We are licensed. We have a permanent mining license for the area. So we updated project execution plan. We’re doing procurement. We’re doing import logistics. Final investment decision for Phase 2. Our board couldn’t be more comfortable. Remember last time we green-lighted final investment decision? It was in 2020. It was in the middle of COVID and we did not have cash generation. So this is kind of why we sound so relaxed. On the next page, we’re relaxed, but we’re vigilant. We’re relaxed, but we didn’t lose discipline. So we’re going to do Sigma style. One step at a time. So this chart has a lot of information, but it’s a modified chart that you already know. Year-by-year, we’re showing in dark green sources of cash flow. What are the industrial capacity modules we got running, right?
So ’23, we produced 105,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate cash flow, right. We finished building it, we’re done. In ’24, in orange, we’re showing what we’re building up in the greenish here is what’s being green-lighted to build. So we’re almost doubling capacity. We go from 270,000 to 520,000. And we’re putting this because that’s nameplate, right? We probably can go higher, but it’s nameplate. We’re going to have the benefit of the cash flow of Phase 1. So cash flow from one module of the industrial plant, construction of another module, that’s been green-lighted. In brown, it’s what hasn’t been green-lighted, but this is where we’re going. This is the industrial plant that we submitted to BNDES with the whole development strategy for the lithium valley, when it comes to Sigma.
In ’25, we’re going to have the benefit of Phase 1 running cash flow, Phase 2 running cash flow. Depending on where we are, we may or may not even deliver a dividend, let’s see. But Phase 3 is going to be green-lighted to be built, most likely integrated with a lithium sulfate plant. Why? Well, because of that meaningful gain, the value in use, that we are currently providing to the clients for very little premium. So if you recall at today’s prices of $14,000 per tonne of lithium hydroxide, if you quoted for technical grade, it doesn’t matter, because our $3,000 are intact. One needs 7 tonnes of our material to do a tonne of, let’s say, lithium sulfate or intermediates of full chemicals. We need less units, less quantity of our material. So what’s the rationale?
If I can calcinate and do the acid wash ourselves, which is what it’s called intermediate chemicals, lithium sulfate, we’re capturing that $3,000 for ourselves so that becomes extra cash flow. So the decision will be made in ’25 because we got a whole year to see if we can premiumize to that value in use. If we can’t, we’re just going to do it ourselves, because calcination is a kiln and acid wash is an acid wash. These are intermediate chemicals. It’s basic chemistry. Brazil is an industrial country. So the human capital and the capabilities are here. We are not going to do specialty chemicals. What we’ll be doing then is shipping less volume to specialty chemical refineries all over the world including to our dearest Chinese customers, who already agreed to buy this material from us.
So we’ll ship lithium sulfate intermediates to China to Texas, to Europe, to Japan, to South Korea, to all over the world. So that’s the ’25 plan. And then in ’26, we’re going to sit and we’re going to enjoy the industrial site we built. So these are our plans for the next two years. So we’re going to be quite busy. What I also want to share with you is that none of the activities related to the strategic review has impacted at all our ability to think, to make a strategic plan, to execute, to deliver, to continue to do what we do best, which is to execute. And that leads us to our concluding remarks. I mean, we have completely transformed Sigma from — and you can see the picture. It’s a thousand words. It was a construction site in March ’23.
You can look at the left. What we have now is the sixth global largest producer of lithium across the board, brines, hard rock, and the four largest mining industrial complex in the world. We delivered everything that was under our control, completed the DMS commissioning, initiated production in April ’23, hit nameplate capacity by four quarter. We delivered a dry stacking, so we have zero tailing dams, not a drop of water to spare. We reuse the water. We reached net zero, which again has been four years in the making and we also delivered the Quintuple Zero lithium that we all love here. We increase mineral resources significant to give longevity to our ambitious industrial plants. So those industrial plants now are backed by 104 million tonnes of reserve — resources, mineral resources, 43-101 audited, and an expanded — expected mineral resource of 150 million tonnes.
And we’re quickly in the process of converting part of the 109 million tonnes into additional reserves and we got a consistent monthly shipment. What to expect from us this year? Well, mobilization, we’re beginning construction. We’re going to deliver the mineral reserves. We’re expecting to increase it by 40%. We got 54 million tonnes of mineral reserves. We’re going to increase those in 40% and again, it’s just to add longevity, solidity, and permanence to our industrial plant. We’re going to audit further the 150 million tonne mineral resource. And we’re going to commission Phase 2. So we’re very, very, very enthusiastic about 2024. And again, a lot less worried than when we did this the first time, because we have the first execution under our belt.
So we know what we got right, we know what we got wrong, and we’re going to try not to make the same mistakes. Making mistakes is human. We’re not going to make the same mistakes twice. So here we go, twice as experienced, a producer with cash on hand, marching into doubling the size of this company. And hopefully, hopefully being able to getting priced at least in tandem with what we produce today. And I’ll go back to this slide, if the market could only give us the credit for the producer we are today, we would be quite happy, because right now we’re kind of priced cheaper than a developer. So that’s kind of what gives us so much confidence to be, you know, more than 50% owners of this company here in the management team and work all hours to deliver this 2024 milestones to our investors.
And to all of you, I want to close this with a huge thank you for supporting us, encouraging us, sticking with us, and believing in us. And this is my accountability to you. We’re delivering exactly as we promised on every element that we can control. Now, we’re moving on to the Q&A. Matt?
Matthew DeYoe: Thanks. Yes, I’ll pass it to Dennis to open up the Q&A.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] Now we have a question from the phone line. It comes from the line of Steve Byrne with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Steve Byrne: Yes. Thank you. Is it fair to assess your net cash position in the first quarter is dropping by $30 million? Is that a fair assessment? And if not, what usuals might have led to the cash drain? I’m asking because you’re moving forward with an outlook of generating free cash flow in these subsequent quarters, I just want to make sure that squares with what the results were in the first quarter.
Ana Cabral Gardner: Matt, do you want to take the question or should I take it?
Matthew DeYoe: Ana, you can grab this. Yes.
Ana Cabral Gardner: Yes. So, Steve. Well, we’re giving you the snapshot of the cash for now. So $109 million is March 30 cash position, right? So that’s an important point. What happened between then and now, well, we drew down — and this is why we wanted to give you clarity on the trade lines. We drew down the trade lines, but we did not use it. So what we have there is a combination of drawn trade lines, but unused trade lines. And then, if you take the cash page here, you’re going to see that we got — there you go. Can you see this page? Yes, so we got $88 million of these trade lines, that were drawn but unused, right? And then the balance is just cash generated. Now, when you look at the back of the year-end cash, there was a $12 billion advanced interest payment that was made on the long-term loan we have from a shareholder in our balance sheet.
So maybe that’s probably the — we call the clutter, when you look at the cash position in December. Not sure, if I answered your question.
Steve Byrne: When you say that the two…
Matthew DeYoe: We can take it offline too. The math is a little bit — I think your math is a little off.
Steve Byrne: Okay. Could maybe just…
Matthew DeYoe: Our net debt would have increased only modestly between year-end ’23 and March. And then obviously, as we’ve been able to kind of articulate more recently in our press releases, we’re now locking in price at pretty good economics. So we would expect cash to accrue quite considerably, should markets kind of sustain these levels, which we for now see that they are doing. But we can — we can talk a little bit more offline.
Ana Cabral Gardner: Exactly. Because, — Yes, if you take a snapshot of like today, and that’s an easy snapshot, right? We got $100 million of long-term debt from shareholders. We got all US dollars, $10 million from BDMG, so that’s long-term debt, not amortizable. But the interest on the long-term debt has to be paid upfront. So it was decreased from the cash position on December 31. It wasn’t paid then. It was paid in January. Then what we’ve done, we drew all the trade finance lines, but we didn’t use it. We got $90 million, we got $88 unused. So when you think about the overall position of net debt, we got roughly $110 million sitting long term, and that’s very benign shareholder plus development bank. And we got these trade finance lines, which are in Brazil, kind of a unique animal, they’re kind of a revolver, which are sole function of our ability to produce.
