Sigma Lithium announces that it has started commissioning the first module of the production plant – the Greentech Plant – at its 100%-owned Grota do Cirilo lithium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
“We have rapidly advanced the commissioning of the Greentech Plant, as planned, on schedule and on budget this month. Our technical team, led by Calvyn Gardner and Brian Talbot, has worked tirelessly and relentlessly this quarter to make that happen. Our stelar team is what makes Sigma so unique. Simultaneously, our ESG teams have worked intensely to ensure the communities of Itinga and Araçuaí have been concomitantly lifted through Sigma’s transformative new social initiatives: allocating funding to build 2,000 rainwater collection systems and to empower 10,000 women through microcredit,” says Ana Cabral-Gardner, Co-CEO and Co-Chairperson of Sigma Lithium.
Co-CEO and Co-Chairperson Calvyn Gardner adds, “We have been working laser focused towards delivering Battery Grade Sustainable Lithium following the conclusion of the commissioning of our Greentech Plant in April 2023.”
Sigma Lithium has secured up to $100 million from shareholder Synergy Capital to fund the company until August 2023. The investment will help the company build the initial phase of a $155-million expansion of the battery-grade lithium mine.
At its first stage, Grota do Cirilo is expected to generate up to 270,000 tonnes per year of high purity battery grade lithium concentrate, equal to about 36,700 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).