In a time where effective solutions to tackle the impacts of climate change are urgently needed, lithium extraction is understood by many as a pivotal opportunity to produce vehicle batteries and enable the phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles. In this line, European policymakers have promoted a new era of “green mining”, where
both the use of end products and technologies for extraction are deemed sustainable. Given the European Commission’s pledge to enable a just transition that commits to leaving no one behind on the way toward a green economy, the expectations and fears of Europeans directly affected by new extractive projects are of significant importance.

This article takes a political ecology approach that combines the concepts of place and anticipation to examine negotiations around a proposed lithium mine in the Barroso region in northern Portugal. Drawing on 27 qualitative semi-structured interviews and ethnographic research in August 2021, the authors explore how local residents engage in the politics of anticipation around the mine.

The study has two main findings:

1. While local supporters hope to benefit from the project economically, opponents expect it to undermine agricultural traditions, counteract plans for expanding tourism services, and, as known from mining areas in the past, drive displacement and rural injustices.
2. As opponents feel restricted in their ability to participate in decision-making around the project, they act upon the future through defensive resistance, connecting across multiple scales and drawing on place-based symbols to mark differences from dominant ideas on extractive development. The study suggests that local activists’ experiences of being disregarded in their concerns and demands indicate that plans to expand resource extraction in the name of the green economy are giving rise to new sacrifice zones.