Sigma Lithium plans to invest $100 mln on new Brazil plant

Sigma Lithium

12/02/2024 22:57

SAO PAULO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Sigma Lithium  SGML.V , a
leader in Brazil's budding lithium sector, said on Monday it
planned to invest 492.4 million reais  ($99.4 million) on a
previously announced plant in the country, to be backed by
financing from the national development bank.
    Sigma, a Vancouver, Canada-based company which mines and
processes lithium in Brazil, said in a statement it had received
a letter of intention from the South American country's
development bank, BNDES, to finance construction of the lithium
concentrate production plant. 
    The firm did not state how much credit BNDES was planning to
extend to Sigma. BNDES did not immediately respond to a Reuters
request for comment on a public holiday.
    The lender still needs to give final approval on the
financing, including for the collateral proposed, while Sigma's
board also has to make a final call on the investment decision,
according to the statement.
    The new plant, which would be Sigma's second one in the
Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, is expected to almost double
its output to 510,000 metric tons a year, the firm said.
Construction is expected to begin by the end of March, it added.
    The company, which has seen recent management shake-ups and
is courting clients such as automakers and big battery industry
players, also said on Monday it had received an environmental
license at the end of January from the state government to
install and operate the new plant. 
    Sigma's Grota do Cirilo lithium project in the country
should produce 766,000 metric tons of the white metal a year
once complete, the firm said, without providing a timeline. 
($1 = 4.9536 reais)

 (Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Kylie Madry and Lincoln
Feast.)
 ((Andre.Romani@thomsonreuters.com; 11 991314109;11 56447500;))