Media Contact:
Claire Hermann, chermann@earthworksaction.org
New York, NY — Corporate greenwashing of dangerous and irresponsible mining was in the spotlight yesterday at New York Climate Week as Sigma Lithium rang Nasdaq’s closing bell.
Indigenous, Quilombola, and other Afro-descendant communities near Sigma Lithium’s Brazil mine say their rights and safety are being sacrificed. Court challenges and regulatory violations against the company are adding up. The mine lost its environmental licenses earlier this month but continues to operate.
Sigma Lithium’s press release about the bell-ringing holds the company up as a pioneer in providing minerals that the company says will power “clean energy for data centers and sustainable development.” Behind the company’s praise for itself lie uncomfortable truths about how mining companies can undermine the sustainable future they claim to invest in.
Sigma has faced numerous credible legal and regulatory challenges in the last year. Parts of its operations were suspended, first by labor officials due to serious safety concerns regarding mine waste, then due to environmental impacts on water and vegetation, including a mine waste spill. Most recently, a court ordered the mine to suspend operations because it violated a nearby Afro-descendant community’s legal right to say if and how mining occurs in their territory.
The mine claims it operates without the dams required to hold mine waste and that it has a strategy to not store any waste on-site, but an Earthworks report earlier this year debunked claims by the mining industry that “zero tailings” operations exist at all. Researchers found no such facilities anywhere on the planet.
Statement from Djalma Ramalho (Aranã Caboclo), Cultural Survival
“The climate crisis is also a crisis of narratives. While Sigma Lithium rings the Nasdaq bell, our communities sound the alarm. The lithium industry portrays the Jequitinhonha Valley as a land of hunger and backwardness to justify sacrificing an entire region and its peoples for a future that does not include us. They call lithium “green,” but that label does not make its extraction just or environmentally responsible.
“Regulatory action and a court ruling suspending the mine’s environmental licenses expose the gap between the company’s claims and the rights of our communities. While Sigma celebrates its profits, we bear the risks to our waters, territories, and lives.
“In the Jequitinhonha Valley, the river is our ancestor lying across the land. Our territory sustains our ways of life today and our collective future. No promise of clean energy can justify sacrificing Indigenous, Quilombola, and other Afro-descendant communities. A just transition begins with our rights, our voices, and our power to decide whether, how, and where we transition.”
Djalma Ramalho is a member of the Aranã Caboclo community, an Indigenous community impacted by Sigma Lithium, and Brazil Program Associate at Cultural Survival.
Statement from Jan Morrill, Earthworks
“There is no sustainable future without community power, Indigenous Peoples’ leadership, and corporate accountability.
“Sigma Lithium is an example of how a corporation can use the language of sustainability to attempt to hide the damage it does. Indigenous and traditional leaders who are speaking up to defend their communities from harm are examples for everyone in the climate movement. A strong, reliable future has to be built on respect for all people and their fundamental rights.
“It’s hard to stomach company statements after visiting community members. The company says it has no dams holding mine waste. I’ve stood beneath its huge earthen structures that hold waste from the mine. It says its operations don’t affect local homes. I’ve seen the cracks in the walls and the dust that blows off the waste piles. It’s one of the clearest examples I’ve seen of why people whose lives and homes are affected need the power to decide when and how companies operate, and why governments must make sure companies follow the rules.”
Jan Morrill is International Mining Senior Manager at Earthworks.
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Earthworks and allies will demonstrate in front of the Nasdaq building at 3:45 p.m. ET on Friday.
Earthworks protects communities and the environment from the adverse impacts of mineral and energy development while promoting sustainable solutions. www.earthworks.org