 1 emissions at the Project to zero. Scope 1 emissions represent 68% of the Scope 1 and 2 total. o The estimate of Scope 2 baseline emissions was reduced by 54% from the original 2019 forecast, based on the potential for a reduction in the estimated power requirement of the Project's plant and a 41% reduction in the emissions associated with Portugal's grid power between 2019 and 2021. o In 2024, staﬀ attended a conference event organised by a leading mine ﬂeet OEM to explore its current and future work with hybrid and fully electric equipment and supporting infrastructure. Carbon abatement Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities/commitments ESG REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 21 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities/commitments • Continue with rehabilitation of previous exploration sites. • Progressive and comprehensive rehabilitation during and after operating phase using native species to revegetate impacted areas. • Ongoing rehabilitation of areas impacted by previous exploration activities (drill pads and access routes). • Annual monitoring of the small exploitation works on the NOA deposit. Land rehabilitation • Execute project design and plans at the relevant time with commitment to operate at or below the night time legal noise limits during both day and night (with the exception of blasting). • Constant monitoring of noise levels during operating phase and real‐time reporting of data to stakeholders and the environmental regulator. • Noise levels may be further reduced by the introduction of zero‐emission mining ﬂeet and other equipment. • Baseline noise studies completed. • Annual monitoring of the small exploitation works on the NOA deposit. • Processing plant location selected to reduce light and noise impact on local communities. • Time limited; regulated blasting schedule included in project plan. • No mining activities to take place at night. Noise & light abatement • Execute access road plan, avoiding Project traﬃc passing through local villages and towns. • Evaluate use of low/zero emission road trucks as part of decarbonisation strategy. • Inclusion of new access roads in the Project design to mitigate impact on local communities and minimise use of existing local roads. • Truck movements during the operating phase restricted to weekdays only and set times during the day. Transport management • Reﬁne and ﬁnalise Project design through the environmental licencing and DFS processes. • Execute ﬁnal Project design. • Visual impact proactively considered in Project design (e.g., processing plant location, road layout). Visual impact abatement ESG REPORT 22 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 • Reﬁne and ﬁnalise Project design through the environmental licencing and DFS processes. • Execute ﬁnal Project design. • Constant monitoring of local water quantity and quality both upstream and downstream of the Project area during and post operating phase and real‐time reporting of data to stakeholder. • Comprehensive action plan prepared to deal with any potential pollution incidents. • Continued baseline monitoring of local water courses, including surface and underground chemical analysis. • 3rd party estimate of annual water requirement for operating phase completed. • Project to be self‐suﬃcient for water usage through on‐site water harvesting, and storage, wastewater recycling and recovery of water from concentrate and waste products. • Lithium recovery process based on use of REACH registered chemicals with low environmental toxicity; will operate at near neutral pH. • Hydrogeological study, including drilling, initiated as part of the RECAPE phase of the environmental licencing process. • Water quantity monitoring on the Covas river both upstream and downstream of the Project area. Water management Waste management • Waste to be minimised through sale of feldspar‐quartz product. • Processing plant waste (tailings) to be dried and stacked on impermeable membrane to avoid risks associated with wet storage in traditional tailings dam. • Waste rock stored in temporary storage facilities to be used to ﬁll closed pits as part of rehabilitation programme. • Beginning in the operating phase, permanent waste storage areas to be contoured into existing topography and progressively re‐vegetated. • Reﬁne and ﬁnalise the Project design through the environmental licencing and DFS processes. • Execute ﬁnal Project design. • Comprehensive action plan prepared to deal with any potential pollution incidents. Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities/commitments ESG REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 23 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities/commitments • Vibration levels to be well below legal limits during operating phase. • Constant monitoring of vibrations during operating phase and real‐time reporting of data to stakeholders. • Comprehensive action plan prepared in case the vibrations results exceed what was expected. • Monitoring of vibration, during blasting works at the NOA pit. Vibrations management • Complete the ISO 14001 certiﬁcation process in 2025. In 2024, the Company started the implementation and certiﬁcation process for the International Organisation of Standardisation’s (‘ISO’) 14001 standard, an internationally recognised standard for environmental management systems (‘EMS’). Certiﬁcation/ Standardisation Social Local Community Engagement Savannah continued to place signiﬁcant emphasis on building a transparent and collaborative relationship with the local community throughout 2024. Guided by the ﬁndings from a survey involving 334 community members conducted by Community Insights Group (‘CIG’) in 2023, the company deepened its understanding of local concerns, particularly regarding the Project’s potential impact on water resources, air and soil quality, and the landscape. The survey also revealed the community’s interest in sustainable, positive impacts and their desire for clearer communication regarding progress with the Project and outcomes. In response, Savannah has implemented measures to strengthen community engagement. The cornerstone of this eﬀort has been the Stakeholder Engagement Framework, which outlines principles, strategies, and practices to guide interactions with stakeholders. Complementing this is the Stakeholder Engagement Tool, a resource designed to map stakeholders and facilitate eﬀective communication. A broader Stakeholder Engagement Plan will further structure Savannah’s sustained dialogue with the community. ESG REPORT The Social Impact Assessment (‘SIA’), prepared in collaboration with CIG, remains a central pillar of Savannah’s future social strategy. CIG’s extensive social surveying work will present ﬁndings through this SIA. In Portugal, planning and commitments regarding society and local communities is a key part of a Project’s overall environmental licencing process. Hence, the SIA will be part of the RECAPE submission for the environmental licence later in the year. Savannah has also initiated several community‐focused programmes aimed at fostering trust and enhancing the community’s quality of life. The Livelihood Restoration Plan under development addresses potential impacts on livelihoods, while a Grievance Mechanism ensures a formal avenue for resolving community concerns. Plans for a Community Development Strategy and a Social Monitoring Programme aim to solidify Savannah’s long‐term commitment to the community. The Company has actively sought to build trust through frequent and transparent communication. Regular updates are provided via Savannah’s bimonthly community journal, social media channels, and local media engagements such as Savannah’s participation to a monthly local radio programme aimed at clarifying questions from the community. Community meetings, informal social gatherings, and guided visits to Project sites have provided platforms for direct interaction with stakeholders. Savannah also strengthened ties with local businesses through partnerships and support for local suppliers. Demonstrating its commitment to integration, Savannah has sponsored local initiatives such as ﬁrewood and electrical generator donations, sports team sponsorships, and support for traditional and religious events. Regular Savannah hosted events at the recently refurbished Geology Centre, including one gathering of over 150 attendees, have reinforced the Company’s dedication to fostering meaningful community connections. 24 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Savannah hosted a series of community events at its Geology Centre during 2024 Source: Company ESG REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 25 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Despite these eﬀorts and the considerable progress achieved in 2024, a small but vocal group of opponents, including individuals in community representative roles, continues to challenge the Project. Savannah recognises this as an opportunity to reﬁne its engagement strategies, focusing on providing accurate information and addressing community concerns transparently. Savannah’s proactive approach and ongoing eﬀorts underscore its commitment to creating a lasting, positive relationship with the community, ensuring the Project beneﬁts both the region and its residents while contributing to broader sustainability goals. Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities Community Engagement • Operating two Project Information Centres in the local area which are open to the public. • The Land acquisition programme continued with 9 properties acquired during the year taking the total to 106. • Multiple community mapping and survey exercises undertaken including CIG’s survey of over 300 community members in 2023 to deepen the Company’s understanding of local concerns regarding the Project’s potential impact on key environmental parameters. • Hosted Easter community event with 45 participants (March 2024). • Organised warehouse community social events with high participation in May 2024, July 2024 and November 2024, with the latter two events attended by 120 and 150 people respectively. • community meetings held in local parishes, including Canedo, Dornelas, and Vilar, as well as ‘open house’ sessions at the Covas do Barroso Information Centre. • Distributed information leaﬂets on land acquisition and information sheets on other aspects of the Project to the community. • More frequent parish‐based community meetings are planned as well as other public gatherings to strengthen engagement. • Schedule additional clariﬁcation sessions on land acquisition, temporary land easement and compulsory purchase topics. ESG REPORT 26 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities Community Support • Delivered ﬁrewood donations to local families in Covas do Barroso. • Donated an electrical generator to the Hunters’ Association. • Delivered newborn baby gift baskets to Dornelas families. • Sponsored local events including the yearly pilgrimage to Fátima and local sporting events. • Led a large delegation of local people to meet community members living near to Somincor’s Neves Corvo mine in Southern Portugal to learn about the socio‐economic beneﬁts that the Project has brought to its local communities. • Continue social sponsorships and community support initiatives. • Expand local development eﬀorts through a Community Development Strategy, integrating local stakeholders, e.g. the Boticas Agro‐Rural Cooperative (Capolib). • Continue to deepen relationships with local stakeholders through multiple channels. Parish & Community Group engagement • Coordinated with local parishes and municipalities for land access permissions (e.g., Dornelas, Covas, Vilar). • Conducted meetings with local Baldios (community groups) and council representatives regarding Project updates. • Hosted targeted discussions with local government representatives to maintain Project transparency and secure agreements for certain types of works to be carried out. • Increase engagement with local authorities to address potential Project‐related concerns. Community engagement‐ related Staﬀ Training • Delivered communication and conﬂict management training to ﬁeld teams. • Conducted internal confrontation training to empower staﬀ in handling community relations. • Coordinated with GNR to manage potential community tensions related to ﬁeld operations. • Expand practical training for staﬀ to ensure the safe execution of operational activities. • Optimise protocols for community‐facing interactions and Project visits. • Provide advanced stakeholder engagement training to staﬀ to improve outreach eﬀorts. ESG REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 27 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities Local Business Engagement • Strengthened ties with local businesses and suppliers for all of our social events and community initiatives. • Engaged local contractors for land‐related work and property negotiations. • Explore further collaboration opportunities with local hospitality businesses. • Continue supporting local businesses through contracts and partnerships. Other Stakeholder Engagement • Engaged in discussions with regional partners regarding the development of education and healthcare related initiatives that will directly beneﬁt staﬀ and the broader community. • Purchased an electric community van, used to transport staﬀ and community members to and from Project related activities and initiatives. • Expand partnerships with key organisations (e.g., the Boticas Chamber of Commerce (Mais Boticas), Capolib, and the health & welfare charity, Santa Casa da Misericórdia) to enhance community beneﬁts. • Establish collaborative monitoring systems with stakeholders. Community engagement‐ related staﬀ developments • Recruited new Community Relations Manager and Community Relations Advisor to lead on community engagement activities. • Continued to recruit support staﬀ from local communities. • Relocation of staﬀ housing to Covas do Barroso for up to 7 staﬀ members, adding to the total number of staﬀ already living in the village. • Increase staﬀ presence in local communities through daily interactions. Other Activities • Hosted a documentary ﬁlm crew for EU funded ‘EXCEED’ lithium mining research project. Presented on the Social Licence to Operate at EXCEED cluster events. • Developed a sponsorship and donation policy, as well as a welcome policy for our information centres. • Finalise and implement organisational policies for community relations. • Collaborate with environmental teams for integrated infrastructure projects (e.g., bypass road, north access road, accommodation and housing plan). ESG REPORT 28 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Government & other stakeholder engagement In the normal course of its business, Savannah maintained regular contact with relevant Portuguese ministries and government agencies throughout the year as well as meeting with several Portuguese MPs and representatives of the UK, US, Australian and German Governments among others. Savannah attended numerous meetings with community groups during 2024 to provide accurate information on the Project and the beneﬁts it can bring to the local area Source: Company ESG REPORT Summary of government and other stakeholder interaction and commitments made in relation to the Barroso Lithium Project: Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities • Increase engagement with local authorities to address potential Project‐related concerns. Engagement/Meetings held have included: • Mayor of Boticas Municipality. • Mayor of Ribera de Pena Municipality. • Mayors of Dornelas and Covas do Barroso parishes. • Hosted targeted discussions with local government representatives to maintain Project transparency and secure agreements for certain types of work to be carried out. Local Government Engagement • Continue and increase engagement with key national government ministers & departments, and local administrators. • Maintain contact with British, US, Australian and other relevant Embassies in Portugal. • Maintain contact with European Commission & relevant EU bodies (see Membership section in Governance box below). Engagement/Meetings held have included: European Commission/European Parliament: • EC Executive Vice President, Maroš Šefčovič • Head of Unit DG Energy, Paula Abreu Marques • Portuguese Perm. Representation in Brussels – Energy Attaché • Former MEP Carlos Zorrinho (Pt) • Former MEP Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar (Pt) • Former MEP Paulo Rangel (Pt) • Former DG Grow Head of Unit, Peter Handley Portugal: • His Excellency, The President of the Portuguese Republic • Minister of Cohesion • Minister of Economy • Minister of Infrastructure • Minister of the Presidency • Deputy Minister for Territorial Cohesion of Portugal • Secretary of State for the Economy National Government/ European Union engagement SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 29 Financial Statements Governance Business Review ESG REPORT Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities • Secretary of State for Energy • Secretary of State for Environment • Secretary of State for Infrastructure • Chief of Staﬀ, Secretary of State for the Environment • MPs from the PSD, CDS, IL and Chega parliamentary parties • Portuguese Ambassador to UK • Former Minister of Environment and Energy Transition • Former Minister for Infrastructure • Environmental regulator (APA) • Infrastructures of Portugal (IP) • Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) • The Northern Portugal Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR‐N) • The Directorate‐General for Energy and Geology (DGEG) • Portuguese Trade & Investment Agency (AICEP) Australia: • Australian Ambassador to Portugal (visit to Boticas Information Centre) Germany: • Head of Press and Economic Aﬀairs at the German Embassy in Lisbon (visit to Boticas Information Centre) UK: • British Ambassador to Portugal (including visit to Boticas Information Centre) USA: • US Deputy Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy & Environment US trade delegations at US Embassy, Portugal • Oﬃce of Foreign Investment and National Security, U.S. Department of Energy 30 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 ESG REPORT Previous & Recent activities/ Consideration commitments Future activities • Maintain and increase engagement with local suppliers of goods and services. • Maintain and increase engagement with suppliers of goods and services across Portugal. • Became member of Mais Boticas (local Chamber of Commerce). • Preference given to local suppliers of goods & services. Local business engagement • Maintain presence at relevant government and industry events in Portugal, UK and across Europe. • Public relations campaigns across multiple media channels in Portugal and beyond to highlight the importance of domestic battery raw material supply in Europe and Savannah’s responsible approach to its own lithium operation. • Attendance at relevant government and trade events in Portugal and elsewhere in Europe. • Public consultation phases of EIA completed (April‐July 2021, March‐ April 2023) including public ‘in‐ person’ meetings arranged by environmental regulator (2021). • Met with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. • Media: Conducted over 50 interviews and background brieﬁngs during 2024 with journalists from major Portuguese, UK, and international press, TV and radio to reach wider stakeholder groups and the general population and to improve the balance and accuracy in media coverage of the Project. Approximately 200 articles were published on Savannah during the year. Other stakeholder engagement SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 31 Financial Statements Governance Business Review ESG REPORT Governance & other key metrics: The Board recognises the importance of sound corporate governance commensurate with the size and nature of the Company and the interests of its shareholders and adopts the provisions of the Quoted Companies Alliance Corporate Governance Code. Consideration Recent activities Future activities • Appointment of Directors to meet the needs identiﬁed by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. • Ongoing annual board performance review. • Emanuel Proença was appointed as an Executive Director to the Company's Board of Directors with a commencement date of 15 April 2024 following the successful completion of his 6‐month probationary period. • Appointment of two new Non‐Executive directors in 2024 including Rick Anthon (Chair) and Mike Connor. Retirement from the Board of Matthew King, Mary Jo Jacobi and James Leahy. • Rick Anthon is a seasoned Lithium industry professional, having worked full time in the Lithium sector for almost 10 years and brings signiﬁcant industry experience to the Board. • Mike Connor brings highly relevant lithium sector knowledge to the Board, which he has gained while helping AMG (Company's new largest shareholder and strategic partner), build their own lithium business over recent years. • Diogo da Silveira was appointed as the Deputy Chair eﬀective from 25 June 2024 in a new role for the Company. Diogo da Silveira has been instrumental in engaging with Portuguese stakeholders since his appointment, acting as the Company's senior in country representative. • The Company took the decision to postpone the annual board evaluation programme due to the aforementioned Board changes. Board Composition 32 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 ESG REPORT Consideration Recent activities Future activities • Maintain current memberships and evaluate membership of additional initiatives which would support our eﬀorts to follow industry best practices and complement other ESG and corporate goals. Lithium Industry: • International Lithium Association • British Standards Institute Technical Committee on Lithium Industry Standardisation (UK is a participant member of the International Standards Organisation’s Technical Committee on Lithium Industry Standardisation) European Union Associated initiatives: • Business Investment Platform managed by EIT InnoEnergy • European Battery Alliance • EIT RawMaterials • European Raw Materials Alliance European Mining Industry: • European Association of Mining, Metal Ores & Industrial Minerals ('Euromines’) Portuguese initiatives: • Association for the Battery Cluster (founding member) • Mineral Resources Cluster • Business Council for Sustainable Development • Mais Boticas (Chamber of Commerce in Boticas area) • Forest Association of Trás‐os‐ Montes Forestry Association • COTEC Portugal • UK‐Portuguese Chamber of Commerce UK: • London Stock Exchange • Quoted Company Alliance Membership of industry Trade bodies & Associations • Complete ISO 14001 certiﬁcation process in 2025 • Adopt relevant international speciﬁc ESG standard and commence reporting to relevant standard • The Sustainability Committee’s role is ensuring that Savannah adheres to relevant environmental regulations and champions the broader principles of social equity and environmental stewardship. • Completion of ESG questionnaires for institutional investors • Creation of Sustainability Committee ESG Reporting SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 33 Financial Statements Governance Business Review ESG REPORT Consideration Recent activities Future activities Policies and Procedures • Annual online training/ acknowledgement of Company’s Code of Conduct and Anti‐Bribery Code (Directors / Employees / Company Consultants). • Revision of Company’s Limit of Authority matrix allowing quicker decisions and less bureaucracy whilst maintaining the relevant controls and team accountability for expenditure and budget controls. • Update of Company’s Financial Reporting Procedure. • Translation of key policies into Portuguese. • Introduction of policies to reﬂect the Group’s growing maturity and transition to building and operating a mine. • Introduce policies to reﬂect the requirements of potential customers or ﬁnanciers. Risk Management • Reﬁnement of Group’s insurance coverage in conjunction with leading global brokers, Marsh. • Nomad’s updates to the Board to keep the Directors abreast of governance developments. • Enhancement of IT security protocols. • Regular Risk Register process updates. • Ongoing enhancement of IT security protocols. • Risk review added as a Board agenda at 2 Board Meetings per year. • Ongoing review of Risk Register. • Internal audit program targeting 3 entity reviews per year. Health & Safety • Continued to prioritise high standards of Health & Safety and updated the related policies. • Zero Health & Safety incidents or loss time injuries reported in 2024 (2023: 0). • Maintain priority focus on Health & Safety and associated staﬀ training. • Add to the existing team across the range of disciplines required to develop the Project. • Project expected to generate approximately 350 direct jobs during the operating phase, and around 2,000 indirect and induced jobs. • Continue to seek opportunities to recruit from the local population and within Portugal. • 40 members of staﬀ as of March 2025 with 70:30 male : female demographic with 7% from minority ethnic groups; currently 51% of project staﬀ are from the local community. Staﬀ 34 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 ESG REPORT Operation Inﬂuencer As part of its comprehensive response to the Operation Inﬂuencer investigation which was launched by the Portuguese Public Prosecutor in November 2023, Savannah released the ﬁndings from an Independent Review and external Legal Opinions in January 2024. The Independent Review found no evidence which would give rise to liability of the Company in connection with any irregular ﬁnancial transactions by the Company. It also found no evidence of improper oﬀers or payments, or other forms of wrongdoing by the Company in regard to the questions raised in Operation Inﬂuencer associated with past relations with a potential partner, discussions of the bypass road, royalties, or in relation to interactions with national entities in the EIA process under Article 16. No material legal risk was identiﬁed related to the allegations outlined in the Investigation. The Legal Opinions conﬁrmed that, based on the ﬁndings of the Independent Review, but also on the functioning of the Portuguese permitting process, past legal experience, and constitutional protections, under no realistic circumstance would the Project's execution and its expected future cash ﬂows be at risk. Hence, Savannah believes that the conclusions of the Independent Review and the Legal Opinions demonstrate the Company’s solid legal position in relation to the allegations contained in Operation Inﬂuencer. While the investigation remains open, Savannah had no further meaningful contact with the investigating authorities during 2024 and was free to continue with all its business activities as normal. Savannah has and always will conduct its business in a fully lawful and transparent manner. SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 35 Financial Statements Governance Business Review ESG REPORT Section 414A of the Companies Act 2006 (the ‘Act’) requires that the Group inform members as to how the Directors have performed their duty to promote the success of the Group, by way of a Strategic Report. Set out below are the applicable reporting requirements under the Act for the purposes of the Strategic Report, together with guidance to other applicable sections of the 2024 Annual Report, which are incorporated by reference into the Group’s Strategic Report. Principal Activities, Fair Review of the Business and Future Developments The following table provides summary reviews of the principal activities of the Group in the year, ﬁnancial results and potential future developments. The comments below build on the commentary provided in the Chairman’s Statement and Chief Executive’s Report: The Barroso Lithium Project, Portugal (100% Savannah) Activities undertaken • Exploration and Evaluation: The ﬁrst phase of the DFS and environmental licence‐related drilling programme, which had begun in October 2023 was completed in May 2024 with 67 holes drilled for a total of 6,154m. The programme provided data for JORC Resource modelling, geotechnical, metallurgical and hydrogeological studies, which are required for the DFS and environmental licence. Highlights from the programme included; a new JORC Resource for the NOA orebody, in which 93% of the total 0.66Mt resource was classiﬁed in the Indicated Category (previously 67%); and the highest drill intercepts ever recorded at the Project, at the Pinheiro orebody, 76m at 1.85% Li2O from 24m in 24PNRRCO24 which included 39m at 2.21% Li2O from 38m and 1m at over 3.53% Li2O from 62m. Commencement of the c.13,000m second phase of the drilling programme was delayed due to the need for a temporary land access order (the ‘Order’) to allow ﬁeldwork on land which is not currently owned by Savannah. The Order was received in December 2024, and preparation of multiple drill pads was started immediately. Drilling commenced in January 2025 and as at 31 March 2025, 57 holes have been drilled for a total of 6,204m. While awaiting the Order, Savannah’s technical team conducted a surface exploration programme over a number of targets at the western end of the C‐100 Mining Lease and on Block B of the Aldeia Mining Lease. In total 110 samples were collected. On the C‐100 Lease, extensions to the known lithium mineralisation at Carvalha da Baccora and Altos dos Cortiços were conﬁrmed, increasing the potential of these areas with signiﬁcant lithium mineralisation from rock chip samples including 1.66% Li₂O, 1.5% Li₂O, 1.75% Li₂O and 1.46% Li₂O from Carvalha da Bacora; and 3.01% Li₂O and 1.9% Li₂O from Alto dos Corticos. On Block B of the Aldeia Lease sampling highlighted multiple new lithium bearing pegmatites which are beyond Savannah's initial estimation including 2.11% Li₂O and 1.32% Li₂O (rock chips) and 6m @ 1.39% Li₂O from Trench 1, 14m @ 1.01% Li₂O from Trench 1b, and 4m @ 2.08% Li₂O and 4m @ 2.62% Li₂O from Trench 2 (channel samples). Importantly, all of these results come from targets which have received little or no signiﬁcant exploration work to date and are separate to the Project's ﬁve existing orebodies, all of which themselves have known extensions which are still to be fully deﬁned. Hence, it is clear that Barroso Lithium Project remains highly prospective for further spodumene lithium resource delineation beyond the current 28Mt at 1.05% Li₂O JORC Resource. The ﬁrst Light and Detection ('LIDAR') drone survey was also conducted over the Project and identiﬁed several historical tin mining areas hidden by dense vegetation. Savannah will follow up these targets as at Grandão and Pinheiro, zones of historical mining indicate a possible association between the spodumene and tin bearing pegmatites. Furthermore, as our experience on the C‐100 licence has shown, the full extent of the mineralisation is easily underestimated from outcrops alone. For example, at Grandão, outcropping pegmatite is found mainly at the top of the hill with no indications of subsurface continuity. Through subsequent drilling however, Grandão has now been delineated as the largest orebody at the Project. STRATEGIC REPORT 36 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Activities undertaken While the focus will remain ﬁrmly on the many workstreams required for the DFS and the Project's startup, Savannah will continue to develop these, and other, additional exploration targets at the same time. This will ensure a pipeline of opportunities to increase the Project's existing resources and life of mine over time. • To meet an ongoing condition of the existing mining lease, a small amount of mining was also undertaken during the year from the existing workings at the NOA deposit. • Environmental Licencing Process: The Project is at an advanced stage in Portugal’s multi‐phased environmental licencing process. Since passing the major milestone in the environmental licencing approval process in May 2023, when Portugal’s environmental regulator gave a positive ‘Declaration of Environmental Impact’ (‘DIA’) to Savannah’s Project design, the team has been working towards the submission required for the next phase in the process, the Environmental Compliance Report of the Execution Project (‘RECAPE’). In this phase, Savannah is required to conﬁrm that the Project’s ﬁnal design, details of which will largely be drawn from the DFS and associated studies, meets the conditions attached to the May‐23 DIA approval. Savannah expects to make its RECAPE submission to the regulator before the end of 2025. The regulator then has 50 working days to review the submission and publish its conclusion. If the submission is approved (‘DCAPE’), the Project’s ﬁnal environmental title can then be awarded. The RECAPE instruction requires the updating of several environmental criteria and for this reason it was necessary to develop several studies to assess key environmental and social parameters including, biodiversity, hydrology and hydrogeology, noise, vibration and archaeology/heritage. During the year, Savannah conducted a range of desk and ﬁeld‐based activities to increase the already extensive pool of existing data on these parameters so that future operational practices ensure that impacts are mitigated and reduced and that all legal requirements are met as minimum standard. • Other Licencing processes: Once the RECAPE submission has been approved and the resulting DCAPE declaration has been made, and the environmental licence received, Savannah will then be able to apply for the remainder of the licences required for the Project’s development and operation. These licences cover permissions for construction and use of services on site such as power. Permits will also be required for the proposed new road sections which are included in the revised Project design to further limit traﬃc impact on local communities. During the period Savannah remained engaged with key stakeholders in these licencing processes including the government agencies, APA and DGEG, ministers and Secretaries of State. • Deﬁnitive Feasibility Study: The DFS is a comprehensive technical and economic study of the proposed Project and will include among other elements; an updated JORC compliant Resource for the Project as well as its maiden JORC compliant Reserve estimate; ﬁnal designs for the site’s layout and associated infrastructure; schedules for mining, processing, storage of processed materials; commodity market studies; and capital and operating cost estimations and a cashﬂow model. Details of the drilling and other ﬁeldwork undertaken in relation to the DFS are given in the Exploration and Evaluation section above. Away from the ﬁeld, Savannah and its group of technical consultants, made progress on other aspects of the DFS including: o Site layout: The locations for the processing plant, pits, waste dumps, tailings and water storage facilities, roads and HV power infrastructure were ﬁnalised. o Mining: Pit and waste dump designs were completed pending ﬁnalisation of geotechnical assessment. Mine scheduling was also completed. SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 37 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT Activities undertaken o Processing Plant: The process ﬂowsheet was ﬁnalised and feasibility design/3D model development was signiﬁcantly advanced. o Procurement: Budget quotations for all signiﬁcant mechanical equipment were requested and received, while quotations requests for electrical equipment, steel/pipe fabrication and installation contracts were prepared for subsequent tendering. o Tailings and Water Storage: The preliminary designs were completed for the Tailings Storage Facility, water reservoirs and environmental control dams. o Hydrogeology: The site investigation work including drilling of water bores and pump testing was completed and hydrogeological modelling was advanced. • Infrastructure: The studies and design work for the Project's supporting infrastructure are now well advanced, with excellent progress made on several fronts including: o Site (Northern) access Road: Preliminary design work on the northern access road, which will directly link the Project to the new Boticas bypass road and ultimately the national highway network, has been completed and is under consultation with the relevant government agencies and stakeholders prior to geotechnical ﬁeld work for the ﬁnal design. o Bypass Road: The Environmental Impact Assessment and accompanying Preliminary Design report for the 16km bypass road will be submitted to Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente, the Portuguese Environmental Agency during April 2025. The bypass will join to the west with the national road R311 to subsequently link to the Project's proposed northern access road, and to the east with the A24 motorway that provides access to the Inner North Freeway, towards the main port facilities. o Internal haul roads: Preliminary design of the Project's internal haul roads is in progress. o HV Power: Preliminary design for the revised powerline layout and associated substation has been completed and the DFS level design and permitting commenced. • Decarbonisation Study: In March 2022 Savannah announced the initiation of a Decarbonisation Strategy to support its goal of producing a net carbon zero lithium product from the Project. By setting this goal Savannah is helping to minimise the carbon footprint associated with the European lithium battery value chain, thus maximising the environmental beneﬁt these batteries can bring. In the study work to date, two main sources of emissions from the Project have been identiﬁed, the mining ﬂeet (Scope 1 emissions) and the processing plant (Scope 2). Scope 1 emissions represent 68% of the Scope 1 and 2 total. During the year, Savannah continued to explore opportunities to transition the Project's initial mining ﬂeet which is expected to be diesel due to the lack of availability of correctly sized low/zero emission vehicles in 2027, to technologies that will allow a signiﬁcant reduction in carbon emissions. Activities included attending a conference event organised by a leading mine ﬂeet OEM to explore its current and future work with hybrid and fully electric equipment and supporting infrastructure. The processing plant will be powered through the Portuguese national electrical grid. In 2024, renewable energy sources accounted for 80.4% (45.6 GWh) of all electricity generated (source: APREN). Hence, Savannah’s goal of securing 100% renewable energy supply to the Project and reducing its Scope 2 emissions to zero, should be achievable via on market purchasing, direct Power Purchase Agreements, or a combination of these options. In regard to Scope 3 emissions, Savannah has also begun to engage with transport and haulage contractors to research the options available now and in the future for low/zero emission transport of raw materials and ﬁnished products to and from site. 38 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT Activities undertaken During 2025, Savannah will continue with its studies into the decarbonisation of the Project in parallel with the ongoing DFS work. • Government Engagement: As part of its overall stakeholder engagement activities, eﬃcient working relationships with key actors in government, including Ministers and Secretaries of State, and in relevant government agencies is important to Savannah as it progresses the Project. Following the start of the Operation Inﬂuencer investigation in November 2023, there were additional engagement challenges created during 2024, with changes of counterparties in multiple key government roles. Most signiﬁcantly, this included the change in central government following the March 2024 General Election in which the centre‐right Democratic Alliance, led by Luís Montenegro formed a centre‐right minority government, replacing the previous majority government of the Socialist Party. Through this hiatus, Savannah was eﬀective in ﬁrst re‐establishing relationships with key members of the former government, local government and government agencies following Operation Inﬂuencer prior to the election, and then following the election, in developing relationships with the new incumbents within the new government and other government entities from April onwards. Furthermore, the ongoing political support for Portugal’s new lithium industry and the Project speciﬁcally, was demonstrated during the year. In September a parliamentary vote following the lodgement of an anti‐lithium development petition and debate, saw only 14 out of 230 MPs (6%) vote to try to restrict Savannah’s Project. Then, in December, the Government published the temporary land access order, which has allowed Savannah to enter land it does not currently own at the Project to conduct ﬁeldwork vital to the completion of the DFS and environmental licencing process. Looking ahead, Savannah will continue to strengthen its working relationships with all levels of government and the key government agencies. With local elections set to take place later in the year, and the current Boticas Municipality leader unable to stand again following two terms in oﬃce, the Company will look to build a strong and mutually beneﬁcial relationship with his successor. • Community Engagement: Guided by the ﬁndings from a survey involving 334 community members conducted by Community Insights Group (‘CIG’) in 2023, the company deepened its understanding of local concerns, particularly regarding the Project’s potential impact on water resources, air and soil quality, and the landscape. The survey also revealed the community’s interest in sustainable, positive impacts and their desire for clearer communication regarding Project progress and outcomes. Savannah has implemented measures to strengthen community engagement. The cornerstones of this eﬀort are the Stakeholder Engagement Framework, the Stakeholder Engagement Tool, the Stakeholder Engagement Plan and the Social Impact Assessment being prepared in collaboration with CIG. Savannah has also initiated several community‐focused programmes including a Livelihood Restoration Plan, a Grievance Mechanism, Community Development Strategy and a Social Monitoring Programme. Regular updates to community members have been provided via Savannah’s bimonthly community journal, social media channels, and local media engagements such as Savannah’s participation to a monthly local radio programme aimed at clarifying questions from the community. Community meetings, informal social gatherings, and guided visits to Project sites have provided platforms for direct interaction with stakeholders. Savannah also strengthened ties with local businesses through partnerships and support for local suppliers. Savannah has sponsored local initiatives such as ﬁrewood and electrical generator donations, sports team sponsorships, and support for traditional and religious events. Regular Savannah hosted events at the recently refurbished Geology Centre, including one gathering of over 150 attendees, have reinforced the Company’s dedication to fostering meaningful community connections. SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 39 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT 40 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT Activities undertaken • Strategic Partnering Process/Commercial discussions: The ﬁrst phase of the ‘Strategic Partnering Process’ which was initiated in July 2023 was concluded in June 2024 with the announcement of established lithium industry player, AMG Advanced Critical Materials (‘AMG’) as Savannah’s ﬁrst strategic partner on the Project. With an equity investment of GBP16m at a price of 4.67p (representing a 35% premium to the 30‐day VWAP at the time), AMG became the Company's largest shareholder with a 15.77% stake. The partnership also includes an offtake heads of terms agreement (the 'Offtake HoT') through which, once ﬁnal agreements are negotiated and signed, AMG can purchase 45ktpa of spodumene concentrate from the Project (approximately 25% of total) over 5 years based on prevailing market prices at the time. This offtake can be increased to 90ktpa over 10 years if AMG helps Savannah to secure a ‘full ﬁnancing solution’ for the Project. The ﬁrst outcome of this ﬁnancing activity was announced in December 2024, with conﬁrmation from Euler Hermes AG, the export credit agency acting for the German Government, that due to the offtake with AMG feeding a critical raw material into the German economy, the Project is eligibility for a German Government backed guarantee on a loan up to USD270 million. Savannah can also beneﬁt from AMG’s expertise in the sector and is deepening its relationship with its partner via the presence on the Company’s Board of Mike Connor, AMG’s Chief Corporate Development Oﬃcer and a Board member. An additional Co‐operation agreement between the parties will see the companies work together on a number of mutually beneﬁcial opportunities including a study for the construction of a Spodumene‐to‐Lithium Carbonate reﬁnery in Portugal or Spain. Looking ahead, having retained 100% ownership of the Project and with at least 50% of the Project’s future spodumene concentrate unallocated, Savannah has signiﬁcant leverage with which to form further strategic partnerships. As Savannah moves through the current ‘study’ phase of the Project’s development and towards a Final Investment Decision, it expects to engage with further industry players. • Ceramics by‐products: Savannah continues to engage with signiﬁcant potential customers/partners in the ceramics industry for the Project's feldspar‐quartz and mica by‐products. The Company is also executing an independent product characterisation and market study with a reputable Portuguese consultant. Fair review of business A review of the Group’s performance during the period and prospects is included in the Chairman’s Statement and the Chief Executive’s Report. Principal Risks and Uncertainties At Savannah Resources, eﬀective risk management is fundamental to achieving our strategic objectives and creating long‐term value for our stakeholders. Our approach to risk management is proactive, comprehensive, and aligned with our core values of safety, respect, integrity, excellence, and sustainability. Our approach The Board has identiﬁed various risk factors which taken individually or together may have a materially adverse eﬀect on the Group’s business. The principal risks and how they are managed are as follows: • Attraction and Retention of Key People • Commodity Price Risk • Country Risk • Cyber Risk • Environmental Permitting Risk • Future Funding Requirements • Global and Regional External Shocks • Licence & Title Risk • Natural Resource Project Development & Construction Risk • Social Licence Risk Risk management enhancements In 2024, we made incremental improvements to our risk management approach: • Reﬁnement of the Company’s risk register • Quarterly risk review meetings with Management Risk appetite The Company’s risk appetite is calibrated to balance our growth ambitions with prudent management practices across key areas of our business, including funding, governance, regulatory compliance, environment, community, and health and safety. Principal risks This risk table reﬂects the current status of the Company’s risk landscape. This aligns with the Company's focus on responsible development, environmental stewardship, and community engagement, as discussed throughout the annual report. The Board has identiﬁed various risk factors which taken individually or together may have a materially adverse eﬀect on the Group’s business. The principal risks and how they are managed are as follows in alphabetical order: SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 41 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT Risk Category Description Potential Impact Key Mitigating Action Risk Trend Attraction and Retention of Key People Company Culture / Human Resources Planning ‐ Execution of Company Business Plans • Poor employee engagement results in moderate to high staﬀ turnover impacting the Company's ability to deliver the BLP and being respected in the Community. • Company not having in place the relevant personnel to successfully execute transition from exploration to the operational/ revenue stage. • Development of salary benchmarking across the Group. • Embrace and re‐enforce the Company's culture (focus on teamwork, mutual respect and getting things done). • Focus on skill gap analysis and develop plan. • Implementation of (at least) annually succession planning for the Board plus the CEO and his direct reports. • Ensuring appropriate remuneration policies are in place. ↔ Risk Category Description Potential Impact Key Mitigating Action Risk Trend 42 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT Country Risk Country Risk • Sovereign and Political Risks. • Company Project resides in Portugal (member of EU). • Portugal operates within the framework of the EU. • Company maintains working relationships at all levels with all stakeholders (government/ administrative bodies / local communities). • Actively monitoring of relevant political and regulatory developments. ↔ Cyber Risks Addressing Social and Physical Barriers • Cyber Attacks &/or Failure of IT/Energy/ Infrastructure impacting the Company's ability to operate. • Management and the Company's third party IT security provider periodically review Company's IT systems and implement agreed recommendations ↔ Environmental Permitting Risk Portuguese Prosecutors/ Operation Inﬂuencer • Possibility that Operation Inﬂuencer can aﬀect the Company's Share Price and ability to raise Project Finance owing to its link to the DIA. • External investigation and legal opinions completed. • Communication to the markets on the solid legal standing. • Future communications will commence when a development is reported (this could be several years). ↓ Future Funding Requirements Budget Management • Company running out of money or suﬀering a liquidity crisis. • Maintaining a detailed Company cash ﬂow forecast. • Regular presentations to the Board (variance to budget, cash projections reporting). • Management planning on when the Company will need additional funding. ↓ Risk Category Description Potential Impact Key Mitigating Action Risk Trend SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 43 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT Future Funding Requirements Fundraising and the ability to raise funds • Availability and appropriateness of future sources of funds / Company running out of money to meet its ongoing day‐to‐ day operations and execution of BLP. • Identiﬁcation of appropriate funding solutions (including debt, equity, grants). ↔ Future Funding Requirements Project Delays • Adverse impact on the Company’s cash availability and its ability to execute the Project (including delay to production impacting future cash inﬂows) which is caused by missing the Project timelines deliverables. • Regular review on Project timeline. • Securing land access to enable Project execution. • Planning for timely delivery of key DFS deliverables. ↔ Global and Regional External Shocks Pandemics / Energy Crisis / Inﬂation / Military Conﬂicts • Potential impact on worldwide economy and Group's ﬁnancial outlook. • Maintaining a minimum cash balance to mitigate against potential adverse impacts. • Monitor global news events. ↔ Licence & Title Risk Winning and Retaining Legal Approvals to Operate (Local Level, Land) • Land Access Restrictions delaying BLP progress (including Immediate Land Access Restrictions delaying BLP progress Compulsory acquisition approval taking longer than expected by the Government North access road construction to be delayed). • Continuation of eﬀorts to reach amicable agreements with private landowners and Baldios. • Award by Portuguese state of a temporary land easement order. ↔ Risk Category Description Potential Impact Key Mitigating Action Risk Trend 44 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT Risk Trend Key: ↑ Increased risk, ↓ Decreased risk, ↔ Stable risk Natural Resource Project Development & Construction Risk Conversion of Scoping Study assumptions into DFS • Any critical inputs of the scoping study (Capex, Opex, AMD, recoveries, etc.) being proven ﬂawed with DFS work, with eﬀects on competitiveness and executability of our Project. • Initial formal review conducted by the Technical Team to identify areas of review and develop appropriate actions. ↔ Social Licence Risk Portuguese Relationships/ Community Licence to Operate • Poor Relationship with Local Community impacts Company social licence to operate and secondary permitting. • Continuation of liaison with the Boticas, Covas, Valar, Canedo and Dornelas communities. • Community Relations Manager appointed Development of relationships with local communities via the Stakeholder Management Plan. • Further development of Company interaction with stakeholders and communication. ↔ Social Licence Risk Legal Claims against the Company • Successful or pending litigation against the Company adversely impacting the validity of its licensing or land access rights or other impacts restricting the Company's operations and ability to do Project Finance or otherwise fundamentally derail the Project. Including any fundamental failings in governance or controls procedure that could lead to a lawsuit with something solid behind it. • Support from specialist legal advisers • Policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with applicable laws. ↔ Case Case Plaintiﬀ Defendants Counter Status Update Summary Interested Parties SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 45 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT ‘Lawfare’ is a common tool used by parties seeking to disrupt Project developments, and the following legal cases are ongoing: C‐100 Mining License Amendments (Commenced April 2023) Claim aims to declare null the administrative acts regarding the Exploitation of “Mina do Barroso” Project, signed in 2016, invoking administrative irregularities performed by the Ministry of Economy. Parish of Covas do Barroso. Ministry of Environment (originally the Portuguese State and the Ministry of Economy) Savannah • Once the pleadings have been submitted, the case is awaiting further proceedings, namely the scheduling of a hearing for discussion and judgement. • Based on the opinion from our legal advisers this case is without merit. Covas Baldios Land Border Dispute (Commenced June 2022) Claim aims to challenge the registration of certain areas and limits of certain parcels of 6 land properties in the C‐100 area Baldios of Covas do Barroso Savannah and 6 other private owners N/A • Once the pleadings have been submitted, the case is awaiting further proceedings, namely the scheduling of a hearing for discussion and judgement. • Any adverse outcome can be resolved via the compulsory acquisition route. Administrativ e Claim Against the favourable DIA (Commenced September 2023) Claim aims to declare null the administrative acts regarding the Declaration of Impact Assessment, issued by APA on 30 May 2023 Parish of Covas do Barroso Ministry of Environment and APA Savannah • All the Defendants, including Savannah Lithium Unipessoal, Lda., have already lodged their defences, and the case is awaiting further proceedings. • Based on the opinion from our legal advisers this case is without merit. Case Case Plaintiﬀ Defendants Counter Status Update Summary Interested Parties 46 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT Analysis of the Development and Performance of the Business This information is contained in the Chairman’s Statement, and the Chief Executive’s Report. Analysis of the Position of the Business This information is contained in the Chairman’s Statement, and the Chief Executive’s Report. Key Financial Performance Indicators and Milestones Our key performance indicators (‘KPIs’) help the Board and Executive Management assess performance against our strategic priorities and business plans. Administrative Claim against the Temporary Land Easement (Commenced in February 2025) Claim aims to declare null the administrative acts regarding the Temporary Land Easement, made oﬃcial by the Government on 6 December 2024 3 Private Landowners Ministry for the Environment Savannah, DGEG, Covas Parish, Baldios and the other private owners in the Temporary Easement Process • The suspension was lifted 15 days after it started, because the Minister of Environment issued a “Reasoned resolution”, which reversed the suspension (In the meantime, both Savannah and the Ministry of Environment lodged their opposition to the lawsuit). • Based on the opinion from our legal advisers this case is without merit. SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 47 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT Analysis Using Key Financial Performance Indicators and Milestones: At the reporting date the Group’s available funds in bank was GBP17.7m (2023: GBP9.7m). The major source of cash funding during the year was the 2023 year‐end balance and the GBP16m gross equity investment made by AMG at 4.67p/share in June as part of the Strategic Partnership between the two companies. The Directors believe that the Group’s Barroso Lithium Project is attractive and are conﬁdent that funding will continue to be secured and that it is appropriate to prepare the Financial Statements on a going concern basis. See Going Concern section in Note 1 for further details. The Company placed 342.6m new ordinary shares of 1p with AMG in June 2024 at a price of 4.67p (representing a 35% premium to the 30‐day VWAP at the time) as part of its ﬁrst strategic partnership in relation to the Barroso Lithium Project. As a result, AMG became the Company’s largest shareholder with a 15.77% stake. From an opening price of 2.1p, there was a modest improvement in the Savannah share price during trading in early January as the impact of the Operation Inﬂuencer hiatus, which had begun in early November 2023 appeared to reduce. This lessening impact was further underlined by Savannah’s comprehensive statement on the matter in late January following receipt of a full independent legal assessment which concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the Company. However, with little change in the underlying lithium price, which had seen a fall of over 80% during 2023, Savannah’s share price began to fall back in parallel and reached a low for the year of 1.5p during trading on 19 February. From this point, the share price saw a rapid reversal as the Company released positive news ﬂow around drilling, its Strategic Partnering Process, and the arrival on the register of Portuguese investor, Mario Ferreira, as a signiﬁcant shareholder. The sector as a whole was also helped by the start of a partial recovery in lithium commodity prices. As a result, the share price rose by c.130% from the year’s low to reach 3.45p on 25 March. While the share price didn’t continue to parallel the ongoing recovery in lithium prices during the Spring, having broken back through the 3p level, Savannah’s share price was well supported during April, May and early June by the improved sentiment towards lithium combined with an increase in its own marketing activities, and traded in a tight range between 3.2‐3.55p from 22 March to 3 June. The ﬁrst half Cash balance available to continue with the activity of the Group. Cash balance (for exploration, development and going concern purposes) To continue with its operating activities as an active and growing mineral development group, the Group has raised funds from the market. Subscription and placing of shares The price reﬂects the value of the Group as determined by the free trading of its ordinary shares on public stock exchanges such as the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Share price KPIs Description Performance 48 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT of June then saw the share price improve again, peaking at the year’s high of 5.0p during trading on 20 June following the announcement of Savannah’s strategic partnership with AMG and the GBP16m accompany placing at 4.67p/share. Despite, Savannah’s signiﬁcantly strengthened position following the start of the partnership, with the underlying lithium price recovery now reversing, the share price eased back and experienced some volatility during July (touching 3.7p on 19 July). From a price of 4.0p on 1 August, the share price entered a tight trading range between 3.9‐4.1p for the next 4 months. With the underlying lithium price continuing to fall, going below the opening price in January by late summer, and news ﬂow from the Company relatively light as it waited for temporary land access to be awarded for the second phase of its DFS drilling, this relatively tight trading range represented a robust performance. Pleasingly, Savannah was able to break out of this range in early December with the award of the temporary land access order, and the return to the ﬁeld to prepare for the restart of drilling in January 2025. A modest recovery in the lithium price over the ﬁnal quarter also assisted and allowed Savannah to ﬁnish the year at 4.35p, representing a 107% rise during the year (vs. ‐9% in 2023). This made Savannah one of the best performing stocks in the lithium sector. During 2024 the Company continued its investment in exploration activity, which was dominated by the ﬁrst phase of the DFS‐related drilling and other DFS and environmental licencing related ﬁeld activities and studies. The increase in E&E Assets, net of foreign exchange adjustments, was 18% year‐on‐year at GBP3.2m (2023: GBP2.2m). During the period there was no signiﬁcant Property, Plant and Equipment acquisitions. Investment in Exploration & Evaluation Assets (‘E&E Assets’) and Property, Plant and Equipment (‘PPE’) As an active and expanding mine development group, the investment in E&E Assets and PPE Assets can show the volume of activity which is adding value. KPIs Description Performance SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 49 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT Analysis Using Other Key Performance Indicators and Milestones: In recent years there has been (and continues to be) an increase in the importance of the lithium‐ion battery market. This has signiﬁcantly positively impacted global lithium demand with projections showing further signiﬁcant increases over the coming decades. In 2016 the Group started its investment in lithium projects with the acquisition of exploration licences in Finland (subsequently relinquished). Following the acquisition of the Barroso lithium Project in the north of Portugal in 2017 (100% ownership achieved in 2019), the Group has the potential to become a signiﬁcant spodumene lithium producer in Europe. While the near‐term focus of the Company is on the development of the Barroso Lithium Project, one of Savannah’s longer‐term goals is to further develop its business in the Iberian Peninsula. To this end, it actively assesses potential lithium exploration targets in the area and expects to participate in the long‐awaited lithium exploration tender process in Portugal when it is launched by the Government. The C‐100 Lease: A 30‐year Mining Lease was granted on the Project in 2006 to a previous owner. The licence can be extended for a further 20 years from 2036. To be allowed to execute its plan of developing a spodumene mine and concentrator operation on the Lease, Savannah is required to obtain a new Environmental Licence for the Project and associated licences covering areas such as construction and use of services on site (power, water, etc). Aldeia Lease: In December 2024, the ‘Aldeia’ or ‘C‐190’ Mining Lease application was awarded over the 3 block ‘Aldeia’ area to its current owner, the Portuguese company Aldeia & Irmão, S.A.. The new Mining Lease, which is adjacent to the C‐100 Lease has an initial duration of 25 years and can be extended twice, initially by a further 15 years and then by a further 10 years. Environment Licence: In June 2020, the Group submitted a new Environmental Impact Assessment and Mine Plan to APA, the Portuguese environmental regulator, for the Barroso Lithium Project as part of the overall licencing process for the Project. That submission was made public in April 2021 and underwent a public consultation between April and July of that year. In July 2022, the Regulator recommended that the review process enter an additional phase of evaluation under Article 16 of the relevant EIA legislation during which Savannah could meet with the Regulator’s Evaluation Committee, receive feedback on its original design and be given 180 working days to revise and resubmit its EIA. Savannah agreed to this proposal and resubmitted its EIA on 16 March 2023. As required under the legislation, the As an active mineral development group, Management is up to date on the changes in the market and looking for new opportunities to increase the potential of the Company. Project pipeline As a mineral development company, the grant of mining leases as a precursor to commencement of production is a signiﬁcant milestone. Mining Lease & Licencing Applications KPIs Description Performance 50 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT regulator announced its decision on the resubmitted EIA within 50 working days of it being submitted. That decision was positive, with the Project EIA being approved by APA (DIA awarded) with conditions attached that must be met in the Project’s ﬁnal design and operating practices, which Savannah agreed to. As of May 2024, the JORC resource estimates at the Barroso Lithium Project are: • Lithium: Measured Resources of 6.6Mt @ at 1.1% Li₂O; Indicated Resources of 12.1Mt @ at 1.0% Li₂O; and Inferred Resources of 9.3Mt @ at 1.1% Li₂O for a total of 28.0Mt at 1.05% Li₂O containing 293,100t of Li₂O. The additional Exploration Target1 remained unchanged from 2019 at 11.0‐19.0Mt at 1.0%‐1.2% Li₂O • The by‐products (Grandão deposit only) JORC resource remained unchanged from 2019: Measured resources of 7.1Mt at 32.6% quartz and 42.8% feldspar, Indicated Resources of 6.3Mt at 34.6% quartz and 42.6% feldspar; and Inferred resources of 1.0Mt at 30.9% quartz and 40.3% feldspar for a total Mineral Resource of 14.4Mt at 33.4% quartz and 42.6% feldspar containing 4.79Mt of quartz and 6.11Mt of feldspar Following the positive DIA decision from the environmental regulator in May 2023, the Company produced a new Scoping Study on the Barroso Lithium Project, based on the approved design, in June 2023. The Study returned a post‐tax NPV (8% discount rate) of USD953m, an IRR of 77% and a post‐tax payback period of 1.3years. Savannah restarted DFS‐related ﬁeldwork in the second half of 2023, including a two‐phase drilling programme. The ﬁrst phase of drilling which took place between October 2023 and May 2024, totalled 6,154m across 67 holes to gather data for resource, geotechnical, metallurgical and hydrogeological studies. Preparation for the second phase of the drilling programme began in December 2024 and as at 31 March 2025, 57 holes for 6,204m have been drilled. With work on other aspects of the DFS running in parallel to the ﬁeldwork, the Company expects to complete the DFS by the end of 2025. Mineral resources As a mineral development company, the reporting of satisfactory mineral resource estimates is a key indicator of the potential of the Group and its projects. Economic Studies Satisfactory completion of economic studies is a key indicator of the viability of the Group’s mine development projects. 1 Cautionary Statement: The potential quantity and grade of the Additional Resource Targets is conceptual in nature, there has been insuﬃcient prospecting work to estimate a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further prospecting will result in deﬁning a mineral resource. KPIs Description Performance SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 51 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT Industry trade bodies & associations A list of the relevant industry trade bodies and associations of which Savannah is pleased to be a member can be found in the Governance table in the ESG section and on the Company’s website. For Savannah: • Trade associations can oﬀer industry speciﬁc networking, training and education, technical advice, and support in interactions with governments, government departments, agencies, regulators, the media, and other stakeholders. For trade associations: • Interacting with Savannah oﬀers a trade association another source of industry expertise; an opportunity to extend its network and reach, and an additional source of income and sponsorship. During the year members of the Savannah team regularly interacted with representatives from relevant trade associations including at formal meetings, conferences and other events arranged by the associations. Shareholders/Investors A table of signiﬁcant shareholders can be found on the Report of the Directors section and on the Company’s website Key metrics are: • Cash • Investment in Exploration & Evaluation Assets • Share price The Company has not issued additional investment instruments beyond shares and share options, such as corporate bonds, and therefore has no other class of investors For Savannah: • To maintain access to capital in support of achieving the Group’s stated business objectives. • To receive feedback/ advice/ assistance on performance and execution of the Company’s business plan. For the Shareholder/Investor: • To be kept informed on the Company’s performance, changes to strategy and other developments • To assist ongoing investment decision making The key means of engagement with shareholders include: • The Annual General Meeting (in person). • Investor roadshows (in person) • Regular online investor meetings/presentations. • Social media, including X (formerly called Twitter) and LinkedIn. • Attending industry‐related conferences and events. • Via interviews, podcasts and corporate videos produced in English and Portuguese. • Via interviews and articles in the key trade, UK, Portuguese and international media. Section 172(1) Statement The following disclosure describes how the directors have had regard to the matters set out in section 172(1)(a) to (f) and forms the Directors’ Statement required under section 414CZA of the Companies Act 2006. The table below sets out our key stakeholder groups and how we engaged with them during the year: How did the Board and/or Stakeholder Group Importance of engagement management engage How did the Board and/or Stakeholder Group Importance of engagement management engage 52 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT Workforce The average number of monthly staﬀ employed by the Group during 2024 was 27 (2023: 19) see Note 3 for further details For Savannah: • The Company’s day to day running and long‐term development relies on the recruitment, retention and incentivisation of staﬀ, and provision of a safe and supportive working environment. For the employee: • To ensure that individual responsibilities are understood and work is being carried out safely and eﬃciently and aligned to the Company’s objectives. • To raise concerns and opportunities for improvements to the Company’s working practices and culture. • To take advantage of opportunities through the Company for personal development, training and career progression. The key means of engagement with staﬀ include: • Regular internal calls, meetings and visits to Project sites by members of the Board and Executive Team. • Remuneration framework including Long Term Incentive Plan (Share options) and Short Terms Incentive Plan (Annual Bonus). Community Savannah will be often working alongside communities at its Project sites. For example, it works alongside a number of small communities at the Barroso Lithium Project. The Company aims to act with integrity, transparency and honesty in its dealings with communities and wishes for its host communities to beneﬁt from its projects For Savannah: • To ensure that Health & Safety standards and other regulations relating to Savannah’s interaction with the general public and public services are being met. • To ensure it secures and maintains social acceptance of its business activities among the communities it works alongside through eﬀective community engagement programmes. • To ensure that indirect beneﬁts from its operations are maximised among the local community. • To receive feedback/ advice/ assistance on the above topics. Full details of the Group’s community‐related activities across its businesses can be found in the ESG Report. How did the Board and/or Stakeholder Group Importance of engagement management engage SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 53 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT For Communities: • To receive relevant information about site‐speciﬁc operations, Health & Safety matters and other guidance relating to Savannah’s interaction with the general public. • Opportunity to receive up to date information on Savannah’s business activities, engagement programmes and initiatives relevant to communities. • To register for and to take part in relevant community programmes. • To provide feedback on relevant issues to Savannah. • To learn about job opportunities at a Savannah Project or to receive training/coaching. Suppliers Savannah requires a wide range of goods and services to maintain its business activities and uses a wide range of domestic and overseas suppliers to meet its needs. When Savannah moves into the development and production phase at an operation, supplier numbers are expected to rise signiﬁcantly in‐line with the scale up and nature of the Project concerned. For Savannah: • To maintain good working relationships and credit terms with suppliers to ensure the timely and cost‐eﬀective. delivery of goods and services. • To aid planning for future supply requirements and to identify suitable suppliers. For Suppliers: • To maintain an eﬀective working relationship with its customer. • To provide key product information and to cross‐sell other products. • To help with planning for changing levels of demand from a customer. • To identify future business opportunities with an existing customer. Savannah’s engagement with current and potential service suppliers has been widespread during the year as it continues its development of the Barroso Lithium Project and prepares for its future construction and operation. Identifying and evaluating additional groups which may provide key contract services during the construction and/or production phases of the operation will be critical to the Project’s future success. Additionally, the Company is a member of the local chamber of commerce in Portugal (Mais Boticas) and where possible the use of local service providers will be prioritised. 54 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 STRATEGIC REPORT How did the Board and/or Stakeholder Group Importance of engagement management engage Customers As a pre‐production business, Savannah is yet to start generating revenue from sales of product to customers. However, the Company expects to supply products to a number of industrial customers over time, beginning with customers buying its lithium and by‐product concentrate products from the Barroso Lithium Project. For Savannah: • To identify and build relationships with future customers to ensure our projects become viable commercial businesses. • To access capital for project development either directly from customers, or from other investors which view the establishment of customer relationships as a key de‐risking factor in an investment decision. For Customers: • To build a working relationship with a well‐managed, long term raw material supplier. • To secure a long‐term supply of product from a responsible producer in markets where the outlook is for increasing global competition for supply, such as lithium. The ﬁrst phase of Savannah’s ‘Strategic Partnering Process’ was concluded in June 2024 with the announcement of established lithium industry player, AMG Advanced Critical Materials (‘AMG’) as Savannah’s ﬁrst strategic partner on the Project. With an equity investment of GBP16m, AMG became the Company's largest shareholder with a 15.77% stake. Amongst other aspects, the partnership includes an offtake heads of terms agreement through which, once ﬁnal agreements are negotiated and signed, AMG can purchase 45ktpa of spodumene concentrate from the Project (approximately 25% of total) for 5 years based on prevailing market prices at the time. This offtake can be increased to 90ktpa for 10 years if AMG helps Savannah to secure a ‘full ﬁnancing solution’ for the Project. Having retained 100% ownership of the Project and at least 50% of the Project’s future spodumene concentrate, the Company has signiﬁcant leverage with which to form further strategic partnerships in the future. In relation to its ceramics by‐ products, Savannah continued to engage with signiﬁcant potential customers/partners in the ceramics industry for the Project's feldspar‐ quartz by‐product during the year. SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 55 Financial Statements Governance Business Review STRATEGIC REPORT How did the Board and/or Stakeholder Group Importance of engagement management engage Lenders Savannah currently has no corporate bonds or project ﬁnance loans but may seek to secure project ﬁnance as part of the ﬁnancing mix for the development of its future projects, such as the Barroso Lithium Project For Savannah: • To identify and build relationships with future lenders to ensure suﬃcient ﬁnance can be secured to support project development. For Lenders: • To secure a future lending agreement with a responsible raw material producer operating in the battery metals sector. A signiﬁcant step forward was made in the potential debt ﬁnancing process for the Project during 2024 with Euler Hermes AG, the export credit agency acting for the German Government, conﬁrming the Project’s eligibility for a guarantee on a loan up to USD270 million. This guarantee is available due to the potential provision of lithium feedstock into Germany via Savannah’s HoT offtake agreement with AMG. In addition to interaction with the German state entities, management maintained a dialogue with other potential project lenders during the year. Discussions with these groups are expected to become more detailed once the DFS is completed as that study will be a key part of a lending bank’s evaluation of the Project. Regulators/Government Depending on the jurisdiction, multiple departments and agencies of the European Commission, national, regional and/or local government may be involved in the licencing and monitoring of mining activities. For Savannah: • To build strong and supportive, working relationships with all relevant organs of government and to ensure that the Company receives and complies with the required licences and authorities to operate its projects. For governments: • To ensure that the Company is meeting its responsibilities as per its licences. • To maximise the economic and social beneﬁts which can be generated for an area, region or country from its mineral resources. • To understand the needs of Savannah as an operating entity with respect to relevant legislation. As outlined in the Chairman’s Statement, CEO’s Report and ESG section, Management had regular interaction during the year with the relevant government departments, agencies and associated personnel in Portugal and at the European Commission. Savannah views the establishment of active, two‐way, relationships with government stakeholders as critical to the successful development of its projects and in its decision‐making regarding the Company’s long‐term commitment to any jurisdiction. 56 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 How did the Board and/or Stakeholder Group Importance of engagement management engage Environment Savannah is committed to minimising the environmental impact of its operations through design, monitoring, mitigation and remediation For Savannah: • Savannah places great emphasis on minimising the environmental impact of its operations and also realises the importance placed on good environmental management by all Project stakeholders including governments, communities, customers, investors and lenders • Since passing the major milestone in the environmental licencing approval process in May 2023 (DIA), the team has been working towards the submission required for the next phase in the process, the Environmental Compliance Report of the Execution Project (‘RECAPE’). To ensure that it fulﬁls the requirements of this phase, Savannah has been interacting regularly with the Portuguese environmental regulator, for example in the design of studies required for the updating of several environmental criteria. STRATEGIC REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 57 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Principal decisions The Company deﬁnes principal decisions as those which are material to the Group and its key stakeholder groups detailed above. Information is presented below on a number of ‘principal decisions’ which the Board made during the course of 2024. Principal decisions are not deﬁned in legislation but are considered material by the Board from the perspective of the Company, impacted stakeholder group, or both. In making the following principal decisions during the year the Board considered the outcome based on the relevant stakeholders as well as the need to maintain a reputation for high standards of business conduct and the need to act fairly between the members of the Group. Principal Decision 1: Strategic Partnership with AMG Commercial interest in the Project and its spodumene lithium offtake had been strong for a number of years and increased signiﬁcantly following the DIA approval and publication the Scoping Study in 2023. The Company initiated a Strategic Partnering Process which included the appointment of investment banks Barclays and Barrenjoey. This resulted in entering into a strategic partnership with AMG Critical Materials N.V. Group (‘AMG’), the Amsterdam‐listed, global critical materials business, an established spodumene concentrate producer and the ﬁrst major European lithium chemical producer. In June 2024 AMG invested GBP 16m in Savannah through an equity subscription to become the Company’s largest shareholder. The partnership also includes an offtake heads of terms agreement (the ‘Offtake HoT’) through which, once ﬁnal agreements are negotiated and signed, AMG can purchase 45ktpa of spodumene concentrate from the Project. In addition, AMG will take a lead role in the partnership in securing a ‘full project ﬁnancing solution’ for the Project’s development. If such ﬁnancing is successful, the Offtake HoT anticipates the increase and extension of the offtake arrangements to 90ktpa for 10 years. The Company and AMG also entered into a co‐operation agreement whereby the parties agreed to work together on a number of mutually beneﬁcial opportunities. In making the decision the Board considered: • All stakeholders: Maintaining the Group as a going concern in the interest of all its stakeholders. The partnership with AMG brings with it the skillset of an established spodumene concentrate producer and the ﬁrst major European lithium chemical producer (AMG has a representative on the Company’s Board). • Shareholders / Investors: The impact on existing shareholders of raising additional equity was considered with the Board weighing up the need to maintain the Group as a going concern and to be well‐place to progress Europe’s largest spodumene resource into production, against the resulting equity dilution. The GBP 16m investment by AMG was at a price of 4.67p per share, representing a 35% premium to the 30‐day VWAP. AMG is highly motivated to secure a ‘full project ﬁnancing solution’ for the Project’s development. • Workforce and Suppliers: The Board also concluded that securing more working capital would help the Group to retain key staﬀ and suppliers who can help the Group achieve its business objectives. • Customers: The Offtake HoT through which, once ﬁnal agreements are negotiated and signed, AMG can purchase 45ktpa of spodumene concentrate from the Project (approximately 25% of total) for 5 years based on prevailing market prices, thus becoming the Company’s ﬁrst customer. The partnership also leaves at least 50% of the Project’s expected annual concentrate production available for sale to additional customers. Principal Decision 2: Chairman Succession and changes to the Board In June 2024, having completed the strategic partnership with AMG and with a cash position of over GBP21 million (the largest in the Company’s history) changes were made to the Board as it embarked on the next step, being bringing the Project into production. This included the appointment of the lithium industry executive, Mr Rick Anthon to the role of Non‐Executive Chair, and the promotion of existing director, Mr Diogo da Silveira, to Deputy Chair. Three Directors (previous Chair Mr Matthew King, Ms Mary Jo Jacobi, and Mr James Leahy) retired at that the same time. STRATEGIC REPORT 58 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Prior to that (in April 2024) the Company’s CEO, Mr Emanuel Proença had been appointed as a Director following the completion of his 6‐month probation period, and subsequently (August 2024), Mike Connor was appointed to the Board as AMG’s representative (in a Non‐Executive capacity). In making the decision the Board considered: • Shareholders / Investors, Customers, Lenders, and Environment: Mr Rick Anthon adds signiﬁcant lithium and wider mining sector knowledge to the Company’s Board, having worked with Allkem (previously Orocobre) from its initial IPO as a small exploration company, Mr Anthon was Director of Corporate Development when the ASX‐listed lithium group underwent an AUD 16Bn merger with Livent in 2023 to form NYSE listed Arcadium Lithium, one of the world’s largest producers of ﬁnished Lithium chemicals (subsequently acquired by Rio Tinto). Mr da Silveira has been instrumental in engaging with Portuguese stakeholders since his appointment. Prior to his appointment to the Board, Mr Proença had successfully guided Savannah through a highly challenging period caused by the Operation Inﬂuencer investigation whilst building credibility in international markets and, importantly, in Savannah’s local market, Portugal and has continued to deliver signiﬁcant progress on commercial, organisational and Project development fronts. Mr Connor brings highly relevant lithium sector knowledge, which he has gained while helping AMG build their own lithium business over recent years. • Workforce: Mr Proença has proven skills in managing a rapidly growing business, which are highly transferable and relevant to the Company. • Community and Regulators / Government: Mr da Silveira and Mr Proença have strong records of maintaining a constructive rapport with local communities and other stakeholders. As the Company's ﬁrst Deputy Chair and ﬁrst Portuguese CEO, their appointments underline the Company’s commitment to Portugal and the Project, and bring additional focus and immediacy as the Company looks to develop its brand as an important, responsible and successful business in Portugal. Principal Decision 3: Land Access Requests to the Portuguese Government To obtain access to the areas required for the development of the Project, Savannah must either acquire, rent, or agree access terms with the relevant owner. If suitable agreements cannot be reached in a reasonable timeframe, the legal right is established under Portuguese law to use established legal processes for both temporary land access and outright compulsory purchase. Contrary to other structural projects that were developed in recent times in the region, such as dams and highways, Savannah chose not to pursue these rights outright, allowing as much time as possible for commercially negotiated acquisitions. During 2024 Savannah reached the milestone of having purchased 100 properties from private landowners and had spent GBP 1.8m (EUR 2.1m) on private land purchases. With respect to areas managed by community Baldios groups, long term lease proposals have been made to the two largest Baldios groups, which feature compelling ﬁnancial and non‐ﬁnancial compensation to the groups, their individual members, and the wider communities. In an eﬀort to keep Project workstreams on track, Savannah started the legal process which grants it temporary access to land not currently owned and started separate actions relating to a Declaration of Public Utility (‘DPU’) request to the Portuguese Government. This is the mechanism that grants public utility which is necessary for compulsory acquisitions for relevant areas of land (and which is always needed in a variety of situations, e.g. for plots with inheritance issues, undeﬁned ownership, or very small dimensions, etc.). Savannah provided a bank guarantee for approximately GBP 2.5m in support of this. This DPU, once approved, will allow the Company to compulsorily acquire the properties that it wasn’t able to do so already. In the meantime, all eﬀorts to obtain friendly agreements will continue. In making the decision the Board considered: • All stakeholders: Having access to all the relevant land areas allows the ﬁeldwork to continue and the Project to advance through DFS to construction and production. STRATEGIC REPORT SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 59 Financial Statements Governance Business Review • Community: Contrary to other structural projects that were developed in recent times in the region, such as dams and highways, Savannah chose not to pursue these rights until they had allowed as much time as possible for commercially negotiated acquisitions. A positive eﬀect of this was that many landowners were given the extra time they needed to get paperwork in place, become comfortable with the Project, appreciate the value oﬀered and ultimately, sell their land. The land access requested was limited to cover the Project’s initial years of production and primarily relates to the land on the eastern side of the Project area where Pinheiro, Grandão, the process plant and related infrastructure are located. Furthermore, the DPU process, through which purchase prices or access fees for land would be set by the Portuguese courts, all stakeholders would still be assured of an alternative and equally transparent and fair process as that proposed by Savannah. In the meantime, all eﬀorts to obtain friendly agreements continue on the same terms as land already purchased (the values paid for land already purchased are on average two times the values calculated by the independent surveyors in the DPU process). • Government: The land access requests have required the ongoing support of the Portuguese government, which (in February 2025) took swift action to ensure that legal action instigated by three anti‐mine group landowners resulted in a minor delay to the ﬁeldwork. It also stated that “…we believe that any postponement of the execution of the administrative act (temporary land access) being challenged in court is more costly and seriously detrimental to the public interest, and that its full eﬀectiveness should be maintained.” • Shareholders / Investors, Customers, Lenders: Due consideration was given to potential adverse impact on future ﬁnancing requirements of the Project. Approval of the Board This Strategic Report contains certain forward‐looking statements that are subject to the usual risk factors and uncertainties associated with mineral development businesses. While the Directors believe the expectation reﬂected herein to be reasonable in view of the information available up to the time of the Board’s approval of this Strategic Report, the actual outcome may be materially diﬀerent owing to factors either beyond the Group’s control or otherwise within the Group’s control but, for example, resulting from a change of strategy. Accordingly, no reliance may be placed on the forward‐looking statements. On behalf of the Board: Emanuel Proença Chief Executive Oﬃcer Date: 9 April 2025 STRATEGIC REPORT 60 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Summary Savannah is the sole owner of the Barroso Lithium Project (the ‘Project’) in northern Portugal. The Project, which is located on two Mining Leases is the largest known spodumene lithium deposit in Europe. Savannah is currently completing the Project’s DFS and compliance phase of the environmental licence and expects to reach a Final Investment Decision point on the Project in early 2026. Based on economic studies completed to date and the key environmental licence approval, which was received in 2023, the Project is expected to produce approximately 200ktpa of spodumene concentrate (26ktpa lithium carbonate equivalent), containing suﬃcient lithium for at least 0.5 million EV battery packs per year, and 400ktpa of feldspar‐quartz by‐product for the local ceramics and glass industries. Based on the current timetable, Savannah expects the Project to enter production and assume its role as a key source of lithium raw material for Europe’s lithium battery chain in 2027. The Project has been designed so that its direct environmental impact is minimised and Savannah is also committed to sharing the socio‐economic beneﬁts of the Project with all its stakeholders. Through this responsible approach to the Project’s development and operation, Savannah is ensuring the maximum environmental and social beneﬁts of the lithium is captured for society from these lithium resources. In March 2025, the European Commission classiﬁed the Project as a ‘Strategic Project’ under the Critical Raw Materials Act. Through this classiﬁcation the European Commission has identiﬁed the Project as being able to make a major contribution to the EU's secure supply of strategic raw materials, while adhering to environmental, social and governance criteria, being technically feasible and able to demonstrate clear cross‐border beneﬁts for the EU. As a Strategic Project, the Barroso Lithium Project should beneﬁt from coordinated support by the Commission, Member States and ﬁnancial institutions to become operational. Overview and History of the Project Located less than 2 hours’ drive northeast of the city of Porto, the Barroso Lithium Project lies within the Barroso hills of northeast Portugal. The Project is situated on two Mining Leases, the 30‐year C‐100 Mining Lease (5.42km2), which was awarded to a previous owner in 2006 and can be extended by 20 years, and the adjacent, three block, 25 year, C‐190 Mining Lease (2.94km2), which was awarded in December 2024 to its current owner, the Portuguese company Aldeia & Irmão, S.A. (‘Aldeia’), and which can be extended twice (for a further 15 years followed by an additional 10 years, see Note 19 for further details). Through Savannah’s successful exploration programme, the Barroso Lithium Project has been deﬁned as the most signiﬁcant source of spodumene lithium in Europe. Hardrock spodumene lithium deposits have been a major source of lithium raw material production globally for decades and has made Australia the world’s largest producer of lithium raw material. Hence, Savannah believes that the Barroso Lithium Project can become an important source of this ‘conventional’ lithium mineral for Europe’s burgeoning domestic lithium battery industry. Savannah Resources has operated the Project, which initially consisted of just the C‐100 Mining Lease, since May 2017 when it ﬁrst acquired a 75% stake (with all the milestones relating to purchase completed by October 2018). The Company then became the sole owner of the Project in June 2019 when it acquired the residual 25% stake from the Project’s minority shareholders in an all‐share transaction. June 2019 also saw Savannah exercise the option it had taken in September 2018 to acquire the adjacent three block Mining Lease Application area (now the C‐190 Mining Lease) from Aldeia. If this transaction is completed, the addition of the C‐190 Mining Lease will increase the Project’s footprint owned by Savannah by over 50%. BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 61 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Plan of the Barroso Lithium Project showing the location of drilling to date and the major orebodies: Source: Company Current Resources To date Savannah’s extensive exploration programme, which includes over 40,000m of drilling, has identiﬁed numerous spodumene lithium bearing deposits on the Project. From being a ‘pre‐resource’ project when acquired in 2017, JORC compliant Mineral Resources have now been estimated on ﬁve of these deposits (4 on the C‐100 licence and 1 on C‐190 Block A) which, as of May 2024, totalled 28.0Mt at 1.05% Li2O (containing 293.1kt of Li2O or 725kt of lithium carbonate equivalent), representing the largest spodumene lithium resource in Europe. All of the orebodies on the Project remain open to possible extensions through further exploration and an additional Exploration Target2 ranging from 11‐19Mt at 1.0‐1.2% Li2O has been estimated on just three of the ﬁve deposits as of June 2023. As a result, the Project currently has a combined Resource and Exploration Target2 of 39‐47Mt at 1.0 to 1.2% Li2O as outlined across the following tables. 2 Cautionary Statement: The potential quantity and grade of the Additional Resource Targets is conceptual in nature, there has been insuﬃcient prospecting work to estimate a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further prospecting will result in deﬁning a mineral resource. BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW 62 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 The Barroso Lithium Project’s Lithium JORC Mineral Resource Estimate & Exploration Target3: JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (May 2024, 0.5% Li2O cut‐oﬀ) Resource Tonnes Li2O Deposit Category (Mt) Li2O grade (%) Fe2O3 grade (%) contained (t) Grandão Measured 6.6 1.1 0.7 71,600 Indicated 6.4 1.0 0.8 61,300 Inferred 4.8 1.0 0.7 48,900 Sub‐total 17.7 1.04 0.7 181,800 Reservatório Measured – – – – Indicated 3.5 0.95 0.8 33,000 Inferred 0.7 0.9 0.9 6,500 Sub‐total 4.2 0.9 0.8 39,500 Pinheiro Measured – – – – Indicated – – – – Inferred 2.0 1.0 0.7 20,000 Sub‐total 2.0 1.0 0.7 20,000 NOA Measured – – – – Indicated 0.6 1.0 0.8 6,300 Inferred 0.1 0.9 0.4 500 Sub‐total 0.7 1.0 0.8 6,800 Aldeia Measured – – – – Indicated 1.6 1.3 0.5 21,300 Inferred 1.8 1.3 0.4 23,700 Sub‐total 3.5 1.3 0.4 45,000 All Deposits Measured 6.6 1.1 0.7 71,600 Indicated 12.1 1.0 0.7 121,900 Inferred 9.3 1.1 0.7 99,600 Grand Total 28 1.05 0.7 293,100 Rounding discrepancies may occur Source: April 2025 Project & Resource update RNS BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW 3 Cautionary Statement: The potential quantity and grade of the Additional Resource Targets is conceptual in nature, there has been insuﬃcient prospecting work to estimate a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further prospecting will result in deﬁning a mineral resource. BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 63 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Exploration Target4 Summary (June 2023) Tonnage Range (Mt) Deposit Low High Li2O grade (%) Reservatório 5.0 7.0 1.0‐1.2 Grandão 4.0 8.0 1.0‐1.2 Aldeia 2.0 4.0 1.0‐1.3 Total 11.0 19.0 1.0‐1.2 Rounding discrepancies may occur Source: June 2023 JORC Resource update RNS Resource upgrades As part of its current work for the Project’s Deﬁnitive Feasibility Study (‘DFS’, further details below), Savannah is in the process of upgrading the Project’s current Inferred JORC Resources to the higher, Indicated and Measured JORC categories so that they can be included in the Project’s maiden JORC Reserve estimate. This JORC Reserve will outline the ore tonnage which will initially underpin the operation’s production for more than a decade. To achieve this, Savannah has been conducting resource inﬁll drilling since October 2023 as part of its wider, two phase, DFS‐related drilling programme, which is also providing data for geotechnical, metallurgical and hydrogeological studies. The ﬁrst phase of the programme was completed in May 2024 (resource drilling was completed in February 2024) with 67 holes drilled for a total of 6,154m. Key outcomes from this ﬁrst phase included: 1. A new JORC estimate for the NOA orebody. Published in May 2024, the drill programme achieved its goal with 93% of the total 0.66Mt Resource placed into the Indicated Category (previously 67%). The drilling also conﬁrmed that mineralisation continues to the northwest beyond the current resource envelope. 2. The highest grade drill intercepts every recorded at the Project. Drilling on the western limb of the Pinheiro orebody identiﬁed a new high ‐grade zone and returned 76m at 1.85% Li2O from 24m in 24PNRRCO24, included 39m at 2.21% Li2O from 38m and 1m at over 3.53% Li2O from 62m. Overall, 12 sample intervals reported greater than 3% Li2O at Pinheiro. Drilling also conﬁrmed the western limb extending to the north. 3. Conﬁrmation of notable mineralisation continuing at depth at Reservatório and work close to the margin of the deposit at Grandão showed the mineralisation continuing to the north. BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW 4 Cautionary Statement: The potential quantity and grade of the Additional Resource Targets is conceptual in nature, there has been insuﬃcient prospecting work to estimate a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further prospecting will result in deﬁning a mineral resource. BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW While the highest lithium assays to date were reported at Pinheiro, all the Project’s major orebodies remain open to future expansion and the Lease areas feature numerous other occurrences of lithium mineralisation Source: Company As at 31 March 2025, Savannah is 57 holes (6,204m) into the 117 holes, c.13,000m, phase 2 of the programme, which will result in new resource estimates for the Grandão, Reservatório and Pinheiro orebodies as part of the ongoing DFS work. Assays and other key ﬁndings from this ongoing drilling programme will be released periodically during 2025. Further exploration upside While the current JORC Resource‐bearing orebodies will provide the operation with ore for well over a decade, other mineralised deposits represent an opportunity to build a long‐term pipeline of future resources, which could sustain the Project for decades to come. For example, surface exploration conducted on targets at the western end of the C‐100 Lease and on Block B of the C‐190 Lease, well away from the JORC Resource bearing orebodies, returned high grade assays from rock chip and channel sampling. These included rock chip samples at Carvalha da Bacora and Altos dos Cortiços (on the C‐100 Lease) assaying up to 3.01% Li2O and conﬁrming extensions to previously identiﬁed mineralisation. While on Block B of the C‐190 Lease, rock chips returned up to 2.11% Li₂O and channel samples included 14m @ 1.01% Li₂O from Trench 1b, 6m @ 1.39% Li₂O from Trench 1, and 4m @ 2.08% Li₂O and 4m @ 2.62% Li₂O from Trench 2. 64 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW Signiﬁcant lithium mineralisation has been identiﬁed at surface in numerous deposits away from the JORC Resource‐ bearing orebodies at the Project on the C‐100 and C‐190 Mining Leases Source: Company Source: Company SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 65 Financial Statements Governance Business Review BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW This is just a small fraction of the known targets which exist at the Project, and while there remains much follow up work to do to further assess these deposits, they act as a clear reminder of the Project’s high prospectivity for further spodumene lithium resource delineation in the future. Furthermore, as Savannah’s experience with the major orebodies on the C‐100 licence has shown, the full extent of the mineralisation is easily underestimated from outcrops alone. In addition, looking even further ahead the ﬁrst Light and Detection (‘LIDAR’) drone survey conducted over the Project, which conducted during 2024, identiﬁed several historical tin mining areas hidden by vegetation. This is signiﬁcant as at Grandão and Pinheiro, similar zones of historical mining indicate a possible association between the spodumene and tin bearing pegmatites. Hence, there are even more opportunities to build a pipeline of additional resources and targets for the Project’s long ‐term continuity. Not just a lithium project In addition to the production of spodumene lithium concentrate, the Barroso Lithium Project also has the potential to produce signiﬁcant volumes of feldspar and quartz which is in demand from the large ceramics and glass industries in Portugal and Spain. Sales of these ‘by‐products’ would have the dual beneﬁts of reducing the amount of processed material which must be stored on‐site and provide signiﬁcant additional revenue which could markedly improve the net production costs of the lithium concentrate. During 2019 the Group estimated its ﬁrst by‐product resource on the Project, based only on pegmatite material located inside the proposed Grandão pit (i.e., wholly within the existing lithium mineral resource model). Hence, this resource is expected to increase further once similar estimates are performed on the NOA, Reservatório, Pinheiro and Aldeia deposits. The Barroso Lithium Project’s By‐product JORC Mineral Resource Estimate: JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (September 2019, no lithium cut‐oﬀ grade applied) Resource Tonnes Quartz Feldspar Deposit Category (Mt) Grade (%) Mt Grade (%) Mt Grandão Measured 7.1 32.6 2.32 42.8 3.05 Indicated 6.3 34.6 2.17 42.6 2.67 Inferred 1.0 30.9 0.30 40.3 0.39 Sub‐total 14.4 33.4 4.79 42.6 6.11 Rounding discrepancies may occur Source: September 2019 JORC Resource update RNS Savannah also completed marketing and test work studies during 2019 to conﬁrm the by‐products’ suitability for various applications within the ceramic and glass industries and is currently executing an independent product characterisation and market study with a reputable Portuguese consultant. Development of the Project With control of the largest spodumene resource in Europe and the encouraging results in the initial Scoping Study completed on the Project in 2018 (see section Economic Studies on the Project for further details), Savannah is progressing the Project towards a Final Investment Decision point. While the Project is located on existing Mining Leases, Savannah’s plan to produce spodumene concentrate and mine on a larger scale than had been envisaged when the C‐100 Mining Lease was awarded in 2006, mean it is necessary for the Project to obtain a new Environmental Licence and have a new Mine Plan approved by the Portuguese authorities. Savannah must also justify the potential capital investment in the Project for itself and its future debt and equity investors with a robust business case. Hence, the Company is now completing the compliance phase of the environmental licencing process working to ﬁnalise a Deﬁnitive Feasibility Study. 66 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW Environmental Licencing The environmental licencing process in Portugal consists of several phases in which the ‘Declaration of Environmental Impact’ (‘DIA’) is the key award in the process. By achieving this milestone, a Project’s future design and operation as outlined in its Environmental Impact Assessment5 (‘EIA’) and associated documents, such as a Mine Plan in the case of a mining project, has received approval from Portugal’s environmental regulator, APA. In the subsequent ‘Environmental Compliance Report of the Execution Project stage’ (‘RECAPE’), the Project’s proponent must show that any conditions attached to the DIA approval are met in the Project’s ﬁnal design. If this requirement is fulﬁlled, a Project’s detailed ﬁnal design receives a ‘DCAPE’ approval and at this point a project can be awarded its ﬁnal environmental title. Savannah ﬁrst submitted an EIA and Mine Plan for the Project to APA in June 2020. Following a two‐year initial review period of the EIA, which included a public consultation between April and July of 2021, APA recommended that the review process enter an additional phase of evaluation under Article 16 of the relevant EIA legislation. In contrast to the initial review process, Article 16 oﬀered both a ﬁxed timetable and the opportunity for Savannah to meet with the regulator’s Evaluation Committee and receive feedback. Savannah agreed to the Article 16 extension and, after a series of productive meetings with members of APA’s Evaluation Committee and a period spent signiﬁcantly revising the Project’s design and its operational plan, resubmitted its EIA and associated Mine Plan in March 2023. Following a second public consultation period (March ‐ April 2023), the Barroso Lithium Project received a positive conditional DIA decision in May 2023. Since the DIA was awarded, work on the RECAPE phase of the process has been underway on several fronts including, water and hydrogeology, seasonal studies of ﬂora and fauna, noise and vibration, archaeology, and social impact. Other studies linked to the DFS, such as the Mine Plan, will also provide important inputs into the RECAPE submission. The Company expects to make its RECAPE submission by the end of 2025. Key elements of the Barroso Lithium Project during the operating phase as proposed in the 2023 revised EIA: Source: Company SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 67 Financial Statements Governance Business Review 5 An EIA study identiﬁes all the potential environmental and social impacts a project may have and details how the project’s proponents would monitor and minimise these impacts throughout all phases of the project’s life, including after its closure. BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW Key features of the DIA approved Project design and operational plan: Parameter Details Footprint • Expanded C‐100 Mining Lease: 593 hectares (5.93km2). • Area which will be sequentially impacted and rehabilitated on the expanded C‐100 Mining Lease: 271 hectares; less than half of the Lease’s total area. • Agricultural land impacted on the C‐100: 14 hectares (2.4%) of the Lease area or 0.21% of the total 1,127km2 area which was categorised as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) by the Food and Agriculture Organisation in 2018 (Mining Lease awarded in 2006). • No population relocation required, no housing aﬀected. Operating times • Drilling 7am‐8pm Mon‐Fri; Blasting up to 3 times/week between 12 noon‐3pm on weekdays only; Mining & on‐site trucking 7am‐11pm 7/7; Processing plant 24hr 7/7. External road transport • Road transport 7am‐8pm Mon‐Fri. • External access to the Project is via a new 11.6km road which connects to the R311 and a new 17km Boticas bypass road to connect to A24; No project traﬃc will pass through local villages and towns. Mining areas • Minimum distance to nearest house from edge of ﬁnal mine area (Grandão) 560m. • Mining areas to be backﬁlled with inert waste rock, landscaped and re‐vegetated using native species beginning in the second year of operation. Processing Plant • Engineered into hillside to be located below sight lines from local villages and to reduce noise pollution. • Includes a water recycling and treatment system with all water treated and 85% recycled for reuse. • Housed in an insulated building to further reduce noise. Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) • Tailings (waste from processing plant) is inert. • Tailings will be stored separately from mining waste rock at a safe distance from the Covas River. • TSF will be a highly stable ‘dry stack’ structure with waste dried before storing. The Project will not use a traditional ‘wet’ tailings dam. • For additional environmental protection, the TSF will be built on a waterproof lining. • The TSF will be revegetated progressively during the Project’s life. Water Sourcing • No water extraction from the Covas River. • Water sourced on‐site from the mining areas and other surface sources and recycled. • Any water courses interrupted by mining will be restored once mining ﬁnishes. • Water ﬂowing towards the Project will be diverted to reach the Covas River. Water Storage • Water collected on the Project will be stored in small, purpose‐built storage facilities. • Water storage facilities also act as sediment control structures to help with maintaining water quality. 68 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 Parameter Details Waste Rock Storage & Reuse • Waste rock (rock which is not ore) stored in temporary or permanent structures. • Waste areas located to reduce impact & avoid water courses. • Permanent waste rock formations will be contoured into the existing landscape and revegetated. Ecology • Not drawing water from the Covas River helps preserve the local aquatic ecosystem, including the river mussel. • Removal of road bridges also reduces impact on aquatic ecosystem. • Impact on oak groves and meadows further reduced in latest Project layout. • No mining at night avoids impact on nocturnal wildlife, including the Iberian Wolf. • Re‐vegetation to utilise native species and other suitable plants with good pollination characteristics. Noise & Vibrations • Commitment to not exceeding a limit of 38 decibels (less than the noise of a refrigerator), at the nearest house during day and night time operation, except when blasting. • Blasting will last 5‐10 seconds and measure up to 55 decibels at nearest house (loudest ‘Project noise’ but less than a washing machine). • Ground vibration from blasting to be 60% below legal limit as measured at nearest house. Air Quality • Dust identiﬁed as the most signiﬁcant impact with no other notable airborne emissions. • Dust to be suppressed by treating unpaved roads with water; fog cannons used when haul trucks dump their loads at the processing plant. • Electric mining equipment and trucks to be used when available to remove vehicle CO2 emissions. Environmental Reporting • Multiple environmental indicators (air quality, noise levels, ground vibrations, and water levels and water quality) will be monitored, in real time, through a series of sensors distributed across the Project and surrounding area. • The data collected will be publicly reported 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. • Everyone will have access to information through a smartphone app; Savannah’s website; Information Centres and Public places in the local area. Social beneﬁts • 300+ direct jobs created. • Preferential trade with local businesses & producers. • Financial support and other resources for community initiatives. • Environmental, historical, cultural and agricultural heritage projects supported; Social and educational support; Sharing of health & transport assets. BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 69 Financial Statements Governance Business Review BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW Other licences Once the environmental licence has been formally received, Savannah will then be able to apply for the remainder of the licences required for the Project’s development and operation. These licences cover permissions for construction and use of services on site such as power. Resource drilling during the 2023/24 programme: Source: Company Economic Studies on the Project 2018 & 2023 Scoping Studies Savannah completed its ﬁrst Scoping Study on the Project in 2018, based on a ‘mineable resource’ of 14.4Mt, throughput of 1.3Mtpa and average annual production of 175ktpa of 6% spodumene concentrate over a life of mine of 11 years. This study returned a post‐tax NPV of USD241m and IRR of 48.6% based on an average spodumene concentrate price of USD685/t. In June 2023, Savannah produced a new Scoping Study based on the Project design which had received the DIA environmental approval the month before. The key operating and economic parameters of that design are outlined in the table below, which compared to the 2018 Study saw the mineable resource increase by 42% to 20.5Mt, throughput at the plant rise by 15% and the average annual tonnage of concentrate production rise by 9% to approximately 190ktpa. 70 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 The Barroso Lithium Project 2023 Scoping Study Key Facts: Operating Parameters Assumptions Mineable resource 20.5Mt at 1.05% Li2O. All open pit. Initial life of mine 14 years Average Stripping ratio (waste: ore) 5.9:1 Average annual processing rate 1.5Mtpa Processing route & recovery rate Crush‐grind‐Dense Media Separation‐ﬂotation;73% recovery Average annual concentrate production & 191ktpa, at minimum 5.5% Li2O speciﬁcation Concentrate production as Lithium carbonate ~26ktpa LCE; ~29.5ktpa LHE. Suﬃcient for ~0.5M 60kWh equivalent (‘LCE’)/Lithium Hydroxide car battery packs per annum Equivalent (‘LHE’) Average annual by‐product output 400ktpa of a bulk feldspar/quartz for use in the ceramics and other industries Employment ~350 staﬀ during the operating phase Initial capex (ex. contingency/inc. contingency) USD235.9m/USD280.3m (Additional 19% contingency of USD44.4m, included in ﬁnancial model) Sustaining capital & closure costs USD49.3m & USD102m (total USD151.3m) C1 Cash Operating cost (USD/t concentrate) USD292/t Includes all mining, processing, transport, G&A and community costs less feldspar‐quartz ceramic by‐products credits (‐USD132/t concentrate); excludes royalties All in sustaining costs (USD/t concentrate) USD409/t Includes all mining, processing, transport, G&A and community costs, royalties, sustaining capex and closure & rehabilitation costs less net of ceramic by‐products credits (‐USD132/t concentrate) Financial Economic outcomes Average price assumptions Spodumene concentrate (5.5% Li2O): USD1,464/t; Feldspar/quartz by‐product: USD53.5/t Gross Revenue (Total; Avg pa) USD4,151m; USD304m (includes by‐product revenue) EBITDA (Total, Avg pa) USD2,793m; USD205m Royalties (Total) USD153m Taxes (Total) USD771m BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 71 Financial Statements Governance Business Review Financial Economic outcomes Net Free Cashﬂow (Total; Avg pa) USD1,694m; USD124m Post‐tax NPV (8% discount rate) USD953m Post‐tax IRR 77.3% Post‐tax Payback 1.3 years Source: June 2023 Scoping Study Deﬁnitive Feasibility Study The DFS is a comprehensive technical and economic study of the proposed Project and will include among other elements; an updated JORC Resource for the Project as well as its maiden JORC Reserve estimate; ﬁnal designs for site layout and associated infrastructure; schedules for mining, processing, storage of processed materials; commodity market studies; and capital and operating cost estimations, and a cashﬂow model. Savannah has been working towards the DFS since the ﬁrst Scoping Study was completed in 2018. The extended environmental licencing process (2020‐23) subsequently impacted the timing of some elements of the Study, but work on the DFS restarted over the summer of 2023. Beginning with the appointment of key contractors and followed by the restart of drilling in 2023, after a four‐year break. The ﬁrst phase of resource‐related drilling was completed in February 2024 with the remainder of phase 1 (focused on geotechnical, metallurgical and hydrogeological data gathering) completed in May 2024. Preparation for the second phase of drilling then began in December 2024 and as at 31 March 2025 57 holes and 6,204m have been completed in the 117 holes, c.13,000m programme. Away from the ﬁeld, during 2024 and early 2025, Savannah’s team and its consultants have been ﬁnalising the locations for the processing plant, pits, waste dumps, tailings and water storage facilities, roads and HV power infrastructure. Designs for the pits and waste dumps were also completed, pending ﬁnalisation of geotechnical assessment, as was the mine scheduling exercise and the drilling of water bores and pump testing for a hydrogeological study. Preliminary designs were also completed for the Tailings Storage Facility, water reservoirs and environmental control dams. Regarding the ﬁnal estimate of the Project’s construction (capex) and operating costs, requests for quotations for all signiﬁcant mechanical equipment were received during the period and budget quotations for electrical equipment, steel/pipe fabrication and installation contracts have all been prepared and sent out. Infrastructure From an infrastructure perspective, the Project beneﬁts greatly from its location in a western European country. A 60KV overhead grid powerline crosses the Project, a network of paved local roads connects the site to the national highway network leading to the major towns and cities of northern Portugal and a number of industrial ports on the Atlantic coast. In addition, the area receives signiﬁcant rainfall and hence, the Project can collect, store and recycle the water it needs during its operating life. Against this backdrop, Savannah is making good progress with planning and implementing a series of revisions and additions to the existing infrastructure, which are required to meet the conditions of the DIA environmental approval and to operate the Project as safely and eﬃciently as possible. BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW 72 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW Recent progress on key infrastructure objectives includes: Roads Part of the optimised Project design which received DIA approval in 2023 is a new road system to transport materials to and from the Project which avoids trucks passing through local villages and towns. To date preliminary design work on the northern access road, which will directly link the Project to the new Boticas bypass road and ultimately the existing national highway network, has been completed and is under consultation with the relevant government agencies and stakeholders prior to geotechnical ﬁeld work for the ﬁnal design. The preliminary alignment for the Boticas town bypass road was presented and underwent stakeholder review during 2024. Based on feedback received, the design is now undergoing a revision to incorporate stakeholder observations where possible. Geotechnical ﬁeld tests have been conducted and the ﬁnal road design, associated studies and environmental impact assessment are expected to be ready for review soon ahead of submission to the Portuguese regulator. Preliminary design of the Project's internal haul roads, which will connect the mining areas to the central processing plant, are in progress and will be completed as part of the DFS later this year. Electrical power In order to develop the Project, it will be necessary to reposition the existing powerline so that it passes around the Grandão deposit and construct a new onsite substation. In July 2023, Savannah initiated this process and during 2024, preliminary design for the revised powerline layout and associated substation were completed and the DFS level design and permitting commenced. Water The location of the water storage areas and associated dams was ﬁnalised during the year and preliminary design work on these structures completed. The potential layout of Project‐related road and power infrastructure Source: Company SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 73 Financial Statements Governance Business Review BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW Processing Plant After extensive testwork, the basic process ﬂowsheet for the concentrator plant was ﬁnalised in 2022. Fully complying with all relevant regulations, the ﬂowsheet uses industry standard equipment and processing techniques and an environmentally friendly reagent regime. Both mica and spodumene ﬂotation sections can operate at near neutral pH, and the plant will be capable of producing a high quality, spodumene concentrate grading ≥5.5% Li2O with low levels of impurities. Testwork is continuing and during the year, progress was made on the ﬁnal DFS design of the plant as well as the development of a 3D model. Simpliﬁed Process Flowsheet Block Flow Diagram: Source: Company Decarbonisation Study Following some initial work on estimating the scope 1 & 2 emissions for the Project, Savannah announced the initiation of a Decarbonisation Strategy in 2022 to support its goal of producing a net carbon zero lithium product from the Project. By setting this goal Savannah is helping to minimise the carbon footprint associated with the European lithium battery value chain, thus maximising the environmental beneﬁt these batteries can bring. ECOPROGRESSO, a subsidiary of the Portuguese engineering and environmental consultancy, Quadrante Group, was commissioned to lead on a multiple phased study. Phase 1, which was focused on updating the estimate of the Project's greenhouse gases emissions based on international guidelines, and deﬁning targets for overall emissions reduction was completed during 2022 and the results announced in February 2023. Key ﬁndings of the ﬁrst phase study included: • Conﬁrmation that battery electric mining equipment provided the most eﬀective and ﬂexible means to reduce Scope 1 emissions, which account for 68% of the combined Scope 1 & 2 total 74 SAVANNAH RESOURCES Plc – ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 BARROSO LITHIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW • The Scope 2 emissions estimate was reduced by 54% from a 2019 estimate based on a lower calculated power consumption at the Project’s processing plant and a 41% reduction in the emissions associated with grid power due to the increase in contribution from renewable sources in the intervening period. The recommendations for ongoing studies to further reduce the Project’s CO2 footprint included: • Assessing the options for securing a 100% renewable energy supply for the Project • Working with mining equipment OEMs to determine a site‐speciﬁc solution for a transition to a battery operated mining ﬂeet and associated charging infrastructure. In response to the Study’s ﬁndings, during 2024 Savannah continued to explore opportunities to transition the Project's initial mining ﬂeet (expected to be diesel) to technologies that allow a signiﬁcant reduction in emissions. This included attending a conference event organised by a leading mining ﬂeet OEM to explore its current and future work with hybrid and fully electric equipment and supporting infrastructure. Meanwhile, the outlook for reducing Scope 2 emissions to zero continues to improve with the increasing contribution of renewable energy into Portugal’s grid power. In 2024, around 80% of mainland Portugal’s grid power came from renewable sources. Savannah plans to negotiate a 100% renewable supply for Project. Development timetable Savannah expects to complete the DFS and environmental licencing process by the end of 2025, which will allow the Company’s Board to make a Final Investment Decision on the development of the Project in 2026. Assuming that suﬃcient ﬁnancing can be secured, construction will also begin next year and be completed in 2027. This will be followed by commissioning and ﬁrst concentrate production before the end of 2027. If this timetable can be achieved, the Project will be coming online in parallel with a widely expected tightening in the global lithium market in which supply is challenged to keep pace with accelerating demand and lithium commodity prices are forecast to be signiﬁcantly higher than in today’s market. 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