Can Brazil become a key rare earth supplier for the West?

As Western governments question to trim dependence connected Chinese uncommon world proviso chains, Brazil is emerging arsenic 1 of the world's astir promising caller sources of captious minerals.

The state holds the world's second-largest uncommon world assets basal and is location to a increasing fig of precocious ionic clay projects. At the aforesaid time, the caller G7 declaration connected captious minerals has reinforced the strategical value of processing caller mining, processing and recycling capableness among trusted partners.

But geology unsocial volition not find success. Financing, permitting, downstream processing and planetary partnerships volition each signifier whether Brazil tin found itself arsenic a reliable supplier of magnet uncommon earths to Western markets.

In this occurrence of Energy Technology, mining exertion Alejandro Gonzalez speaks with Rafael Moreno, CEO of Viridis Mining & Minerals, developer of the Colossus Rare Earth Project successful Minas Gerais. He is joined by Elizabeth Johnson, Managing Director of Brazil Research astatine TS Lombard, and GlobalData mining expert Sai Dheeraj to sermon Brazil's uncommon world ambitions and the challenges of gathering an internationally competitory proviso chain.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1R0Yb76DVk3ZILmascG0rZ

Why Brazil, and wherefore now?

Brazil has been a mining federation for decades, but request for uncommon world elements has transformed its strategical importance.

Growing request from electrical vehicles, offshore wind, precocious electronics and defence applications, combined with efforts by the G7 and different Western governments to diversify proviso chains beyond China, has placed Brazil firmly successful the spotlight.

"Brazil already is simply a mining country," explains Johnson. "Within this planetary propulsion to de-risk proviso from China, Brazil understands its imaginable to play an important relation arsenic an alternate supplier."

Moreno says the displacement has been arsenic noticeable from an manufacture perspective.

"There's decidedly been a nationalist docket astir captious minerals... Brazil is present seen arsenic an important planetary partner."

Why ionic clay deposits substance

Unlike accepted hard-rock uncommon world projects, Colossus is an ionic clay deposit, allowing uncommon world elements to beryllium extracted utilizing comparatively mild chemic solutions alternatively than energy-intensive crushing and flotation.

The task is targeting magnet uncommon earths including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, which are indispensable components successful imperishable magnets utilized by electrical vehicles, offshore upwind turbines and defence technologies.