The study by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea) indicates that Brazil has great geological potential for critical minerals, but, until recently, it had not managed to materialize this potential into robust economic production and was far from the level of countries such as Australia, China, South Africa and Chile, among others.
Critical minerals are essential resources for strategic sectorssuch as technology, defense and energy transition, whose supply is subject to risks of shortages or dependence on few suppliers. They include elements such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earths, which are key to electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, solar panels and semiconductors.
Brazil, for example, has around 10% of the world’s reserves of these mineralsaccording to data from the Brazilian Mining Institute (Ibram), an entity that represents the private sector.
The research How important is Brazil in the global chain of critical minerals for the energy transition? An analysis of reserves, production, foreign trade and investments, by researchers Rafael da Silveira Soares Leão, Mariano Laio de Oliveira and Danúbia Rodrigues da Cunha was released this Thursday (4).
According to the survey, Brazil’s performance in international trade over the last two decades was timid, reflecting the internal difficulties of uncertain mineral production. “However, the expansion of investments in physical capital and the resumption of expenditure on geological research in recent years, in line with global trends, seem to prepare the country for a virtuous cycle of production expansion”, say the researchers.
The research concludes that a new investment cycle, “apparently underway”, could push Brazilian mining to operate at another level of competitiveness, “but it is important that expectations about the sector’s impact on the Brazilian economy are realistic”.
According to the authors of the study, the Brazilian mining production chain, between 2000 and 2019, fluctuated between 0.75% and 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), depending on the cycles of expansion and contraction of the prices of mineral commodities, especially iron ore, which represents more than two thirds of the sector.
