Sigma Lithium Corp

Began negotiating a conduct adjustment agreement with the Minas Gerais state government after a notice from the regional office of the state environmental body SUPRAM, while reporting a second-quarter production beat. The state environmental regulator that granted the licences in 2023 and 2024 is now the counterparty in a settlement.

regulatory community update

The Minas Gerais appeal court overturned the local judge's decision and the US$10 million deposit with it, accepting the year of independent environmental monitoring data. Three weeks from adverse ruling to reversal at state level.

regulatory community update

A local judge in Aracuai ruled against the company on 17 May, raising the possibility of a US$10 million legal deposit; Sigma appealed and linked the reporting around it to a campaign against the company. The regulatory risk here is local and judicial, not federal.

regulatory community update

Signed a US$100 million bank guarantee with a large Brazilian bank, itself collateralised by customer guarantees, letters of credit and export receivables. The guarantee is what unlocks the development bank money for the second plant, which would take capacity from 270,000 to 520,000 tonnes a year.

debt financing

Resumed selling high-grade concentrate, expecting first-quarter revenue equal to about 28,000 tonnes at US$1,712 a tonne, and closed a first at-plant sale of 400,000 tonnes of fines on which it expects a US$20 million profit. Beneficiating dry-stacked tailings and stockpiles is what carried the company through the mining stoppage.

production update

Guided to 240,000 tonnes a year over the next twelve months and restarted planning for Phase 2 civil works and equipment orders, funded by the fines sales.

production update

Sold 150,000 tonnes of fines at US$140 a tonne delivered to the port warehouse, with an option over another 350,000 tonnes, and began drawing on a US$96 million revolver secured against 70,500 tonnes of concentrate to be delivered during 2026.

asset acquisition disposition

Brazil's mining regulator ANM issued a technical statement that the waste piles are safe and that it found no legal basis for any precautionary closure of the operation. The mining regulator has now contradicted the labour ministry's enquiry in writing.

regulatory community update

Mining restarted at Mine 1 with more than 600 people on site, ending the suspension. The restructuring was paid for in part by selling the low-grade fines, which the company says raised roughly what 70,000 tonnes of concentrate would have.

production update

Sold another 100,000 tonnes of fines at a higher price and said remobilisation would finish in January. It also denied reports of an "operational injunction", saying the matter is an administrative process opened by Brazil's labour ministry about its waste piles.

asset acquisition disposition

Sold 100,000 tonnes of high-purity lithium fines, signed a working capital revolving facility and drew its first tranche, and appointed former agriculture minister Katia Abreu to the board. The release also describes remobilising the mine - mining had stopped at some point in 2025, for reasons no filing in this record explains.

asset acquisition disposition

The Barreiro mine, the second pit at Grota do Cirilo, received its preliminary, installation and operating licences together and by unanimous approval, covering operations for the sixteen-year term of the BNDES loan. Brazil issued a full mining licence set in a single decision.

regulatory community update

Shipped a record 27,500 tonnes to IRH Global Trading of Abu Dhabi with the plant at full capacity.

production update

At its investor day set out a plan to roughly triple capacity to about 125,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate equivalent by the end of 2026, through a second line commissioning in 2025 and a third in 2026.

investor presentation

BNDES turned February's letter of intention into a binding commitment: a BRL 487 million loan over sixteen years that fully funds the second plant. The board took the final investment decision and construction started, targeting completion in mid-2025.

debt financing

Loaded an eleventh 22,000 tonne cargo, completing a full year of monthly shipments, and reported 365 consecutive days without a lost-time accident across 618 employees.

production update

Sold its ninth 22,000 tonne cargo to LX International, formerly LG International, at 9% of the LME lithium hydroxide price - a sale to an LG group company two months after another LG group company began arbitration against Sigma.

production update

Raised proven and probable open-pit reserves 40% to 77.0 million tonnes from 54.8 million, enough for about 25 years at the planned 520,000 tonnes a year of concentrate across two processing phases.

resource reserve update

Sold its eighth cargo of 22,000 tonnes at a fixed US$1,333 a tonne including 13% Brazilian tax, US$1,160 net, with 85% prepaid - a final rather than provisional price, set by closed private bidding and equal to about 8.75% of the lithium hydroxide index.

production update

LG Energy Solution began arbitration at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, alleging Sigma breached the October 2021 offtake term sheet. That term sheet was expressly conditional on negotiating definitive agreements, which never happened; Sigma says the claims have no merit. The flagship customer of 2021 is now a litigant.

other material event

Closed US$90 million of trade finance lines - Citibank US$50 million, Santander US$20 million, Banco do Brasil US$10 million and XP US$10 million - and loaded another 22,000 tonnes to Glencore, this time with 85% prepaid rather than 50%.

debt financing

Brazil's development bank BNDES issued a letter of intention to lend against the second plant, whose construction and engineering cost is put at R$492.4 million, about US$100 million. A state lender funding the expansion is a different kind of backing from the equity and prepayments used so far.

debt financing

Audited resource up 27% to 109 million tonnes: 94.3 million measured and indicated at 1.40% lithium oxide and 14.6 million inferred at 1.37%, against the January 2023 report. Grade held while scale grew, and the company expects to reach 150 million tonnes.

resource reserve update

The plant sustained its design rate of 270,000 tonnes a year through December, completing the first year of production, with another 22,000 tonne Glencore shipment loading.

production update

The sale process moved into contractual negotiation with finalists and slipped into the new year, and Sigma began preparing a primary listing of the Brazilian subsidiary on Nasdaq and in Singapore so that the Brazilian company could be sold or listed on its own.

other material event

Phase 4 exploration results point to a resource about 25% larger, above 110 million tonnes, with up to 20 million tonnes more identified in a further pegmatite. Framed as potential rather than an estimate at this stage.

drilling progress report

The sale process reached a final round with bidders forming consortiums, and the company said it aimed to conclude by year end and that the remaining parties had agreed in principle to keep its sustainability model.

other material event

Hit a record 890 tonnes a day, an annualised 320,000 tonnes, running at 88% utilisation against an 85% design assumption and at full design throughput, with 2023 guidance of 130,000 tonnes intact.

production update

Denied press reports of an injunction, saying the Brazilian courts had approved the transfer of two exploration sub-plots from RIX to Sigma Brazil subject to conditions, and that these do not impede the Phase 2 and 3 expansion. The first title or permitting friction to appear in this record, and it arrived while the company was in a sale process.

regulatory community update

Shipped 22,500 tonnes to Glencore with 50% prepaid at a provisional 9% of the lithium hydroxide price - the start of a repeating pattern of Glencore prepayments that funded working capital.

production update

The board disclosed that it had received multiple proposals for the Brazilian operating company, for the Canadian parent and for the project itself, from companies in the energy, automotive, battery and lithium refining industries, and had begun a strategic review. Five months after first production the company put itself up for sale.

other material event

Shipped 30,000 tonnes of concentrate and by-products, and said the first shipment was carbon neutral after offsets, sold at a premium and operationally profitable. First revenue at scale, three months after first production.

production update

Filed the delayed 2022 accounts. Cash was C$96.4 million at 31 December 2022 and C$67.1 million by 9 June 2023 - a third of the balance gone in five months as the plant was commissioned. The same filing carries an amended and restated technical report.

annual report

Received its first revenue: a payment under a three-year offtake covering all of its tailings, which run about 1.3% lithium oxide, alongside a spot sale of 15,000 tonnes of concentrate priced at 9% of the lithium hydroxide index. Selling the waste stream as a product is what the company means by zero tailings.

material agreement

First production. The dense media separation circuit was commissioned and Phase 1 construction finished, with the plant running at 75% of nameplate and full capacity expected by July. Sigma went from mobilising to site in November 2021 to producing lithium concentrate in April 2023.

production update

The environmental operating licence was granted on 31 March 2023 by unanimous vote of the Minas Gerais mining chamber, including every NGO member, and issued by the state regulator COPAM - the final step of environmental licensing. Sixteen months from first mobilisation to an operating licence, with no opposition recorded on the vote.

regulatory community update

Finished commissioning the crushing circuit and the water pumping system, stayed on track for April production, and began detailed engineering to expand the plant from 270,000 to 760,000 tonnes a year.

other

Started commissioning the dense media separation module a month early and within budget, with first ore crushed expected in mid-February.

other

Filed the production expansion report. It describes the reserve increase as 60%, where the December release said 63%, and confirms the US$15.3 billion value and US$155 million of expansion capital.

resource reserve update

Started commissioning the first module of the plant - the crushing circuit - on schedule and within budget, with the dense media separation circuit to follow in February and commercial production still planned for April 2023.

other

The debt itself: a US$100 million pre-export financing agreement dated 3 December 2022, borrowed by the Brazilian operating subsidiary Sigma Mineracao S.A., guaranteed by the parent, and lent by Synergy Acquisitions Holding Ltd.

debt financing

One filing, three things: reserves up 63%, an expansion study putting Phases 1 to 3 together at an after-tax value of US$15.3 billion for US$155 million of expansion capital, and US$100 million of debt secured. The expansion would take output from 270,000 to 768,000 tonnes a year of concentrate.

debt financing

Construction reached 94% of concrete and 76% of steel, with commissioning to start in December 2022 and commercial production planned for April 2023.

other

Construction reached 25% and remained on schedule and budget for commissioning by December 2022, with about 600 people expected on site at peak. The release also reported favourable regulatory progress.

regulatory community update

Raised the total resource about 50% to 85.7 million tonnes from 58.9 million: 73.6 million tonnes measured and indicated at 1.43% lithium oxide and 12.1 million inferred at 1.45%, the increase coming from 27 million tonnes at 1.49% in the Phase 3 area.

resource reserve update

Filed the technical report for the combined Phase 1 and 2 project: after-tax value of US$5.1 billion, average free cash flow of US$595 million a year over thirteen years, 531,000 tonnes a year of concentrate and cash costs of US$454 a tonne delivered to China.

resource reserve update

Updated the feasibility study: Phase 1 alone at an after-tax value of US$1.6 billion, a 424% return and a four-month payback, with reserves up 2.6 times to 34 million tonnes and combined Phase 1 and 2 capacity of 450,000 tonnes a year. Returns of that order describe a small, cheap, high-grade starter pit rather than a mine of Phase 1's eventual size.

resource reserve update

Closed the twice-upsized placement at C$136.7 million, which the company said fully funds construction of the Phase 1 plant and mine and advances Phases 2 and 3. Sigma reached a funded construction decision inside three months of mobilising to site.

capital raising announcement

BlackRock put in a further C$64.2 million, taking the placement to C$136.7 million and 11,634,137 shares - the second upsizing in a week, and the arrival of a large institutional holder.

capital raising announcement

Raised the placement by 42% to C$85 million and 7,234,042 shares at the same C$11.75 price, citing investor demand.

capital raising announcement

Announced a non-brokered placement of about 5,106,383 shares at C$11.75 to raise roughly C$60 million, aimed at ESG-focused institutions.

capital raising announcement

Began foundation and earthworks with 180 workers on site and placed deposits on 38 long-lead items, saying it was on track to produce in the fourth quarter of 2022 and had the equity to meet the conditions of its proposed construction debt facility.

other

Mobilised workers and equipment to site, completed front-end engineering design and filed a preliminary base shelf prospectus in Canada and the United States. Construction of the Grota do Cirilo plant begins here.

securities registration

Signed a binding six-year offtake term sheet with LG Energy Solution: 60,000 tonnes a year of concentrate on a take-or-pay basis in Phase 1, rising to 100,000 tonnes in Phase 2, priced off lithium hydroxide. The term sheet still had to be turned into definitive agreements, and in March 2024 LG Energy Solution took Sigma to arbitration over it.

material agreement