Sigma updates construction status of Brazil lithium project

Canada’s Sigma Lithium completed 25% of the construction of the first phase of its Grota do Cirilo project in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, a high-grade lithium spodumene deposit.

“The continuous advance of final construction drawings towards 65% completion also allows us to plan for the total amount of bulk construction material to be utilized, potentially extending our management of our supply chains,” co-CEO Calvin Gardner said in a statement.

The company underlined it issued more than 30 purchase orders for critical equipment as of July. 

Sigma, which operates in Brazil through subsidiary Sigma Mineração, expects the US$123mn phase 1 of Grota do Cirilo to be completed during the first quarter of 2023, involving production capacity of 230,000t/y.

Meanwhile, the company’s current environmental licenses for construction and installation, and commissioning were extended "to increase the area utilized for the dry stacking of the tailings of the Greentech production plant and thus plan a significant expansion of the production capacity in a phase 2," it said.

GOVERNMENT DECREE 

Sigma executives hailed a recent government decree to suspend authorization procedures for lithium imports and exports. Previously, such operations required the green light from government bodies such as the nuclear energy commission.

“The new lithium decree is a significant positive step for Brazil to modernize and further integrate the country’s lithium sector into global lithium supply chains,” co-CEO Ana Cabral-Gardner said in the statement.

"It creates the regulatory conditions for Brazil to extend its leadership in environmentally and socially sustainable pre-chemical lithium concentrate further downstream into refined chemicals and cathode precursors," she added.