Sodium-ion battery startup sparks lithium alternative
Peak Energy received $55 million in funding to scale up production of sodium-ion batteries that the company is positioning as an alternative to the widely used lithium-ion technology.
Sigma Lithium has completed the first shipment of production from the Grota do Cirilo lithium mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
A ship is due to leave the Port of Vitória, in Espírito Santo, on Thursday with 15,000 tons of battery-grade lithium and an equal amount of by-products from the operation that must be refined to also become lithium concentrate.
This first shipment was produced at Sigma Lithium’s Greentech plant, the first lithium project in the world without a tailings dam. Under an offtake agreement with China’s Yahua, the company sells its high-purity tailings grading around 1.3% lithium oxide, as a byproduct for further processing.
The remaining tailings are dry-stacked, the company said.
With 100% dry-stacked tailings and the absence of hazardous chemical products for processing lithium, its carbon footprint was also offset with 59,000 tonnes of carbon credits purchased from Carbonext, resulting in the company reaching net zero this year.
Sigma also said it obtained premium pricing calculated at the benchmark of 9% of lithium hydroxide price (average China, Japan, South Korea) for both Triple Zero Green Lithium and Triple Zero Green By-Products.
Sigma expects to produce approximately 130,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium concentrate in the calendar year 2023 as it ramps up to full-scale Phase 1 production.
The company also said it expects to reach Phase 2 & 3 full production capacity in 2024, positioning it as one of the world’s largest lithium producers.
