[SMM Analysis] Mid-year downstream purchasing sentiment was weak, sulphate price declines drove down precursor prices

American Lithium Energy has opened its expanded lithium-ion battery factory in Vista, California, increasing the site from 23,000 to 82,000 square feet for aerospace, defense, industrial and high-value storage applications. The expansion received more than USD 13 million in state grants and helped mobilize a further USD 40 million to USD 50 million from private and federal sources to scale 18650-cell production and validate high-capacity silicon-anode prismatic batteries. No annual output figure was disclosed, so the milestone confirms an operating factory and pilot production capability but does not establish a specific GWh-scale nameplate capacity.

Fu-Gen has completed the sale of the 100 MW Kärppiö standalone battery project in Teuva, Finland, to Nala Renewables, with the asset at the ready-to-build stage and construction expected to begin during 2026. The transaction is the third closing under the parties’ Finnish battery portfolio framework signed in 2025 and expands Nala’s related pipeline in the country to 275 MW/550 MWh. Transaction value was not disclosed, and the milestone confirms ownership transfer and construction readiness rather than operational commissioning.

On October 2(nd), Sigma Lithium has suspended all mining and industrial activities at its Grota do Cirilo operation in Brazil, its sole producing asset, pending a federal appeals court ruling on a preliminary injunction over its environmental licences. Brazil's national mining agency (ANM) had ordered mining halted on the eastern slope of the north pit. Concentrate output from the site is halted during the suspension, and sales of lithium fines continue. Sigma pushed back its 12-month production guidance of 240,000 mt by three months and maintains its FY2027 target of 330,000 mt of concentrate.