If you disclose personal information of another person in today's meeting, you will be deemed to represent and warrant to Computershare and the corporation that you first obtained all required consent for the disclosure, recording, transfer, and use of such personal information from all appropriate persons before your disclosure. During the meeting, we'll have a question and answer session. You can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the Q&A tab. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Ana Cabral-Gardner. Ana, the floor is yours.
Thank you. Well, good morning. My name is Ana Cabral-Gardner, and as the CEO of Sigma Lithium Corporation and the Co-Chair of the board of directors, I'm here joined by my Co-Chair, Marcelo Paiva. I will act as chair of this meeting. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the annual and special meeting of the shareholders of Sigma Lithium Corporation. The board and management very much appreciate your interest and attendance today. As this meeting is held virtually via live webcast, we think it is necessary to set out a few rules for the orderly conduct of the meeting. Questions in respect of a motion can be submitted by any registered shareholder or duly appointed proxyholder at any time by clicking on the message icon. Please note that there will be a slight delay in the publication of the communications received. When asking a question, please.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing some technical difficulty. Please remain on the line and the call will resume momentarily. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. We will now resume today's call. Ana, the floor is yours.
So as we were disconnected, we were setting out a few rules for the orderly conduct of the meeting, and I stopped, at the end of rule number one, making a point that there will be a slight delay, in the publication of the communications received by any registered shareholder or duly appointed proxyholder, when they click on the message icon. Point number two will be, so that when asking a question, please indicate your name, which entity you represent, and please confirm that you're a registered shareholder or a duly appointed proxyholder. Item number three, questions will generally appear shortly after they are submitted, but will only be addressed during the question period at the end of the meeting, provided the questions regarding procedural methods or directly related to the motions before the meeting may be addressed during the meeting.
For the purpose of the meeting today, voting on all matters will be conducted by electronic ballot. Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxyholders will be asked to vote on each business item after the presentation of all business items. When you're asked to vote, you'll be able to cast your vote by clicking on the buttons "For" or "Withheld," or "Against" as applicable, that are under the vote icon for each business icon. You will only have a certain amount of time to do so when the polls are open. We shall now proceed with the formal portion of today's meeting. To expedite the formal part of the meeting, I will move and second all motions. So item number two is the call to order and appointment of secretary. I now ask that the annual and special meeting of the shareholders of the company come to order.
As such, I appoint Paula Wakawa, Legal Director of the company, as Secretary of the meeting. Item three, appointment of scrutineer. For the purpose of this meeting, I appoint Computershare Trust Company of Canada, through its representatives, as scrutineers, to compute the votes of any polls taken at this meeting and to report thereon to me. Item four, constitution of the meeting. The purpose of today's meeting are set out in the Management Information Circular of the company, dated June 14, 2024. The notice calling this meeting, the circular, and the formal proxy were mailed to shareholders on or around June 18, 2024, along with the audited consolidated financial statements of the company for the fiscal period ended December 31, 2023, and related MD&A to shareholders of the company who requested such statements and related MD&As.
Unless there's any objection, I will dispense the reading of the notice of meeting. Copies of the Management Information Circular and other meeting materials are available under the company's profile on the SEDAR website. Our transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, has attested to the proper mailing of the notice calling the meeting. There has been filed with me proof of service of such mailing provided by the company transfer agent. I directed a copy of such proof of service to be annexed to the minutes of this meeting as a schedule. Item 5, quorum. The bylaws of the company provide that a quorum at a shareholders' meeting is met if there are two persons present, holding or representing by proxy, an aggregate of at least 25% of the outstanding common shares entitled to vote at the meeting.
I've been provided the preliminary report of the scrutineer, which indicates that there are shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at this meeting, representing more than 25% of all outstanding common shares of the company present, and therefore, a quorum of shareholders of the company is present, and the meeting is properly called and duly constituted for the transaction of business. I have received the scrutineer's report, and I directed the formal report to be annexed to the minutes of this meeting as a schedule. Item number six, financial statements. As the first item of business on the agenda for today's meeting, I now present to the meeting the audited consolidated financial statement of the company as and for the fiscal period ended December 31, 2023, together with the auditor's report to the shareholders thereon.
Copies of such documents have been mailed to the shareholders who requested such statements, and it's not proposed to read them at the meeting. We now move on to the resolutions for voting. A, number of directors. The first item of business is to set the number of directors for the ensuing year. Management proposes to set the number of directors to be elected to the board at five. I move and second that the number of directors for the ensuing year to be set at five. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business. Item B, election of directors. The next item of business is the election of directors. The company did not receive notice of any director nominations in connection with the meeting in accordance with its Advance Notice By-Law.
Accordingly, the only persons eligible to be nominated for election to the board of directors of the company are the management nominees. The directors elected by the shareholders of the company shall hold office until the close of business of the next annual meeting of shareholders of the company, or until the successors are elected or appointed by the board. Ana Cabral-Gardner, Marcelo Paiva, Bechara Azar, Alessandro Rodrigues Cabral, and Eugenio Zagottis have been nominated as directors for the ensuing year or until their successors are elected or appointed. Each of the persons nominated has confirmed that he or she is prepared to serve as a director.
Since there are no other nominations, I move and second that Ana Cabral-Gardner, Marcelo Paiva, Bechara Azar, Alessandro Rodrigues Cabral, and Eugenio Zagottis be nominated for election as directors of the company to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders, or until the successor is elected or appointed. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business. Item C, appointment of auditors. The next item of business is the appointment of auditors of the company for the ensuing year, and to authorize the directors of the company to fix the remuneration of the auditors.
Upon consideration by the company and its audit committee, following corporate governance best practices, the company believes that the changing external auditors from the current auditors, KPMG Auditores Independentes Ltda., auditor of the company for the last seven years, the change is made to appoint Grant Thornton Auditores Independentes Ltda. That change will improve the independence of the external auditors. I will move and second that Grant Thornton Auditores Independentes Ltda. to be appointed auditors of the company until the next annual meeting of shareholders, and that the board of directors be authorized to fix their remuneration. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business. Item D, by-law amendment.
The next item of business is to consider and, if thought advisable, to pass, with or without variation, an ordinary resolution of shareholders approving the amendment of the company's current bylaws, altering the signing authority and the execution of documents by signing officers on behalf of the company, and designating the Chief Executive Officer of the company as President of the company. The summary of the by-law amendment is set forth under the heading Summary of By-Law Amendment of the circular, and the full text of the amendment to the by-law of the company is attached to Schedule A to the circular with a black line provided. I move and second a motion to approve the ordinary resolution of shareholders in respect of the by-law amendment. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the next item of business.
Item E, approval of the continuance of the company under the laws of Ontario. The next item of business is to consider and, if thought advisable, to pass, with or without variation, a special resolution to approve the continuance of the company to the jurisdiction of Ontario under the Business Corporations Act, the continuance. Management believes that it is in the company's best interest to continue into Ontario in order to provide the company with greater flexibility to attract and nominate the most suitable candidates for board of directors from a global talent pool, with the expertise and skill required by the company's global business operations in leading lithium global operations. Unless there are any questions, I will move to the voting portion of the meeting. As we mentioned, voting today will be conducted by electronic ballot.
I will now take a moment to ask that the balloting be opened to registered holders and appointed proxy holders. Computershare will open voting now and start a timer for 5 minutes. Opening the polls. The polls are now open, and at this point, all registered holders and proxy holders who have properly logged in with their control numbers or username and wish to vote will be able to see on the screen all motions being brought forth at this meeting. Voting on items of business. Please kindly register your votes by accessing the voting page and selecting the for or against buttons next to the name of each proposed director, and for or withhold next to the resolution with respect to the appointment of Grant Thornton Auditores Independentes Ltda. as the company's auditors.
Please register your votes by accessing the voting page and selecting the for or against buttons next to the ordinary resolution with respect to the amendment to the bylaws. Please register your votes by accessing the voting page and selecting for or against next to the special resolution with respect to the continuance under the laws of Ontario. We will provide registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders approximately one more minute to complete the electronic ballot. Bear in mind that once the electronic balloting closes, the voting page will disappear, and your votes will be automatically submitted. The formal items of business as set out in the notice of meeting have now been dealt with. I move and second that this meeting now terminate.
As there is no further business to come before the meeting, I declare the formal part of the meeting to be concluded, and turn my presentation, after which I'll be pleased to answer any questions you may have. I'll be joined at the presentation by my co-chair, Marcelo Paiva. So please kindly turn to the presentation on the screen. Please kindly note the disclaimer, as we're gonna make quite a number of forward-looking statements throughout this presentation. We're very pleased to be here, and to present to all shareholders the accountability of what we've achieved over the last 12 months in this company. Sigma has transitioned from a construction site or project into a fully fledged producer. More importantly, there's a cohesiveness, cohesiveness in our shareholder base. We are an investor operator team who still own over 50% of Sigma.
We have not sold any of our shares at $10, and personally, Marcelo, my Co-Chair, and I have not sold any of our shares, which brings our tenure as shareholders of Sigma to 12 years. The key five distinguishing elements of this company are large scale. We basically demonstrated and audited that we're the fourth largest mineral industrial lithium complex for hard rock in the world, and we became one of the top 10 global lithium producers, encompassing brine and rock producers. Low cost. We've accomplished scale without losing cost discipline. We're now the second lowest cost amongst our peers in hard rock mining. That is an incredible accomplishment for a company who hasn't yet completed its first year as a producer. Premiumization. We've managed to premiumize our material on both fronts.
Technically, chemically and physically, we have high purity coarse and devoid of contaminants material that commands a slight premium in the marketplace, but more importantly, for which there's always demand as we provide a cost savings in the order of 20%-30% to our customers. Moreover, we're delivering the 5.0 Quintuple Zero Lithium, which is the most sustainable lithium in the world, in a quantifiable manner, attributing zero to key environmental elements, such as zero carbon, zero tailings dams, zero use of drinking water, zero use of toxic chemicals, and zero use of dirty power.
All of our power is clean and renewable. Another important milestone for the year was that we made a final investment decision to build and to double our production scale. Phase II is gonna be built and operated by the same team as phase I. It's the same team that's now very well versed in cadence and in operational prowess to deliver predictable quantities every month, which is what they have been doing for now, going into 11 shipments. On budget and on time is how we built phase I, and that's how we plan to build phase II.
Item five, we managed to also increase the project life to 25 years, which is the visible period of cash flow. Therefore, at any given time, this company is gonna have 25 years of operation visibility, which means there's permanence and longevity at 109 million tons of mineral resource and 77 million tons of mineral reserves audited by NI 43-101. We also have an estimated mineral resource of 150 million tons. Going into the next slide, we became the fourth largest lithium mineral industrial complex in the world, and here I'd like to invite my co-chair to make a few comments. It's been a very disciplined, arduous trajectory to unlock all this mining potential. Marcelo, the floor is yours.
Yeah. Hello, all. Like, it's a pleasure to join in this call. Like, first of all, you know, I would like to thank all of you who've been part of this journey since we listed the company in 2018. You know, like, we are happy to share that, like, you know, like, Sigma delivery growth so far have been unmatched in the industry. Okay. Sigma is the first major producer to come to the market since 2018. As the company is, it's already like just the fourth largest, like, industrial mining lithium mining complex in the world. And the team that put this operation together, they are sitting with us and working on the expansion of our capacity.
As you can see in the slide, you know, like, once you accomplish, like, the next expansion, like, we will be sitting, like, without any doubt among, like, the top producers in the world and with the largest mineral resource bases. And this accomplishment, you know, has been led relentless by our CEO, Ana Cabral, who navigated all sorts of market conditions and put together this team that follows her leadership without blinking. And with that, like, I'll pass it to Ana.
Thank you, Marcelo. Our next slide is complementary to the scale slide that we showed you previously. We've managed to achieve scale, but at the same time, we maintained cost discipline. We are one of the lowest cost producers in the world. And as a result, in the current market environment, we have secured our position in the global supply chain, because we're delivering the holy trinity of lithium. We have large scale, we are able to do so and produce lithium at low costs, but more importantly, we do it in a traceable, sustainable manner with respect to environmental and social credentials. So ultimately, our position is secure. There's always demand for our material. The current slide actually highlights what is actually happening throughout the lithium cost curve.
When you look at the producers, we highlighted in brown, producers, they're able to deliver just like us. In this case, the six largest producers in the world, most of them based in Australia, for lithium coming from hard rock. That's where you stop at the midpoint of the cost curve. In pink, to the right, you got a high point of the cost curve, and then in the middle, you have material that is not sourced according to traceable environmental and social guidelines or basic tenets of adherence. As a result, when you look at this and compare with total global demand, which is on the next slide, you can clearly see a disconnect. In other words, one can get traceable material for approximately 900 to perhaps 1 million tons LCE.
When you look at the lithium demand, even for this year, which is considered a bear market, you're looking at 1.1-1.2 million tons of demand. So depending on where it adds up, there's still a disconnect of about 300,000 tons of LCE that needs to be sourced from somewhere, either untraceable material, which is what's currently happening, or high-cost material. This is why we believe the lithium market is still in a state of asymmetry, where the gap is being closed today most likely with untraceable, unsustainable material that doesn't meet basic environmental and social guidelines. Going forward, the gap just tends to increase.
When you look at growth in EVs, the growth engine is the Chinese auto market, which has been growing north of 35% year-on-year, and is now representing 60% of the world's EV market. That growth is not slated to slow down. China has a very clear plan to get to 100% electrification of its fleet. As a result, in 2025, which is just next year, to feed the current demand alone, the market will need 1.4 million tons LCE of lithium. So the gap widens, given that the suppliers are still delivering. The six, seven established suppliers of traceable midpoint of the cost curve at scale, Australia, Brazil, and Chile, we're still delivering approximately tons of material. So the gap grows to 400,000 tons LCE, using bear case numbers.
And that is a picture that is probably late, it's going to be maintained throughout the rest of this decade. So the next five years of the decade are supposed to see the same disconnect, which again, means when there's a disconnect, the gap is filled somehow, at the moment with low cost and untraceable material, or with slightly high cost material that is produced by companies that are willing to sacrifice their profit margin. Marcelo?
Yeah, and I'll just add that that was what we see, is that regardless of market conditions, you know, like our product is always in demand. And we have experienced that, like, since we started production. Even when market prices were falling, what happened was that, like, there were, like, some producers who, despite lower prices, they could not sell the product, and you could see that by their increased inventory. While in our case, you know, like we, we've always had plenty of demand, and that makes us very confident going forward.
The confidence is based on our ability, demonstrated throughout the last year, to deliver consistent production and cadence, even as a first-year producer. As you can see on the chart, the numbers are undeniable. Since our first shipment in July, we decided that what we call cadence level of the production would be around 22,000 tons every 30-35 days, and we have been consistently delivering that number every single month, which is a team effort of a magnificent sort, because it highlights the level of coordination between the mine, the industrial plants, the commercial operations, the trade finance, and finance teams.
working as an orchestra to the same symphony here, which is to deliver these amounts month after month with predictability. That allows us to move to the next level, which would be, most likely signing a midterm agreement with a final end user, given that we have established ourselves and we're able to demonstrate the cadence of production. Marcelo?
Yeah. And the point that Ana made, you know, like, goes in line with what we had just said, right? You know, like, the market sees us as reliable producers, that's number one, which combined with being low cost, they know that they can count on us, right? That because we are profitable at whatever price, you know, like clients know that, like, we are always in the game, and they can count on us. And then obviously, you add that, so like I said, sustainability credentials, which by now, it's a given by the industry.
So tying back to Marcelo's point on cost,
We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulty. Please remain on the line, and we will resume the call momentarily. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. We will now resume today's call. Ana, the floor is yours.
Yeah, we got disconnected again due to technical problems. So tying back to Marcelo's point on being a reliable producer with low cost. This slide demonstrates on an audited financial basis, the low cost that we've been able to achieve. If you look at the target cost we have guided at the beginning of the year, we are reaching toward guidance of $370 total cost at plant gate. Meaning, as operations proceed throughout 2024, we are decluttering our balance sheet from the commissioning costs we experienced throughout the third quarter and the fourth quarter.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Isabella's line has been drawn.
Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line. We will resume the call momentarily. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Ana, the floor is yours.
Yeah. So as we were saying, the cash cost tying up to Marcelo's point, that we've been consistently delivering the scale at low cost, the cash costs are reaching towards the guidance of $370 a plant gate. Costs are normalizing as operations advance in 2024, and the slide below highlights that. You can clearly see that in the first quarter of 2024, we reached guidance on what we call normalized production. So we were showing $397 a ton, very, very close to guidance. And ultimately, that will be an achievable target for us, you know, as we move into the second quarter and the third quarter of the year.
You can clearly see a 40% reduction of costs between the third quarter and the fourth quarter as we declutter reported COGS, as we decluttered the balance sheet. And you can see the bridge effects on reaching the $397 a ton at plant gate, very close to the $370 guided here. More importantly, the SG&A has been dropping significantly as we ramp up production, and the decline in SG&A is primarily due to productivity measures taking effect, and due related expenses decreasing as we moved forward past our strategic review. The next page is an interesting page because it shows that we generate cash at the current trough in lithium prices.
So we are in a very unique, privileged position, I might say, in the industry, whereby one can simulate prices at the bear case of $1,000 per ton or another bear case of $1,300 per ton for lithium concentrates, and we are able to achieve a cash margin per ton that is extremely healthy. As such, we are able to deliver substantial cash flow irrespectively of the bear market. We're able to slide through the bear market and flow through the bear market, which is a privilege related to our ability to keep our costs low. I will move now to the Phase II initiation of construction to double production capacity to 520,000 tons per year.
I mean, we are now at 270,000 tons per year, and we're planning to double by increasing production capacity by 250,000 tons a year, by expanding our production line. It's a very simple expansion, as you can see here in the picture. I'll ask Marcelo, my co-chair, to comment on how this is essentially an industrial expansion for us, is more of the same, is the same team.
Yeah. So, I'm glad to say that, you know, like, the most challenging parts of the operation is gone, right? And this part, like I said, completely, I would say, like, in two steps, right? So like, the first of all, it's when, like, when we start the commercial production at the industrial plant that you see on the slide. And please note that this industrial plant, you know, like, the modules and the infrastructure. So that industrial plant, like it was designed for three modules. So like, we had already envisioned in the beginning, you know, that the expansion that we put in place once we put phase I up and running.
Just take a moment to reflect on what has been our strategy since the beginning, which has been a conservative one. You know, so, okay, we wanted to put phase I into production, see how if it went smoothly as we expected. And it did. And why did it do? Because also like in the past, that's also like, that's how we have always planned the company. If you go way, way, way back, like in 2018, like, we had the demonstration plant that first of all, like, we ran it for two years, and only after then to, you know, like, that we are confident that we met the specification requirements, then we went with the CapEx of phase I.
In the same way, so as we start the commercial production last year. We're like, we are very happy to say that we've been extremely successful. Like, I'm not aware of an operation that had similar achievements to ours after less than one year of operations. So now, when you move ahead with the expansion, like, it is a much simpler one. Why is that? Because the expansion, we rely on the existing infrastructure. Number two, you know, like, we learned a lot, like, in bringing phase I into production, and it's the same team. It's the same team that went through just the challenges of putting the phase I in place. And so the future is easier.
The future is easier. We are starting like we are again doing, you know, like taking like a conservative approach in going just with a phase II expansion. You know, like, we could be going already like we're phase II and three at once, but we are taking this more conservative approach, and we started phase II expansion. Ana? So, like, while you wait for Ana, so like, I will just add that once again, the expansion is also like a very low CapEx. There's very low CapEx intensity, you know, like, which it's a big strength that you have at Sigma. As of like the last cash position like at Sigma, it's fully funded to go ahead with the expansion. We have the cash sitting in our bank accounts.
That's a very good point, because ultimately, the board approved the expansion based on the privilege that it is for us to be in this market at the position of the second lowest cost producer. In other words, we plan to increase our competitive advantage by delivering more material into the market, given that we can withstand the current low prices and thrive in the current low prices by generating, you know, a sizable amount of cash flow, as you saw in the previous slides. The flow sheet of phase II is very consistent with the flow sheet of phase I, although we learned quite a lot, and we perfected a number of elements of the processing of phase II versus phase I. So it just keeps on getting better.
More importantly, we are gonna experience significant savings in engineering and optimized design, offsetting some inflation in the cost of materials. And again, I must remind everyone that we're building this in Brazil, where there's a sizable equipment industry for mining and industrial equipment, because Brazil never deindustrialized. And more importantly, some of our suppliers, like Metso Outotec, Matec, are actually setting up shop in Brazil in order to supply the thriving lithium industry that is growing at Vale do Jequitinhonha. So the next slide basically ties back Marcelo's point, where we have a robust cash position, which oscillates based on drawing down our trade lines and the use of trade lines. And this is the position in March 31, 2024, which was the last published financials. And then the construction CapEx, which hasn't changed, is $100 million for the expansion of the plant into Phase II. Marcelo?
Cabral, I check on you. Well, let's continue.
Yeah. So essentially, now the strategy will be to lengthen. And going back to the previous page, what is the strategy? Is to lengthen the duration of the fully funded position we're in, which again, is a privilege resulting from our ability to deliver production at cadence, and our outstanding relationship with some of the largest trade finance banks in the country, such as Banco do Brasil and Citibank. And the cadence of production, the reliability of production, are the underwriter or the, the collateral, are the credit that allows us to get to, to access trade lines. So trade lines are direct function of our ability to produce and sell, which we have demonstrated to have.
So when you go back to how we're planning to continue to be fully funded going forward, the exercise now is about increasing duration by transforming the financing package into a longer duration term loan for phase II. So more of the same with higher duration. That's the exercise we are conducting this quarter. So on the next page, there's a full picture of our industrial plans. We have been very disciplined and very conservative in the way we approach CapEx and construction. And this is a hallmark of our success during phase II. So we build one at a time, and when market condition changes, we pivot the strategy of build, which we demonstrated here on phase II and III, which were back in 2022 upon announcement of the feasibility to be built together.
But that was a very different market we had at the time. As the lithium markets have flattened in terms of prices, we simply decoupled the construction of phase II from construction of phase III. And as a result, we actually are able to adjust the CapEx, the generation of cash flow, our ability to tap into trade lines, and our ability to lengthen the duration of the credit extended to us, given that we are now a producer that generates cash flow and the demonstrated cadence in production. So what you got here in front of you is, you know, the first 270,000 tons are done, and they generate cash flow. So that cash flow is the cushion that underwrites the construction for the next 250,000 tons of material.
So we're building with the benefit of the cash flow cushion, which in turn brings other benefits in the form of term loans with longer duration and the back of the trade lines, which have six months duration. Then the next phase, phase III, it again, will be built with the benefit of the cash flow of two lines, so very well risk managed. And it probably will cost a similar number to phase II, given the data we already have from the feasibility study, where we quoted phases II and three together.
So again, here are our industrial plans for 2024, build, 2025, more build, and then 2026, where we are going to be at 750,000 tons of production of lithium concentrate. Which equates to roughly 100,000 tons of LCE, which places amongst the top five global integrated producers, which is an enormous tactical advantage. Marcelo?
Yeah.
No, no. So I'll go to the next slide as the closing remarks. So reinforcing what we said earlier, we have less than a year as a producer, and we broke every record of the industry. We built on budget, on time, Phase I. Within the first year, we were able to achieve design capacity, cadence, and reliability as a producer. We're now perceived by the lithium industry and the battery material supply chain as one of the most formidable and reliable producers. And at that, we're able to compete head-to-head with the veterans of the industry for the most prominent contracts for longer duration of commercial sales. Why?
Because we are today the sixth largest producer, but following the execution of the plan we have laid out in the previous page, we are slated to be top five or perhaps top four after, Albemarle, SQM, and Pilbara, which again, is a formidable achievement. But irrespectively, today, we are shipping 270,000 tons of material reliably, with cadence, at low cost, and with some of the best traceability records of the industry. Marcelo? Yeah. So I'll go to the next page, where we have the Quintuple Zero Lithium, what it means. This is very dear to us because this is the reason why A10, led here by Marcelo and I, who became the investor operator and CEO of Sigma way back, co-CEO, way back when we made this investment, decided to embrace this project.
We brought development to a region that was once forgotten, and as such, we raised the bar on sustainability by attributing metrics, meaning a mathematical number, zero, to the five key elements of contention that typically hovered around battery materials: tailing dams, carbon, toxic chemicals, drinking water, and the usage of either diesel generators or dirty coal power to provide electricity to the plants. So we've been able to get to zero in all these five counts, and that's what created the Quintuple Zero Lithium, where we are at the leading edge of sustainability, ushering a new era in supply chain differentiation for electric vehicles. In other words, what kind of battery materials go into your sustainable car? Are these materials, they're produced in line with the ethos of these consumers or not?
So we're paving the way forward with our Quintuple Zero Lithium for the metals and mining sector by effectively lowering the carbon footprint of the overall electric car, and eventually enabling the zero carbon battery to be produced. So the next slide is the closing. We are delivering on our vision, and we're combining what we call the holy trinity of battery materials production, which is deliver large scale to our customers in a reliable and consistent manner. But to do so, maintaining a very disciplined, low production cost, but more importantly, raising the bar on traceability of environmental and social standards for the production of these materials. So, as Marcelo was highlighting, it's been six years.
The last time a company debuted as a lithium producer, delivering on these three counts simultaneously, was when Pilbara became a producer in 2018. Scale, low cost, and traceability. So with that, I really want to thank all of our shareholders who have embarked with us on this journey to actually disrupt the industry and change the way lithium is produced. Sustainably, low cost, and high scale, in order to enable the increase of penetration of electric cars, who ultimately we believe shall cost the same as combustion engine cars, and maintain a low carbon footprint that's coherent with the proposal and the ethos of the car for its consumers. So we're doing our bit to contribute to that overall mission, which is partaken by the whole industry. And with that, we close the presentation. Marcelo?
Yes. Thank you all. Look, it's, we really appreciate your support.
So now we go to the question and answer period. I ask that all attendees who would like to ask a question, to use the instant messaging feature of the virtual interface to do so. We will answer as many relevant questions as time permits. When asking your question, please state your name, the entity you represent, if any, and confirm you are a registered shareholder or duly appointed proxyholder. Please kindly limit your question to topics related to today's subject matter, and keep your questions short and to the point. We will now give attendees a moment to type in their questions.
So I guess the presentation was so comprehensive, and the discussion of the matters of the business were so comprehensive that we did not receive any questions. So with that, I would like to conclude the meeting, and kindly invite you all to disconnect. Again, I appreciate your participation, your engagement, and your support as shareholders. As always, I must say that the best is yet to come. The future is bright, and amazing days lie ahead of us.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.