Council approves list of critical and strategic minerals, including rare earths, lithium and niobium
The first meeting of the body that coordinates the new national policy split the substances into three priority levels; the next step is to define production chains
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
Brazil's National Council for the Industrialization of Critical and Strategic Minerals (CIMCE) on Thursday (5) approved the list of minerals considered critical and strategic for the country, g1 reported. The substances include rare earths, graphite, lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, uranium, potassium, phosphate and niobium, as well as gold, iron and platinum-group metals.
According to the federal government, the minerals were divided into three priority classes — high, medium and low — based on their importance to the country's sovereignty and industrialization. Factors such as geopolitical risk, geographic concentration of production and the possibility of substitution were taken into account. These materials are used in areas such as the energy transition, digitalization, defense and high-tech industry.
Defining the list is required by the National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals, approved by Congress and signed into law by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in September. Under the policy, critical minerals are those whose supply faces risks that could affect essential sectors of the economy; strategic minerals are those relevant to technological and regional development, to the trade balance or to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In a statement, the Ministry of Mines and Energy said that including a substance on the list triggers the investment screening mechanism for strategic corporate transactions and sets the framework for transition rules for projects already under way. The ministry described the list as "the true compass of Brazilian mineral policy."
This was the council's first plenary meeting; it is made up of ministries such as Finance and Foreign Affairs and of civil society organizations. A new meeting is scheduled for early December, when the priority production chains are expected to be regulated, a step considered important for advancing incentives for the sector.