Sigma Lithium confirms resignation of COO, citing health reasons

Sigma Lithium

06/10/2023 19:25

By Fabio Teixeira
       RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Sigma Lithium
 SGML.V  SGML.O  on Friday said its Chief Operating Officer
Brian Talbot left the company at the end of last month,
confirming a Reuters report that sent the firm's shares tumbling
on Thursday.
    Talbot became COO last year, overseeing operations at
Sigma's flagship Grota do Cirilo mine, the poster child for
Brazil's budding lithium sector. He gave his resignation notice
in July and his last day with the company was Sep. 29.
    His exit marks at least the third shake-up of Sigma's senior
management in 2023, amid a legal battle between the
husband-and-wife pair who ran the company together until earlier
this year.
        Sigma said Talbot had resigned for health reasons.
    In a statement, the miner's co-chairman Marcelo Paiva said
the firm "had agreed to respect Mr. Talbot's decision regarding
the timing to make his resignation public."
    Talbot told Reuters that Paiva's comments were "factually
incorrect as there has been no request to withhold from the
investors the fact that I resigned in July."
    The former COO said he was "surprised" that Sigma had
disclosed his personal information, adding: "My health is
excellent now and I am focused on the future."
    Talbot said he is now working at his own business, R-Tek.
    Sigma said it had promoted to "co-general managers" its
Director of Mining Reinaldo Brandao, Director of Processing
Keith Prentice, and Director of Geology and Regional
Institutional Relations Iran Zan. 
    Those executives have been in charge of Sigma's operations
on-site in Brazil for almost four months, the miner added. 
    Last week, Reuters reported that divorce proceedings between
Sigma Chief Executive Ana Cabral-Gardner and Calvyn Gardner, her
husband and former co-CEO, had triggered several lawsuits,
including a dispute over some of the mineral rights where Sigma
plans to build mining pits.
    At the time, Sigma told Reuters the dispute would not affect
its expansion plans, as it said it can develop the area via a
"waste sharing agreement." It also said that efforts to attract
a buyer for Sigma, which is looking for a buyout, were not
affected.
    Gardner left his co-CEO role in January, and Sigma announced
a new chief financial officer in August.
       

 (Reporting by Fabio Teixeira
Editing by Brad Haynes and Rosalba O'Brien)
 ((Fabio.Teixeira@thomsonreuters.com; +55 21 99603-4782;))