Sigma Lithium Highlights the Issuance of an Official Technical Statement Declaring the Safety of Its Waste Piles by Brazil's National Mining Agency
Sigma Lithium Highlights the Issuance of an
Official Technical Statement Declaring the
Safety of Its Waste Piles by Brazil's National
Mining Agency
HIGHLIGHTS
Brazil's mining regulator,
Agencia Nacional de Mineracao
("ANM or Mining Regulator")
issued an official technical statement about Sigma Lithium's waste piles, directly attesting
their safety.
The Mining Regulator unequivocally stated that it did not encounter any legal
prerequisites for the adoption of precautionary measures of closure of Sigma Lithium's
operations or waste piles.
ANM is the regulatory authority with powers over mining activities in Brazil. It is the body
of the Brazilian Government with a team that is equipped with the capabilities to execute
technical mining audits.
Sigma Lithium restates that the administrative enquiry opened by the Brazilian Ministry of
Labor and Employment during a regular inspection regarding health and safety in
December 2025 has no material effect on the Company's capacity to continue to execute
its mining activities, which are in the process of being ramped up to mine plan capacity.
During the abovementioned inspection, the Brazilian Ministry of Labor and Employment
had the opportunity of verifying the Sigma Lithium's impeccable safety record, with over
2 years without labor accidents with lost time.
The scale of the Company's environmentally licensed areas for its Mine 1 operations
(received in 2019 and 2022) endows it with several options for the location of piles of
waste rock removed from its mining pits.
São Paulo, Brazil--(Newsfile Corp. - February 4, 2026) -
Sigma Lithium Corporation (TSXV: SGML)
(NASDAQ: SGML) (BVMF: S2GM34)
("Sigma Lithium" or "the Company"), a leading global lithium
producer dedicated to powering the next generation of electric batteries with socially and
environmentally sustainable lithium concentrate, highlights the issuance of a publicly disseminated
official technical statement ("Statement") by Brazil's mining industry regulator,
Agencia Nacional de
Mineracao
("ANM" or "Mining Regulator"), explicitly attesting the safety of Sigma Lithium's waste piles.
The Mining Regulator unequivocally confirmed in the Statement the absence of evidence of
serious technical risk and that it did not encounter any legal prerequisites to adopt
precautionary measures of closure.
The Statement, issued on February 2, mentioned that: "
The inspections, which were carried out through
drone overflight and visual assessment by walking, did not identify geotechnical anomalies indicative
of an imminent risk of global instability in the inspected structures
." The Statement continued
"
considering the absence of evidence of serious and imminent risk, it is concluded that, at present,
the legal prerequisites for adopting precautionary measures of closure have not been met
."
The Statement was issued following the abovementioned inspections of Sigma Lithium's mining
operations by the Mining Regulator on January 20. The swift action by the Mining Regulator to conduct
the inspections and issue a technical opinion
regarding the Company's waste piles underscores the
official effort by the Government of Brazil to protect the legal security and certainty for companies with
mining activities in the country, underscoring the strong governance of the industry in Brazil.
The Statement dispelled false information with respect to the Company's waste piles disseminated
illegally in a negative media campaign against Sigma Lithium, which included the falsification of a
Brazilian government web domain as well as Brazilian government communications (through phishing,
using false domains versus the official ".gov.br").
As stated in a press release issued by Sigma Lithium on January 23, the Company's management does
not consider that the ongoing administrative enquiry with respect to certain of the Company's waste piles
("Enquiry") by the Brazilian Ministry of Labor and Employment ("Ministry") has a material effect on Sigma
Lithium's capacity to continue to execute its mining activities underway. Therefore, the Company's
management considered the Enquiry as not constituting material information when it was initiated last
year, and this remains the case. In December 2025, the Ministry conducted a regular safety and health
inspection at Sigma Lithium, when it had the opportunity to verify the Company's impeccable safety
records, with over 2 years without labor accidents with lost time. Following the visit, the Ministry opened
the Enquiry.
The issuance of the Statement by the Mining Regulator, which unequivocally confirms the safety of
Sigma Lithium's waste piles, subsidizes the interactions of the Company with the Ministry with respect to
the Enquiry.
Sigma Lithium has maintained continuous dialogue and collaboration with the Ministry,
providing all the necessary documents, technical reports, data collection sources and other requested
information, demonstrating the full compliance of its operations with applicable rules and regulations.
Sigma Lithium believes that the timely involvement of the Mining Regulator supports the Company's
clarification to the Ministry that its "waste piles" are, in fact, hard schist rock mined from the pits and are
a common feature of most base metals' operations with host mineral rocks and contact zones. These
hard rock piles have been routinely confused with "tailings piles" of lithium fines, which are less common
in lithium operations globally, as few companies have deployed Sigma Lithium's green technology for dry
stacking (not utilizing dams).
The Company has been able to sell and generate substantial demand for these dry stacked lithium fines
because their lithium crystal particles are kept intact after processing by Sigma Lithium's Greentech
Industrial Plant. These sales proceeds are an "environmental bonus" that is being reinvested in the
operations of the Company, resulting from its clean Dense Media Separation technology that does not
utilize chemical reagents to segregate the lithium crystal particles from its host rock to produce lithium
oxide concentrate.
The overall disinformation in the marketplace about the Enquiry and Company's "piles" has created
significant volatility in Sigma Lithium's share price and, in the Company's opinion, it is very clearly the
result of an ongoing well-orchestrated and well-funded defamatory campaign to confuse market
participants, including investors, banks, newswires and even renowned expert opinion makers, such as
research analysts at Bank of America, a thought-leader global financial institution (that has historically
provided strategic advice to Sigma Lithium). The Company is in close contact with the appropriate
authorities, including FINRA (US Securities and Exchange Commission), regarding these events.
ABOUT SIGMA LITHIUM
Sigma Lithium Corporation (NASDAQ: SGML) (TSXV: SGML) (BVMF: S2GM34) ("Sigma Lithium" or
"the Company"), is a leading global lithium producer dedicated to powering the next generation of
electric batteries with socially and environmentally sustainable lithium oxide concentrate.
The Company operates one of the world's largest lithium production sites-the fifth-largest industrial-
mineral complex for lithium oxide concentrate-at its Grota do Cirilo operation in Brazil. Sigma Lithium is
at the forefront of environmental and social sustainability in the electric battery materials supply chain,
producing Quintuple Zero Green Lithium: zero coal power, zero tailings dams, zero utilization of potable
water, zero use of hazardous chemicals and zero accidents.
Sigma Lithium currently has a nameplate capacity to produce 270,000 tonnes of lithium oxide
concentrate on an annualized basis (approximately 38,000-40,000 tonnes of LCE) at its mine and state-
of-the-art Greentech Industrial Plant. The Company is now constructing a second plant to double its
production capacity.
For more information about Sigma Lithium, visit our
website
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Anna Hartley
, Vice President of Global Banking and Investor Relations
+44 7866 458 093
Sigma Lithium
LinkedIn:
Sigma Lithium
Instagram:
@sigmalithium
X:
@SigmaLithium
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian and U.S.
securities legislation, including but not limited to statements relating to timing and costs related to the
general business and operational outlook of the Company, the environmental footprint of tailings and
positive ecosystem impact relating thereto, donation and upcycling of tailings, timing and quantities
relating to tailings and Green Lithium, achievements and projections relating to the Zero Tailings
strategy, achievement of ramp-up volumes, production estimates and the operational status of the
Grota do Cirilo Project, and other forward-looking information. All statements that address future
plans, activities, events, estimates, expectations or developments that the Company believes,
expects or anticipates will or may occur is forward-looking information, including statements regarding
the potential development of mineral resources and mineral reserves which may or may not occur.
Forward-looking information contained herein is based on certain assumptions regarding, among
other things: general economic and political conditions; the stable and supportive legislative,
regulatory and community environment in Brazil; demand for lithium, including that such demand is
supported by growth in the electric vehicle market; the Company's market position and future financial
and operating performance; the Company's estimates of mineral resources and mineral reserves,
including whether mineral resources will ever be developed into mineral reserves; and the Company's
ability to operate its mineral projects including that the Company will not experience any materials or
equipment shortages, any labour or service provider outages or delays or any technical issues.
Although management believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-
looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these assumptions and
expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information inherently involves and is subject to
risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to that the market prices for lithium may not remain at
current levels; and the market for electric vehicles and other large format batteries currently has
limited market share and no assurances can be given for the rate at which this market will develop, if
at all, which could affect the success of the Company and its ability to develop lithium operations.
There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future
events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company disclaims any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether because of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as required by law. For more information on the risks, uncertainties
and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ from current expectations, please refer to
the current annual information form of the Company and other public filings available under the
Company's profile at
www.sedarplus.ca
.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined
in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this news release.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit
https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/282664