The Braga Brief, Week of 25 September 2026: A Defence Start-Up Plans 200 Jobs in Braga, Portugal's First Lithium Battery Recycler Opens, and Sp. Braga Put 50 Million Euros on a Stadium Fix

Good morning from the Minho. A new defence manufacturer has picked Braga, the country's first lithium battery recycler opened its doors, and Sp. Braga posted a record year and put a price on fixing their stadium. Here is your roundup for 19 to 25 September.

A defence start-up plans 200 jobs in Braga

Baseyard, a company set up in Portugal by the Latvian entrepreneur Olegs Jakovlevs, wants to build a defence and dual-use industrial hub in Braga. It plans to start production in the last quarter of 2026, with about 30 staff by the end of the year and around 200 by 2029. The total investment is expected to pass 20 million euros, mixing private money with grants, incentives and other non-dilutive funding.

Jakovlevs told ECO the plan starts at roughly 10,000 square metres of industrial space, expandable to more than 16,000, with an ambition to build a campus of its own in the Braga area. The first products are meant to be unmanned and autonomous systems for land, air and sea, plus electronics, communications, AI and sensing. He cited the Minho's electronics and composites industry, its engineers and new EU defence money such as SAFE. The company has not said where in Braga it will set up.

Where Portugal's dead batteries now go

Portugal's first lithium battery recycling plant is in Braga, and it has been running since March. b.again, part of the dst group, hosted the Electrão open day on Wednesday and gave the numbers: capacity of up to 7,000 tonnes a year, about 500 tonnes received so far, and more than 95 percent of the material recovered by dry mechanical shredding at low temperature, rather than burning.

The 7,000 tonnes yield about 3,500 tonnes of "black mass", from which lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel are extracted. That last step still happens in France, because Portugal has no refinery for it. Director-general João Gomes said he hopes it can be done here "in the short to medium term", and called old batteries mines that do not need a hole in the ground.

A hospital shopping list, paid by Brussels

The ULS de Braga says it has invested more than 26.5 million euros across 14 projects under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, 23.4 million of it direct PRR money. Already in service: a CT scanner, two MRI machines, two angiographs, a surgical robot that has operated since April 2025, and the hospital's first spine-surgery robot. The money also paid for a community mental health team covering Vila Verde, Amares and Terras de Bouro.

The council: cameras, and a mine upriver

Mayor João Rodrigues told Monday's executive meeting that the city's 133 CCTV cameras now wait only on the PSP's final opinion; the council has done its part. The plan covers the University of Minho bar area, the historic and pedestrian centre and the Picoto, Ponte and Camélias parks, with a first phase of 82 cameras costing an estimated 1.7 million euros. The council pays; the PSP watches.

At the same meeting, Chega councillor Filipe Aguiar pressed him on the reopening of the Borralha tungsten mine in Montalegre, warning it could contaminate the Cávado, Braga's river. Aguiar said Águas do Norte and EDP had given negative opinions and that Agere, the city's water company, had raised reservations. Rodrigues said the environment agency sees "no risk at all" to Braga and that he would not "tear his clothes" over it, though he admitted concern. The operator, Minerália, says it will use only recycled water and discharge nothing. We covered the drilling results at Borralha in April.

A record year on the books, a point on the pitch

Sp. Braga's SAD made a net profit of 17.3 million euros in 2025/26, after an 11 million loss the year before. Total income passed 100 million euros for the first time, at 115.7 million, helped by the Europa League semi-final run and 67.3 million from player sales, mainly Roger Fernandes, Rodrigo Zalazar and Simon Banza. On Thursday, president António Salvador said a 50 million euro renovation of the Estádio Municipal is under study, agreed with the council: the stadium is "very symbolic" but was not built for today's fans or today's revenue.

On the pitch, Braga drew 0-0 at Santa Clara on Sunday and sit on 11 points with a game in hand. Vitória de Guimarães needed a Borevkovic goal six minutes into added time to draw 1-1 with Moreirense; they are 14th on five points; president Rui Rodrigues called it a "frustrating" start for a side with 134 shots and five goals. Famalicão finally won, 4-0 at Nacional, two each for Koutsias and Sorriso. Gil Vicente conceded in the third minute of added time to draw 1-1 with Marítimo in Barcelos.

Also this week

A fire in Arcos de Valdevez, reported at 15:07 on Monday, grew to three fronts and drew 11 aircraft before it was brought under control at 05:27 on Tuesday, with 238 personnel still on the ground. Nearby villages were never in danger, civil protection said.

The composer César Viana has quit as artistic director of Guimarães's Festival de Música Religiosa over what he called the council's "institutional and commercial rapprochement" with Israel. It follows mayor Ricardo Araújo's meeting with the Israeli ambassador, which we reported last week.

Social Security inspectors are investigating the Centro Social Paroquial de Barroselas in Viana do Castelo, after a complaint by its former audit-board chair, who says it supports more than 80 older people. He alleges mismanagement, understaffing and poor care, and has also gone to the labour inspectorate and prosecutors. The Diocese has removed the board and appointed an administrative committee.

The week ahead

The Ukrainian photographer Lena Ruzhytska, who lives in Portugal, has won this year's Encontros da Imagem prize for "Pomizh (in-between)", a diary of living between Ukraine and Portugal during the war. It is on show at the Museu Nogueira da Silva until the end of October; the festival runs to 1 November.

After the international break, Sporting visit Braga on 9 October, and Braga open their Conference League phase at Copenhagen's Parken on 15 October.

Partner Content

The item below is sponsored and is kept separate from our editorial coverage above.

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See you next Friday.