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Zero Drinking Water
100% of water used in production plant is sourced from sewage grade water that needs to be treated for industrial use
Summary
Sigma Lithium’s 100% wholly owned Grota do Cirilo operation is a fully integrated hard-rock lithium mining and industrial beneficiation complex. The site is located in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, one of the world’s premier mining jurisdictions. Here the team has access to first class supporting infrastructure and a deep pool of skilled labor.
The company’s Phase 1 operations commissioned in 2023. Phase 1 has a nameplate capacity of 270,000 tonnes per annum of lithium concentrate and a first quartile cost structure. The Sigma Board of Directors has issued a Final Investment Decision on its Phase 2 expansion project, which is currently in construction and is expected to nearly double facility output.
The operations are supported by one of the world’s largest lithium deposits at 107 million tonnes of Measured, Indicated & Inferred resources at an average grade of 1.4% lithium oxide. Exploration geology teams have identified numerous additional targets providing confidence that this number will only increase. Sigma Lithium expects to grow lithium concentrate output capacity to approximately 770,000 tonnes per year through successive investments in mining and processing.
Timeline
Initial Investment
- Sigma Lithium’s founder acquires Sigma Lithium, alongside the Brazilian refractory products maker Magnesita
- Mineral exploration starts at Grota do Cirilo
Private Equity
- A controlling shareholder is established via a fund managed by A10 Invest
- The first stage of mineral exploration is completed
Follow-on Investment
- Convertible bond offering
- Auditing mineral mining exploration results
Demonstration Plant start-up
- Equity Offering I (Initial Public Offering and listing on the TSX-V)
- NI 43-101 resource report filed
- Pilot plant start-up
DFS and Offtake
- Second NI 43-101 resource report filed tripling M&I Resources to 46mt
- NI 43-101 Definitive Feasibility Study for Phase 1
- Environmental licenses for construction and installation of commercial production plant
- Sigma as a case study at COP-25
Equity Funded & Acceleration
- Equity Offering II
- Project Finance Term Sheet for Phase 1
- Decision to accelerate Phase 2
Construction Commences
- Equity Offering III
- Preliminary Economic Assessment for Phase 2
- ESG board committee implementation
- Sigma Lithium listed on Nasdaq
- Equity Offering IV (including BlackRock)
- Grota do Cirilo construction begins
Phase 1 Construction & Commissioning
- Phase 1 and 2 Technical Report
- Successfully commissioned the first module of the Phase 1 production plant (the “Greentech Plant”), on schedule and within budget
- Project expansion: mineral reserves increased by 63%.
- Financing: Sigma secures US$100 million debt financing
Commercial Operations Begin
Phase 1 Production- Concluded crusher and plant commissioning by May 2023
- First commercial production by August and operations sustained nameplate capacity for month of December
- First shipment of lithium concentrate departs Brazil in July 2023, with five total shipments made during the year.
Phase 2 Commences Construction
- Board of Directors approves construction of Phase 2 expansion
- Earthworks begins for expansion to add 250,000t of capacity at the grota do cirilo operations
Phase 2 Advancement and Mining Restructuring
- Phase 2 earthworks completed
- Restructured mining operations to increase capacity and improve efficiency
- Updated NI 43-101 Technical Report: mineral resource estimate of 107Mt at 1.4% Li₂O
Our 1.5 million tonne per annum mining and industrial processing operation has a nameplate capacity of 270,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate. The plant was commissioned and began commercial operations in 2023.
The facility is comprised of a three-stage crushing circuit, a dense media separation plant, and a water reclamation / dry-stacking unit. The beauty of the Greentech Plant lies in its simplicity, enabling a concentrate production process devoid of chemicals, potable water, tailings dams and carbon-intensive energy.
Mining Operations:
Sigma Lithium’s Greentech plant is supplied by a two-pit mining operation close to the industrial site. The mining plan was devised to preserve the seasonal Piaui Creek, which services the surrounding communities. The mine team deploys a comprehensive strategy to minimize the impact on the surrounding stakeholders while keeping the industrial operations supplied with adequate feed in a cost-efficient manner. As lithium concentrate production increases, the mine team will adapt its operational footprint through successive mine expansions. The company has a meaningful portfolio of resource opportunities, often with new pit structures required, further diversifying the supply for the Greentech Plant.Resources:
A substantial resource and reserve balance supports Sigma Lithium’s operations. The company has Measured & Indicated resources of 93.2 million tonnes at 1.40% lithium oxide and Measured, Indicated and Inferred resources of 106.9 million tonnes at 1.39% lithium oxide. Sigma Lithium’s Proven & Probable Reserves are of 76.4 million tonnes at 1.29% lithium oxide. Details of the company’s audited resource and reserve estimates are available below in the company’s NI 43-101 report of January 15, 2025.
Confidence is high in the organization that significant upside remains for the resource and reserve balance as the company’s mineral concession package contains 200 known pegmatites. Given additional intercepts and exploration targets, Sigma Lithium believes its resource package to be in excess of 150mm tonnes on its 29 mineral concessions spanning roughly 20,000 hectares of land.
