The punishment from the OSC is a response to false accounting from Katanga that saw it overstate how much it mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014.
Various international groups had expressed interest in exploring for lithium in Portugal, which is the world's sixth-largest lithium producer, and Europe's biggest.
The Canadian junior miner is taking advantage of a window of opportunity presented by a local drill company to complete two holes prior to the Christmas break.
