TELF AG examines Brazil’s rise in the strategic minerals industry
A promising player
In various parts of the world, individual states or entire blocks of nations are making determined efforts to close the competitive disadvantage that separates them from other players in the strategic minerals sector, thus actively taking part in the great global process of the green transition.
The bloc of European nations is certainly not the only one making relevant steps forward through the reactivation of old mines or the acquisition of new technical skills for the management and processing of strategic minerals. This process is also underway in South America, and in particular in Brazil, which would seem to have all the credentials to create one of the best global industries in the rare earths sector.
In addition to having the world’s third-largest rare earth reserves, Brazil has other structural advantages that could help it rise in the rare earth industry: Brazil’s clean energy capabilities, well-established regulations, a highly skilled workforce, and its strategic proximity to some of the final destinations for rare earths, such as Latin America’s first magnet plant (which would obviously be a major buyer of the resources).
Brazil’s first rare earth mine, Serra Verde, has recently entered commercial production and is contributing greatly to a national output that many observers say is set to grow. According to a Reuters analysis, Serra Verde could produce 5,000 tonnes of rare earths by the end of the year, and that figure could double by 2030. By then, some analysts cited in the analysis say Brazil could also have two or three more rare earth mines, approaching (or even surpassing) the current production level of a nation like Australia. In the Western attempt to build a safe and reliable supply chain, combined with an increasingly advanced processing and refining capacity of rare earths, Brazil could, therefore, represent one of the most interesting and promising players.
International positioning in the sector
Together with Vietnam and Australia, Brazil, therefore, appears to be one of the international players most seriously intent on building a solid national rare earth industry, well aware of the strategic role that these resources are destined to play in the coming decades (in particular for their applications related to wind turbines and electric vehicles, without forgetting magnets).
The government also supports Brazil’s growth in this sector: the Brazilian authorities have activated a fund of approximately 194 million dollars to support projects related to strategic minerals (including rare earths) and are also working to create an industry for the transformation of these resources into alloys for batteries, electric vehicles, and all other industrial applications, also through the formation of strategic partnerships focused on promoting the processing technologies of these elements.
Despite some structural challenges to building a robust domestic rare earth sector – such as developing technical capabilities for processing and separation and low resource prices – Brazil appears to be on a growth path that could take it far.
