Rare Earth Minerals: a New Tecno-Industrial Dream in Brazil
HAVANA TIMES – Brazil is known more for exporting primary products such as iron ore, oil, coffee, and soybeans rather than value-added industrial goods. However, it is now seeking to shift its focus to the rare earths, a key component in new technologies, which it possesses in abundance.
Brazil is the second largest country in terms of reserves of this natural resource, estimated at 21 million tons, surpassed only by China, with 44 million tons, said Julio Nery, director of mining affairs at the Brazilian Mining Institute. Together, the two countries account for about two-thirds of the total.
However, Brazil is only just beginning to exploit this wealth on a large scale, while China has a virtual monopoly on the refining processes, accounting for nearly 90% of the world total, and used to supply its own electronics industry, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and many other types of equipment, as well as the industry of almost the entire world.
Rare earths have spawned a new mining and technological fever, due to the rapid growth in demand, now complicated by the trade war unleashed by US President Donald Trump.
China’s threat to restrict exports of its rare earth elements forced Trump to back down from his escalation of additional tariffs against his biggest economic rival, which reached 145% in April, and to reduce these to 30% while negotiations continue.
Rare earths actually exist in many places. However, the process of extraction and purification is complex and expensive, due to the fact that they are often found jumbled together with other minerals in different concentrations. As Julio Nery explained to IPS by telephone from Brasilia, these 17 chemical elements are sought after for their physical properties, such as magnetism; they also have other unique properties, such as electrochemical properties and luminescence.
Geopolitical disputes have resulted in a movement by many countries to reduce their dependence on rare earths from China.
Full production means added value
An alliance of 38 companies, scientific institutions and development foundations, promoted in Brazil by the Federation of Industries of Minas Gerais(fiemg) state through the National Service for Industrial Learning is planning to carry out the full processing of the rare earths “from mining to permanent magnet.”
The completed magnets, which contain four of the 17 rare earth chemical elements, are highly valued, due to their now indispensable use in electric motors, cell phones, many electronic devices, wind turbines, and defense and space technologies.
This will be the focus of the project that was launched on July 14 in Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais. Called MagBras, it is intended as an industrial pilot project, involving the complete production cycle of Brazilian rare earth minerals, culminating in finished permanent magnets.
The goal is to bring together industry, universities, and research centers so that Brazil does not continue to be primarily a major exporter of raw materials without added value, as is the case with coffee, iron, oil, and soybeans.
Rare earth processing technology was developed several decades ago in many countries, but most of them abandoned the activity in the face of low-cost production in China, recalled Andre Pimenta, who serves as coordinator of Fiemg’s Rare Earth Institute.
Taking full advantage of natural deposits
Pimenta added that China’s advance towards the current near-monopoly, in addition to their large deposits of ionic clay, with advantages over the rocky types in other countries, was due to the scale of production and the scarce or nearly non-existent environmental regulations.
Brazil has similar areas of ionic clay. Together with the advancement of technology, this factor favors the country’s rise as a competitive alternative producer, although it’s “difficult or even impossible” to surpass China, chemist Pimenta acknowledged in a telephone interview with IPS from Belo Horizonte.
MagBras has installed a laboratory in structures originally designed to be a factory with the capacity to produce 100 tons of magnets per year. This is the only one in the southern hemisphere, and will be used for research and even production on a limited scale.
Julio Nery, from the Mining Institute, cautioned about the risk of focusing on a single resource to the detriment of other critical minerals, which in addition to rare earths include lithium, cobalt, and nickel, among others. These are products subject to scarcity. There’s already been a huge rise in demand for lithium, he recalled, critical for cell phone and electric vehicle batteries; a few years ago, the same thing happened with niobium.
“Technologies change and alter priorities,” Nery warned. That’s why we need to define a policy to promote the 22 critical and strategic minerals, with defined and flexible priorities.
Various factors impact the processing of rare earths
Creating value-added projects requires a broad view of the various factors that affect the entire chain, Nery continued. Adequate infrastructure, with good roads, energy availability, and sufficient demand for the chosen products are essential to success. For example, “Do we have strong demand for permanent magnets? Products that incorporate them, such as batteries, electric car motors, and wind turbines, are currently imported?”
In his opinion, “the government must make a general effort to promote domestic demand, given that industrial participation in the Brazilian economy has declined significantly in recent decades.”
Research centers have already developed solutions for refining rare earths, the most expensive process, but doing so on an industrial scale will require a lot of investment and time, according to Nery, a mining engineer. In the field of mining, the preparation phase for any project – geological research, environmental authorization procedures, and preparation for operation – lasts at least five years, he noted.
In the past, Brazil sought to mine the rare earths in monazite ore, but this turned out to be unfavorable because it contains radioactive material. The country is now concentrating its efforts on extracting the rare earths in ionic clay, which is more advantageous. “Its deposits are superficial, which facilitates research and limits environmental impacts,” Nery said.
One concrete experience exploiting this type of soil is that of the company Serra Verde, owned by two US and one British investment funds. The company operates a commercial production plant in the municipality of Minaçu, Goias State, in west central Brazil.
The facility began operations in 2024 and this year has already exported US $7.5 million in goods to China, according to Nery. It produces oxide concentrate, the first step in processing, which enriches and increases the rare earth content in clay, which is only 0.12% in soil, according to Serra Verde.
One positive aspect is that its concentrate contains the most sought-after elements, because they’re used to make permanent magnets: the light elements neodymium and praseodymium, as well as the heavy elements dysprosium and terbium. The heavy elements are rarer and less present in rock or monazite deposits.
But Serra Verde is experiencing the difficulties of the early stages. Its goal of producing 5,000 tons of concentrate per year and doubling that amount by 2030 seems far off. In the first half of 2025, it exported only 480 tons, according to reports, as the company does not disclose its data.
Goiás State is currently Brazil’s rare earth epicenter, and another project there, the Carina Module, run by Canadian company Aclara Resources, hopes to extract mainly dysprosium and terbium starting in 2026, with investments of US $600 million.
“The critical phase of processing, and the one that adds the most value, is the separation of rare earth elements. This phase is costly due to the numerous and successive treatments, not so much because of the technology,” said Fernando Landgraf, engineer and professor at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo.
One kilogram of neodymium oxide, present in these rare earths, is worth at least 10 times more than the US $5 dollars for a kilo [2.2 lbs.] of concentrate, Landgraf told IPS from Sao Paulo.
Looming uncertainty about the future
In Landgraf’s view, “the biggest risk to the business is uncertainty about the future,” especially now that rare earths have become an important geopolitical objective and weapon. Demand for these rare earths will certainly grow significantly, but a large increase in production in the United States could lead to oversupply. This is a limited market, far from the volumes of other minerals, such as iron.
However, “Uncertainty doesn’t justify sitting idly by,” Andre Pimenta declared. “Demand will grow. Also, the movement to reduce dependence began earlier, during the pandemic that left many without essential ventilators and medical equipment because there was nowhere to import them from. There is no turning back,” he emphasized.
Geologist Nilson Botelho, a professor at the University of Brasilia, finds security in the estimate of Brazil’s ample reserves. Mining in Goiás is successful because it has heavy rare earth elements, which are the “most critical” and are among “the four or five most valuable elements.”
But there are many deposits in other parts of Brazil. The geological formation of its vast territory of more than 8.5 million square kilometers, plus the temperate tropical climate, rainfall that infiltrates the soil, and the high plateau, all favor the presence of rare earths, he explained to IPS from Brasilia.
Another geologist, Silas Gonçalves, presented a more somber view of the operation. He disagrees with the idea that mining in ionic clay has a lesser environmental impact.
Mining there alters the landscape and soil, causes deforestation and widespread damage, including modifications and contamination of the water table. These are distinct impacts, but not minor ones, he asserted, speaking to IPS from Goiânia, the capital of GoiásState, where he runs a geological and environmental studies company called “Gemma”.