A court in Brazil has ordered the suspension of the environmental licenses of Sigma Mineração SA, a subsidiary of Sigma Lithium Corp., and has decreed the immediate cessation of all extraction activities at the Grota do Cirilo project, considered one of the most relevant lithium deposits in the country.
The judicial resolution responds to a request for precautionary measures presented by the Federation of Quilombola Communities of the State of Minas Gerais, which questions the distance communicated by the company between the exploitation area and the traditional territory of the quilombola community of Baú.
Grota do Cirilo is located in the known "Lithium Valley," an area of the state of Minas Gerais that concentrates important reserves of this mineral. The complex houses one of the largest hard rock lithium deposits globally and also has a processing plant adjacent to the mining facilities.
According to the decision, disseminated by the state press, the court understands that the mining facilities are within the direct influence area of the Baú community. Therefore, it concludes that the project must undergo specific studies on the possible impacts on traditional Afro-Brazilian quilombola communities.
The company has maintained that the mine is outside the impact radius set at eight kilometers and has argued that the licenses granted by state authorities comply with current regulations. According to the resolution, Sigma also claims that the absence of definitive property titles over the lands would prevent activating the special protection mechanism for quilombola communities.
Judge Antonio Lucio de Oliveira Barbosa has considered, however, that "the risk of damage arises from the fact that the mining complex operates continuously, extracting resources and carrying out constant blasting and earth movements just a few kilometers from the traditional territory," according to statements collected by the Bloomberg agency.
Along with the suspension of operations, the magistrate has ordered the environmental agencies of Minas Gerais to refrain from granting new licenses or ecological permits to the company while the judicial decision remains in effect.
This order comes after the project already suffered a disruption of its activity last July, when the regional environmental authority decreed the seizure of the Grota do Cirilo facilities, located in the municipalities of Araçuaí and Itinga, following an inspection carried out at the end of May in which alleged violations were detected.
Sigma Lithium then denied having violated the legislation and resumed its mining and industrial operations last month, after reaching an agreement with the Government of the state of Minas Gerais.