Sigma Lithium stopped mining on September 30. It kept its 2027 guidance

Sigma Lithium (TSXV: SGML, Nasdaq: SGML) said on October 1 that "all of its mining and industrial production was temporarily suspended yesterday, on September 30." The company describes itself as the largest producer of lithium oxide concentrate in the Americas.

Why it stopped

The release blames "an atypical 15-day delay by the Federal Court of Appeals" in reviewing Sigma's emergency motion for suspensive relief.

That motion challenges a preliminary emergency injunction issued by a local federal court in a lawsuit filed by Ngolo, a non-governmental organization. The release ties the case to Sigma's environmental licences and to the Grota do Cirilo complex's distance from a Quilombo, a protected Afro-Brazilian heritage community. Sigma says the complex "falls outside the Quilombo and the legal distance of environmental impact determined by Brazilian law."

Sigma also says it did not receive any legal notice of the ruling until almost a week after it was issued by "a federal judge acting on weekend duty."

What keeps running

Sigma will maintain its commercial and recycling operations, selling high-purity lithium fines from its dry stacked tailings, "generating cash flow." The release does not say how much revenue that covers.

The guidance

• Fiscal 2027: maintained at 330,000 tonnes of lithium oxide concentrate
• 12 month guidance of 240,000 tonnes: postponed by three months

There is no restart date in the release. Holding the 2027 number while the 12 month target slips is a bet that the appeals court rules soon.

The calendar

The release points out that the second round of Brazil's general elections concludes on October 25. If the appeals court rules against it, Sigma says it will "seek a secondary appeal in the superior federal courts."

What to watch

The Federal Court of Appeals decision on the emergency motion, and the first production update after it.

Source: Sigma Lithium news release, October 1, 2026.