The Department of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineering (DER) of Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) was invited by the company Savannah Resources (S.A.) to take part in the first 2026 edition of the Lisbon Lithium & Batteries Cluster Cocktail, held on January 22 at Savannah’s premises in Lisbon.

Following the invitation, Professors Orquídia Neves and José Manuel Marques delivered the lecture “Lithium on the Rocks: From Water Consumption to Energy Transition”, in which they shared research on the presence of lithium in tap water and natural mineral waters; the potential benefits (or lack thereof) of lithium consumption for mental health; the use of lithium geothermometers to estimate reservoir temperatures in geothermal systems; and the extraction of lithium as a by-product of geothermal system exploitation, particularly Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).

This event provided an excellent networking opportunity in the field of mineral and energy resources engineering, and concluded with an informal social gathering.