"Brazilian inspectors fine Sigma Lithium for using banned waste pile", 12 May 2026

...Brazilian labor inspectors have fined Sigma Lithium for depositing waste in a pile that they had shut down because it posed a “grave and imminent” risk to workers and the local community,...

Three of Sigma’s waste piles had been shut down last December, but...inspectors found that trucks were still depositing waste onto one of them...

The labor inspectors fined Sigma 10,000 reais ($2,041.48), the firm said in a Tuesday statement, adding that the “ongoing administrative enquiry” does not have a material effect on Sigma’s mining activities, and that reports that denominated its waste piles as “banned” are “fake news”...

The inspectors have also fined Sigma for not allowing them to enter its work site to assess working conditions, something they are legally allowed to do, they said. But inspectors were able to see the waste pile being used from outside Sigma’s site.

Sigma is suing the Brazilian government to overturn the shutdown order, and said in legal filings that losing access to the piles would cause “significant operational and economic impacts, in addition to jeopardizing the continuity of mining activity”...