SIGMA Lithium Corporation announced that it has selected the tech-dominated Nasdaq for its dual-listing in the United States and it will also join the United Nations High Level Dialogue on Energy 2021 that will take place this year in tandem with the opening week of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on September 24, in New York.
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said that its corporate policies and board are “fully compliant” with required Nasdaq and SEC governance standards, including “diversity recommendation of 40% of representatives of women and minorities”.
Meanwhile, SIGMA said it has demonstrated its alignment with the Paris Climate Accord and has targeted to “reach net zero carbon emissions after its second year of production in 2024”, which is 26 years ahead of UN targets for net zero emissions in 2050.
READ: Sigma Lithium Resources breaks ground and upgrades license for Grota do Cirilo in Brazil
The company pointed out that it will also achieve this milestone six years ahead of the UN Decade of Action targets in 2030 outlined at the Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
“Brazil is one of the 10 global champions on Energy Transition for the UN High-Level Dialogue on Energy 2021 together with Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, amongst others,” noted SIGMA, which is advancing its wholly owned Grota do Cirilo Project, in Brazil.
SIGMA said that it has made “significant progress” towards construction of the plant and mine for Phase 1 production in its Grota do Cirilo high-grade lithium project. “All detailed engineering and preparation for civil construction workstreams continued to advance on schedule and on budget,” said the company.
The firm added that it has completed “clearing, grubbing and topsoil removal for the plant” and contracts for bulk earthworks are in the bidding phase and “are to be awarded by the third quarter of 2021”. SIGMA said it has completed both the final geotechnical and hydrogeological models as well as the analysis for the two pits of the project’s first mine.
The company said it appointed Promon Engenharia, a Brazilian engineering and construction company, to join Australian Primero Engineering to complete detailed engineering and manage civil construction.
Phase 2 feasibility study
The company said it has significantly advanced its feasibility study for the Phase 2 production, contemplating potentially doubling the project’s total capacity to 440,000 tons per year.
SIGMA and Primero completed all the metallurgical and variability pre-feasibility test work at SGS Lakesfield in Canada with the aim of customizing a flowsheet to process the spodumene from the project’s second mine.
“The DMS metallurgical testing (pilot plant scale) achieved remarkable 60.7% Li2O recoveries, producing a battery grade concentrate of 6.11% Li2O," said the company.
High recoveries are a result of the second mine having exceptional mineralization, similar to the first mine, with large crystals of coarse spodumene, explained SIGMA.
The company completed a preliminary economic assessment for Phase 2 production, projecting mining an average of 1.68Mt per year during approximately 12.7 years of projected mine life.
As of August 30, 2021, the company has US$29.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, out of which approximately US$28 million is held in a construction-segregated savings account.
“The company expects to have sufficient liquidity to conduct pre-construction activities as well as finance all of the ongoing workstreams contemplated by the company's strategy to accelerate the development of Phase 2 production,” said SIGMA.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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