The mineral sector has historically been important to Brazil's development and remains highly significant in the Brazilian and global economy: mining contributes approximately 4% of Brazil's GDP, and the country is a major exporter of iron, manganese, tantalum, niobium and bauxite.
More recently, efforts to decarbonize the global economy, a hallmark of the current global energy transition process, entail greater adoption of energy technologies that are more mineral-intensive in their production, such as solar and wind power, as well as batteries, for example. In this context, the projected future demand for these minerals to support this process indicates investment opportunities that are being encouraged by various countries, so that the future supply of these minerals does not become a bottleneck for the energy transition.
There is considerable overlap, across different jurisdictions, among the minerals deemed critical or strategic for the energy transition. As provided for in the National Mining Plan 2030, Brazil adopts the term “strategic minerals” to identify the set of minerals defined under the Pro-Strategic Minerals Policy by MME Resolution No. 2 of July 18, 2021. This set is segmented, on a non-exclusive basis, into: mineral goods for which the country relies heavily on imports to supply vital sectors of the economy; minerals that are important due to their application in high-technology products and processes (which includes the minerals critical to the energy transition); and mineral goods that hold comparative advantages and are essential to the economy through the generation of a trade balance surplus for the country. The United States of America and the European Union have similar classifications, updated periodically.
Regardless of the classification adopted, there is no doubt as to the projected significant increase in demand for a set of minerals on a scale that could more than triple by 2050. In this context, the size of Brazil's territory and its geological diversity are coupled with the prospect of enormous potential for new mineral discoveries. According to the International Energy Agency, Latin America stands out as the region with the greatest potential to attract foreign investment and expand production (both due to the quantity of existing reserves and the potential for new discoveries), and Brazil, within Latin America, is the country with the greatest prospects for attracting investment, becoming a global hot spot for all players in the mining sector.
