Brazilian mining does not live by iron ore and gold alone

To judge by new investment projects, Brazil is on the way to diversifying its range of mining products in the next few years, adding several of the strategic minerals for the energy transition. While iron ore, gold, bauxite, and limestone still dominate Brazil's mining output, others such as copper, niobium, and lithium are gaining ground and already feature among the country's top ten mining products, in value terms. Beginning next year, rare earths are expected to appear as a new addition to the list. in the period, compared with an import total of US$ 5.3 billion, leaving a US$ 27.1 billion surplus. The mineral transformation industry alone exported US$ 29.81 billion in 2023, which was 9.6 percent of the country's overall exports, while imports in the same category ended the year at US$ 34.88 billion. The resulting trade deficit, in the amount of US$ 5.07 billion, had the effect of reducing the overall trade surplus in minerals. The trade flow (exports plus imports) for the mineral transformation industry amounted to US$ 64.69 billion, while imports of minerals were 15.8 percent of overall Brazilian imports in the year.

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Among mineral substances, either raw or transformed, iron once again headed the export list with US$ 38.8 billion, followed by aluminium with US$ 4.17 billion, copper with US$ 3.80 billion, gold with US$ 3.16 billion, niobium with US$ 2.02 billion, nickel with US$ 1.1 billion, and dimension stones with US$ 1.04 billion. On the import side, the categories weighing most heavily on the trade deficit were coal with US$ 5.85 billion, phosphate with US$ 5.24 billion, and potash with US$ 4.86 billion.

Mining output shrank in 2023, in value terms, to R$ 248.2 billion, down 0.7 percent from the previous year's R$ 250 billion. Ranked by states, Minas Gerais led with R$ 103.6 billion, followed by Pará with R$ 85.4 billion, Bahia with R$ 9.7 billion, São Paulo with R$ 9.2 billion, and Goiás with R$ 8.4 billion.

Iron ore was once again the top-ranking mining product with a 2023 figure of R$ 148 billion, followed by gold with R$ 21.1 billion, copper with R$ 16.2 billion, limestone with R$ 9.5 billion, granite with R$ 6.5 billion, and bauxite with R$ 5.7 billion.

Substantial growth in mining output is expected in the next few years, in view of companies' planned capital spending. A survey conducted by Ibram, the Brazilian Mining Institute, the representative body of the country's major mining companies, shows that over the five-year period from 2024 to 2028, programmed investments add up to US$ 64.5 billion. This is a hefty 28 percent increase over the corresponding figure reported last year, when investments planned for 2023-2027 were stated as US$ 50 billion. Iron ore accounts for over one-quarter of the new total, with a figure of US$ 17.28 billion. Next come social and environmental projects, mostly concerned with dismantling tailings dams or with improvements in processing plants so as to dispense with the need for tailings dams. These projects account for one-sixth of the total, or R$$ 10.67 billion. Then come investments in logistics, mainly railways and port facilities, at US$ 10.36 billion, ahead of copper projects (US$ 6.74 billion), fertilizers (US$ 5.58 billion), nickel (US$ 4.44 billion), bauxite (US$ 1.82 billion), gold (US$ 1.54 billion), rare earths (US$ 1.46 billion), lithium (US$ 1.19 billion), titanium (US$ 600 million), manganese (US$ 249 million), and zinc (US$ 59 million).

In terms of CFEM revenues (the Financial Contribution on Mineral Exploitation), mining royalties stood 2.3 percent lower in 2023 than in the previous year, at R$ 6.853 billion. The products paying the highest royalties were iron ore (74.9 percent of the total), copper (4.7 percent), gold (4.6 percent), limestone (2.9 percent), bauxite (2.4 percent), phosphate (1.0 percent), granite (0.9 percent), nickel (0.9 percent), lithium (0.8 percent), and niobium (0.6 percent).

The interest in exploring other minerals has brought about an increase in mineral research activities. In 2023, according to statistics from the National Mining Agency (ANM), the number of exploration permits (alvarás de pesquisa) issued was 9,952, a slight increase from the previous year's 9,732. The states with most permits issued were Minas Gerais with 2,736, followed by Bahia with 1,969, Ceará with 742, Goiás (including the Federal District) with 651, São Paulo with 461, and Mato Grosso with 407. The corresponding figure for exploration reports (the statistic for exploration activities effectively concluded) was 1,354 in 2023, a significant decrease from the previous year's 1,510. Minas Gerais again appears in first place with 353 reports, ahead of São Paulo with 307, Paraná with 114, and Santa Catarina with 111. In the case of mining permits (portarias de lavra), which are the starting point for opening a new mine, the 2023 total was 612, down from the previous year. Minas Gerais, with 152 permits, once again was in the lead, followed by São Paulo with 93, Santa Catarina with 65, Bahia with 50, and Goiás-Federal District with 28.

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Iron ore in the lead

Despite the advances of other mining products, iron ore maintains its leadership position in terms of its share in Brazil's mining output, a long way ahead of second-ranking gold. Given the large number of projects that are going to boost production in the next few years, iron ore seems certain to maintain its lead. Of all the planned investment projects in the Brazilian mining industry, including the infrastructure needed for shipping the ore from the mines to the markets, more than half are for iron ore.

Iron ore also accounts for the largest share in Brazil's trade surplus in mining products, amounting in 2023 to US$ 21.93 billion. Including iron ore in both its raw and processed forms, exports added up to US$ 38.8 billion.

To give an idea of the importance of iron ore in Brazil's total mining output, it may be noted that, out of the ten largest mining companies operating in the country, seven are iron ore producers: Vale, Anglo American, CSN, Mineração Usiminas, Samarco Mineração, Vallourec, and Mineração Corumbaeense Reunida.

An important feature of the new iron ore projects in Brazil is that they all incorporate filtration and dry stacking of tailings, replacing the tailings dams that in recent years proved to be the Achilles heel of the Brazilian mining industry in general and of iron ore producers in particular, with accidents occurring at two dams, one belonging to Samarco and the other to Vale. To this day those two accidents continue to inflict great damage to the industry's reputation. In parallel, companies are investing considerable financial resources in dismantling the tailings dams that have now been decommissioned. Vale alone, Brazil's and the world's leading iron ore producer, has budgeted US$ 4.36 billion for this expenditure, continuing until 2035, to complete the dismantling of twenty-three tailings dams built on the upstream embankment method, out of its total thirty dams of this type, pointing out that dams of this kind are no longer allowed under Brazilian law. The other seven tailings dams have been dismantled yet.

Most of the growth projects are in the state of Minas Gerais, with smaller numbers in Bahia and Mato Grosso do Sul. In Minas Gerais, the main expansion projects now in execution are those of CSN, Vale, Anglo American, Itaminas, ArcelorMittal, Gerdau, the AVG group, Mineração Morro do Ipê, Mineração Herculano, the J. Mendes group, and Mineração Serra Leste.

Samarco is also implementing a project that will enable it to make full use once again of its installed capacity, in suspense since the Mariana accident. In Bahia, a state where iron ore mining began only recently, the main venture is that of BAMIN, though there are other, smaller ventures as well. In Mato Grosso do Sul, the main projects are those of the JBS group.

CSN Mineração is proceeding with the implementation of a business plan that proposes to triple its production capacity to 108 million tons a year by 2032, from a present figure of around 34 million tons. Stage One of the plan, begun in 2022 and due to be completed by 2028, is budgeted at R$ 15.3 billion (US$ 3.12 billion) and will double the current capacity from 34 million to 68 million tons a year, including ore purchased from other producers. This stage comprises six separate projects: recovery of ultrafine ore, with a planned output of 1 million tons a year of ore having a 66 percent iron content, with startup scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024; Itabrito P15, capacity 15 million tons a year of ore with a 67 percent iron content, with production to begin in late 2025; recovery of tailings from the Pires dam, with an expected capacity of 1.5 million tons a year with a 65 percent iron content, also to start producing at the end of 2025; recovery of tailings from the B4 dam, expected capacity 2.5 million tons a year of ore with a 66 percent iron content, to begin operating in the second quarter of 2025; Itabrito P4+, with a production target of 4.4 million tons a year of ore with a 65 percent iron content, beginning in the second quarter of 2026; and finally the CdP fine ore recovery project for 2.5 million tons a year of ore with a 66 percent iron content, planned to start up in the first quarter of 2028.

Vale has budgeted a 2024 capex adding up to approximately US$ 6.5 billion, of which US$ 3.5 billion to US$ 4.0 billion is earmarked for the iron ore area (which the company has now renamed Steelmaking Solutions). The balance, in the range from US$ 2.5 billion to US$ 3.0 billion, is for energy transition metals. Some US$ 2.0 billion to US$ 2.5 billion will go to growth projects and US$ 4.0 billion to U$ 4.5 billion to the maintenance of existing operations. Vale's target is to raise its overall iron ore output to a volume in the range from 340 million to 360 million tons per year. To this end, in Minas Gerais, located within the company's Southeast System, it is developing solutions to boost its output of pellet feed, installing tailings filtration plant, and adopting dry stacking. The company's main project in Minas Gerais is maximizing output at Capanema, a unit that operated in the past and is now to be reequipped and reopened, for an investment of US$ 913 million. Operations are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2024, with a production capacity of 18 million tons a year.

Also in Minas Gerais, Vale is in the process of licensing its Serpentina project, a new iron ore venture with a planned capacity of 26.5 million tons a year of pellet feed, requiring 47 million tons a year of raw ore. The mining areas are in eleven municipalities in the northern and northeastern regions of Minas Gerais, the company says, about 110 miles from Belo Horizonte, the state capital: Conceição do Mato Dentro, Dom Joaquim, Morro do Pilar, Carmésia, Santo Antônio do Rio Abaixo, São Sebastião do Rio Preto, Itambé do Mato Dentro, Passabém, Santa Maria de Itabira, Nova Era, and Antônio Dias.

In December 2023 Vale brought on stream the world's first iron ore briquettes plant, at its Tubarão unit in Vitória, in the state of Espírito Santo. Vale says its briquettes have the potential to revolutionize the steel industry, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 10 percent in the blast furnace or enabling zero-emissions steel production at a future date, once green hydrogen becomes available. Investment in the first plant amounted to US$ 256 million; a second plant of the same type, also at Tubarão, is scheduled to begin operating in early 2024. Jointly, the two plants will have the capacity to produce 6 million tons of briquettes per year, with 2024 output estimated at 2.5 million tons.

Anglo American is investing in a tailings filtration plant at Conceição do Mato Dentro, with a capacity of 24.5 million tons a year and a processing plant with a capacity of 31 million tons a year, which will extend the productive lifetime of the mine. Scheduled for completion in 2026, the venture is budgeted at around US$ 758 million. The company is also installing a recleaner unit and Vertimill (vertical mill) equipment, adding 1.7 million tons per year to its present capacity. The investment will amount to US$ 153 million, with 2025 as the planned completion date.

ArcelorMittal is engaged in expanding output at its two Brazilian mines, both in Minas Gerais. The Serra Azul mine at Itatiaiuçu and the Andrade mine at Bela Vista de Minas currently produce 3.1 million tons a year; the expansion program will raise that to 8 million tons. The investment budget for Serra Azul is R$ 2 billion (about US$ 400 million), in a project that the company has named Compact Itabirite, modernizing the processes while almost tripling its output from the current 1.6 million tons to 4.5 million tons a year. A new pellet feed plant (high-grade ore fines) will boost capacity and extend the mine's productive lifetime until 2053. The purpose of the project, the company says, is to supply ore to a pelletizing plant that the company operates in Mexico and that, in its turn, supplies the group's own steel mills in Mexico. The entire planned output, stated as 4.5 million tons, will be exported to the Mexico unit. At the Andrade mine, which supplies ArcelorMittal's Monlevade steel mill, output will more than double, from the present 1.5 million tons to 3.5 million tons a year.

Itaminas is engaged in a wide-ranging investment program aimed at increasing its output capacity, to reach a targeted 15 million tons a year by 2030. The total cost of the investment is estimated at R$ 1.35 billion (approximately US$ 280 million), to fund expansion projects spread over a period of years.

Herculano Mineração is planning three new projects, involving a total investment budget of approximately R$ 750 million (US$ 153 million), that will double its output capacity from the present 5 million tons to 10 million tons a year. First on the list is the Serro project, currently awaiting environmental licensing for which the company has applied to the Minas Gerais state government. The company's expectation is that this project will become operational in the second half of 2024. The investment is estimated at R$ 300 million. A second project is João Monlevade, budgeted at R$ 150 million and currently at the stage of completing the environmental impact assessment known by the acronym EIA/RIMA. The planned startup date is 2026. The third Herculano venture is the Vila Rica project, also at the stage of environmental analysis. Herculano proposes to invest R$ 200 million in Vila Rica, with a 2025 startup.

Mineração Morro do Ipê is ramping up its Tico-Tico project, in which it invested R$ 1.3 billion. This new mine will have the effect of raising production capacity from the present 3.5 million tons to over 9 million tons per year, of which 6 million tons is premium grade ore for export.

The AVG group is implementing two projects to expand its iron ore output capacity. The first is the Brumado mine, located in the municipalities of Caeté and Sabará, both within the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area. The project calls for an investment of some R$ 500 million (about US$ 102 million). When it is fully completed, Brumado will have a capacity of approximately 3.5 million tons of run-of-mine ore per year. Another AVG project is the Dois Irmãos mine, located in the neighbouring municipality of Barão de Cocais, where the investment amounts to about R$ 200 million. The initial capacity will be 1.5 million tons a year, rising to 2 million tons once the project is fully completed. Both projects are to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2024, at which point AVG's overall production capacity will have risen to 7.8 million tons a year.

Gerdau has announced a R$ 3.2 billion (just over US$ 650 million) investment to expand production capacity at its Miguel Burnier mine to 5.5 million tons, beginning in late 2025. A pipeline will be laid to carry the iron ore, all of which will supply Gerdau's four steel mills in the same state of Minas Gerais, located at Ouro Branco, Barão de Cocais, Divinópolis, and Sete Lagoas.

Samarco's operation at Mariana, in Minas Gerais, had been halted since the 2015 accident when the Fundão tailings dam collapsed, but since December 2020 it has been gradually and cautiously bringing the mine back into production. It is now operating

at 30 percent of capacity, with a pelletizing plant and a concentrates plant. The company has approved an investment budget of R$ 1.3 billion (US$ 265 million) to reach 60 percent of the installed capacity. Looking further ahead, Samarco's plans show the Mariana mine gradually and cautiously increasing its output year by year, finally achieving 100 percent of capacity by 2028.

Bemisa expects to bring its Mongais project, in Minas Gerais, on stream by March 2024. It will add an extra 1 million tons a year to the Baratinha mine's present capacity of 2.5 million tons. Apart from the Baratinha complex, Bemisa has two further iron ore mines in development, to be brought on stream in the next few years. These are the Pedra Branca project, in the municipality of João Monlevade, currently at the environmental licensing stage, and Picarrão, in the municipalities of Nova Era and Antônio Dias, the fruit of a partnership deal signed in 2023.

The J. Mendes group intends to invest a total RS 580 million in mining and logistics projects in Minas Gerais. By far the largest of them, budgeted at R$ 440 million, is the Guariba stacking tailings and wastes project, in the municipalities of Congonhas and Ouro Preto, which is operated by Ferro+, another company in the same group. The other investment in mining, in the amount of R$ 81.4 million, is for expansion at the Baú mine, operated by JMN Mineração, located at Santa Bárbara and Barão de Cocais. For the Ferro+ project in Ouro Preto and Congonhas, implementation is scheduled to begin in May 2024, to be concluded in May 2025. Another significant investment by the same company is a rail terminal for transporting ore, to be built at Entre Rios de Minas. This will improve the logistics for the Morro dos Coelhos mine, while it will also act as a commercial carrier serving other companies operating in the area.

Cedro Participações, acting through its subsidiary Cedro Mineração, is investing US$ 300 million, between now and 2026, to expand its iron ore production capacity. The aim is to multiply by five its present capacity of around 4 million tons a year. Cedro Mineração operates a mine at Nova Lima, in Minas Gerais, which it acquired from Extrativa Mineral. To expand its capacity, the company can rely on its four new mines, all in Minas Gerais: Cedro Mariana, with a capacity of 1.5 million tons a year; Sapé, 3.5 million tons; and two others, Patrimônio and Dois Irmãos. The group is also planning to invest R$ 1.8 billion in a short railway link between Itaúna and São Joaquim de Bicas, both in Minas Gerais and just 32.4 kilometers (20.1 miles) apart. The rail link will connect with MRS's railway, enabling Cedro to deliver its ore to the main ports in Brazil's southeast region.

Mineração Serra Leste is beginning operations at its Candonga mine, located in the municipality of Guanhães, in Minas Gerais, with a capacity of 1.055 million tons a year of iron ore using dry processing. The deposit was acquired from Centaurus Brasil Mineração.

In the state of Bahia, BAMIN is one of the mining companies with Brazil's biggest investment budgets. The company has announced an increase of its investments in its home state from R$ 14 billion to R$ 20 billion, to develop an integrated mine, railway, and port terminal project. BAMIN also released a new projection for production capacity, rising from 18 million to 26 million tons per year. The integrated project comprises the Pedra de Ferro mine, the FIOL-1 railway linking Caetité to the port of Ilhéus, and the Porto Sul facility at Ilhéus. The mine will exploit certified reserves amounting to 647 million tons of ore averaging a 40.5 percent iron content (in accordance with JORC Code standards), a processing plant with separate lines for hematite ore and itabirite concentrate, resulting in products with a 65.5 percent and a 68.5 percent Fe content respectively, producing 26 million tons per year. All tailings will be placed in stockpiles, with no dams. The 537-kilometre (334-mile) railway will link the mine at Caetité to the company's private port terminal located 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) north of Ilhéus. The storage yard is designed to hold up to 1.4 million tons of ore. Other features include a turntable for rolling stock; an ore stacker and reclaimer, a 5.7-kilometre (3.5-mile) conveyor belt; a ship loader, pier, and breakwater. The terminal will accommodate vessels of up to 250,000 tons and is designed to facilitate a future expansion to handle grain exports and fertilizer imports. The total investment in the project amounts to around US$ 4 billion, with completion planned to occur in 2027. At present, the mine has an installed capacity of 2 million tons a year.

Santa Fé Mineração is awaiting only the installation licence (licença de instalação) to begin work, before the end of 2024, on the first stage of a high-grade (65 percent Fe) pellet feed plant, in the southeast of the state of Bahia. The first plant, with a capacity of 1 million tons a year, will be joined by others of the same size until their total capacity reaches 10 million tons, with the possibility of further expansions in the future. The whole Santa Fé deposit, spread over several areas, holds proven reserves of 1 billion tons of mineral resources.

In the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, iron ore production is set to post substantial growth rates in the next few years. MCR, a mining company in the J&F Group, expects to raise its output to 12 million tons in 2024.

Also in Mato Grosso do Sul, MPP Mineração has announced a R$ 50 million investment in expanding its iron and manganese ore operations in Corumbá, where next year's iron ore output is estimated at 1.2 million tons.

Gold remains attractive

Holding on to its second place in Brazil's mining output, gold is still attracting investments, from large, medium, and small-scale mining companies alike. The main producers currently active in Brazil are Kinross Brasil (Kinross), AngloGold Ashanti, Jacobina Mineração (Panamerican Silver), Mineração Serra do Oeste (Jaguar Mining), Fazenda Brasileiro (Equinox Gold), NX Gold (Ero Copper), Mineração Apoena (Aura Minerals), Serabi Mineração, Mineração Maracá (Lundin Mining), Aura Almas Mineração (Aura Minerals) and Santa Luz Desenvolvimento Mineral (Equinox Gold). The outlook for the next few years is for continued growth in gold output, in the light of companies' projects now in execution or at the planning stage.

Kinross Brasil is implementing its Gravity project, which will add some 20,000 ounces a year to the capacity of its mine at Paracatu, on the western edge of Minas Gerais. The project calls for a US$ 30 million capex. The company plans to instal a gravity gold recovery circuit in the circulating load of the grinding circuit in Plants 1 and 2. Four centrifugal concentrators will be installed at Plant 2 and another one in Plant 1, together with an intensive leaching reactor.

GMIN (G Mining Ventures Corp.) had completed 51 percent of its Tocantinzinho project by January 2024. Located in the state of Pará, the plant is expected to begin producing on a commercial sale before the end of the year. The open pit mine and processing plant will have the capacity to produce 175,000 ounces a year over a ten-year productive lifetime from a reserve stated as 2 million ounces of gold in an ore having an average content of 1.31 grams per ton. Capex is around US$ 481 million, and the average production cost is expected to be US$ 681 per ounce.

Hochschild's R$ 900 million Posse project is now nearing completion in the municipality of Mara Rosa, Goiás. Posse is an open pit mine and processing plant with the capacity to produce 900,000 ounces of gold over a ten-year period. Startup is planned for the first half of 2024, with commercial deliveries expected to begin toward the end of that period.

Aura Minerals has been pursuing a rapid growth policy since 2018, aiming at an output of 450,000 ounces per year, to be achieved by 2025. That will almost double its 2023 result of a little over 235,000 ounces. In 2023 the company brought on stream its Almas project in the state of Tocantins for a capex of US$ 73 million. It is planned to produce 51,000 ounces in each of the first four years. The company is also beginning to implement its Borborema project, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, acquired from Big River, which will require a capex of US$ 188 million. Borborema holds 812,000 ounces in proven and probable reserves and resources (measured and indicated) of 2,077,000 ounces. Output is projected at 83,000 ounces a year at a cost of US$ 862 per ounce. Another project in Aura's portfolio of new investments is Matupá, in Mato Grosso, where implementation may begin before the end of 2024. The feasibility study, now concluded, shows an investment of US$ 107 million for an output of 54,700 ounces in each of the first four years and a seven-year productive lifetime, based on reserves estimated in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-1101. The all-in sustained cost (AISC) is stated as US$ 710 per ounce in the first four years. Startup is planned for the last quarter of 2025.

Equinox Gold, having restarted operations at its Santa Luz mine in the state of Bahia, in 2022, now plans to invest US$ 154 million in starting underground operations at its Aurizona mine in the state of Maranhão, and in exploring satellite deposits while continuing to operate the open pit mine, which today has the capacity to process 5,000 tons of ore per day. The new project has a forecast output of 137,000 ounces of gold per year for eleven years. The planned expansion is expected to raise Equinox's total Brazilian output to 400,000 ounces a year. In 2023, its Brazilian mines produced 296,800 ounces, accounting for nearly 53 percent of the group's worldwide production in the year.

Mineração Castelo dos Sonhos, a TriStar Gold subsidiary, held the public hearing required for the issue of a preliminary licence (licença prévia) for its planned gold mining venture in the state of Pará. A prefeasibility study concluded in 2021 presented the Castelo dos Sonhos venture as an open pit mine with a productive lifetime of eleven years, averaging 121,000 ounces of gold per year in two stages, with an AISC of US$ 900 per ounce. The deposit holds reserves of 1.4 million ounces of gold. The planned investment is approximately US$ 261 million, including a 20 percent margin for contingencies.

Cerrado Gold, acting through Serra Alta Mineração, is planning to invest US$ 186.6 million (including a US$ 15.8 million contingency fund) to implement an open pit mine and processing plant in the state of Tocantins, with the capacity to produce 94,700 ounces of gold per year, over a nine-year period, at an AISC of US$ 711 per ounce. Initial reserves, proven and probable, amount to 895,000 ounces of gold, calculated as 16.8 million tons of ore having a gold content of 1.66 grams per ton. Measured and indicated reserves are stated as 1.01 million ounces, based on 18.4 million tons of ore and a gold content of 1.72 grams per ton, plus inferred resources of 66,000 ounces of gold (1.1 million tons at 1.95 grams per ton).

Tucano Gold, controlled by Pilar Gold in partnership with a group of shareholders, is restarting operations at its Tucano mine located in Pedra Branca do Amapari, in the state of Amapá. The mining operation had been halted following an application for protection from creditors by the former controlling shareholder. The company says the operation will resume only gradually, beginning with grinding the low-grade ore and later proceeding to the AB pit. At the same time, the company is planning to develop underground mining at the Urucum Norte deposit. The cash cost is estimated at US$ 1,000 per ounce. In the medium term, the scale of production is planned to reach 100,000 ounces per year. The processing plant was modernized in 2020 and can now handle a volume of 10,000 tons per day. Resources now remaining at Tucano amount to 1.8 million ounces, though the company believes the potential is greater, since the known ore bodies indicate the possibility of high-grade underground reserves. In addition, Tucano holds the mining rights to an area of 2,000 square kilometers (770 square miles) in the Guiana Shield, potentially favorable to the discovery of gold. Belo Sun, controlled by the Forbes & Manhattan group, is still seeking to obtain the environmental license for its Volta Grande project, located in the municipality of Senador José Porfírio, adjoining Altamira in the state of Pará. With a capex originally budgeted at US$ 298 million, the venture is planned to produce an average 268,000 ounces in the first ten years for a total 3.53 million ounces over its productive lifetime, at an AISC of US$ 779 per ounce of gold. The feasibility study stated reserves as 3.8 million ounces and resources (measured and indicated) as 5.0 million ounces.

Altamira Gold is focusing on the exploration and development of gold projects in the central region of Brazil. It has six projects covering an area of approximately 1,900 square kilometres (730 square miles) in the prolific Juruena gold belt, which historically produced between 7 million and 10 million ounces of alluvial gold. Altamira's most advanced project is Cajueiro, holding indicated resources (in accordance with NI 43-101) of 5.66 million tons of ore at 1.02 grams of gold per ton, giving a total 185,000 ounces. Inferred resources are 12.66 million tons at 1.26 grams per ton, giving a further 515,000 ounces.

Advances in strategic minerals

Gradually, Brazil is advancing in the production of what a market consensus now labels "critical" or "strategic" minerals, referring to those that will have an important role to play in the energy transition, being needed in the manufacture of electric vehicles and for the storage of renewable energies such as solar and wind power. Copper has already become the country's third most important mining product and looks certain to go on growing: several new nickel projects are on the way; and one of the world's largest lithium projects was recently brought into operation, with expansions already being planned, while others of the same kind are in the pipeline. There are expansion projects for niobium mining, needed for the manufacture of electric vehicle (EV) batteries; and Brazil has the only vanadium mine found anywhere in the Americas.

In copper, Ero Brasil (controlled by Ero Copper) is progressing in its implementation of its Tucumã project, in Pará, with the expectation that commercial production will begin in the second half of 2024. The total investment is now expected to rise to US$ 310 million, a little higher than the original budget. Once the project is brought on stream, with the capacity to produce 55,000 tons a year, Ero Brasil's overall copper capacity will have grown to more than 100,000 tons. Another Ero Brasil project, named Deepening, calls for drilling a shaft to access ore reserves lying deep in its Pilar underground mine. Located in the state of Bahia and budgeted at R$ 1.4 billion, the project is expected to take three years to be completed.

Vale Base Metals, a newly created subsidiary to act in the base metals business, and which is the country's leading copper producer with its Salobo and Sossego mines in Pará, is investing heavily in expanding its copper capacity. The company recently brought on stream its Salobo 3 project, in which it invested around US$ 1.1 billion, raising its ore crushing capacity to 36 million tons a year and yielding 30,000 to 40,000 tons of copper. The company is looking at the option of implementing its Salobo 4 project, which would boost its capacity by a further 30,000 tons per year of copper content in concentrate. Yet another project in its portfolio is Alemão, also in the Carajás region, with a copper capacity of 60,000 tons a year. Vale's third copper project in Brazil is Cristalino, located close to the Sossego mine in the area the company calls its Southern Hub. Currently at the feasibility study stage, the project is expected to bring 80,000 tons of copper a year and will have the effect of lengthening the productive lifetime of the Sossego processing plant. As part of the Southern Hub extension program, Vale Base Metals is looking at ways to make use of the satellite deposits such as Bacaba, Visconde, and 118, which would call for a new processing plant in the same area. Near Salobo, Vale is studying the feasibility of its Northern Hub, drawing on several deposits — Paulo Afonso Sul, Pojuca, Gameleira, Furnas, and Grota Funda — that together might add some 70,000 to 100,000 tons of copper per year.

Brazil has only three nickel producers currently active: Anglo American, Vale Base Metals, and Atlantic Nickel. Only one of the three produces sulfide nickel, while both the others produce ferronickel. Horizonte Minerals is now implementing a project, having recently decided to suspend the implementation of its Araguaia project in Pará due to a cost overrun. Instead of the approved budget of US$ 433 million, it found the project was going to call for US$ 537 million. Startup had originally been scheduled for 2024, but the timing is now under review. Initial capacity had been planned as 14,500 tons a year, but this will now probably be doubled. At the same time, the company is seeking to gain environmental licensing for its Vermelho project, also in Pará, to produce nickel-cobalt. The feasibility study is due to be published by the end of June 2024.

Vale Base Metals has given the go-ahead for construction of a second furnace at Onça-Puma, in Pará. The investment is budgeted at US$ 555 million, with a planned startup date in the first half of 2025. The project will bring an additional volume of nickel output estimated in the range from 12,000 to 15,000 tons a year.

Atlantic Nickel, controlled by Appian Capital Brazil, has completed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its proposal to extend operations at its Santa Rita mine at Itagibá, in Bahia. The plan now is to keep it in operation for 34 years instead of just eight years, which was the original intention. The new PAE shows a potential 26-year lifetime for underground mining, in addition to the original eight years planned for the open-pit mine only. The PAE shows that the company plans to invest US$ 355 million along first five years.

Jervois Mining is investing US$ 65 million in rebuilding and reequipping its zinc and cobalt refinery at São Miguel Paulista, in the state of São Paulo, acquired from Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (CBA), part of the Votorantim group. Jervois expects the plant to restart operations in the first quarter of 2024, with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons of nickel and 2,000 tons of cobalt cathodes.

Centaurus Metals has already obtained the Preliminary License for its Jaguar project, in the Carajás region, where it intends to produce 20,000 tons/year of sulphide nickel. The project foresees the use of a deposit with resources of 109.2 million tons of ore at 0.87% Ni, equivalent to 948.9 thousand tons of metal. The Capex value must be defined in the DFS, which is to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

CBMM, the worldwide market leader in niobium, is currently engaged in publicizing its pioneering new technology, developed in partnership with Toshiba of Japan, enabling the use of niobium in EV batteries and creating a new market for their product. The new technology uses niobium and titanium oxide instead of carbon in battery cells, slashing recharging time from eight hours or more to as little as ten minutes. In addition, the new product greatly improves safety, since the lithium battery presents no danger of overheating, which can sometimes cause a conventional battery to catch fire or even explode.

Confirmation that the technology was feasible encouraged CBMM to set up a laboratory and pilot plant at Araxá, in Minas Gerais, to produce samples of the niobium-titanium oxide, to be sent for testing. At the same time, the company has built a pilot plant in Japan to produce battery cells and has already distributed 5,000 of them to prospective users, for them to conduct their own tests.

CBMM also sought to form a partnership with a Brazilian heavy vehicle manufacturer. The choice fell on Volkswagen's truck and bus division, which has a factory in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and which has successfully developed the first electric bus running on a battery that uses niobium-titanium oxide for the negative pole. A significant characteristic of the new technology is that charging the battery is very much quicker, compared with the earlier carbon anode technology.

Readying its facilities to meet the new demand that is expected to arise for niobium oxide, and in line with its strategy to always plan ahead to meet a forecast surge in demand, CBMM is investing US$ 80 million in setting up a new plant with the capacity to produce 3,000 tons per year of niobium oxide, having the characteristics required for use in batteries. In addition, the company already has an engineering project ready for a capacity expansion to 20,000 tons a year.

In addition to the use of niobium oxide in batteries, CBMM is still pursuing the expansion of niobium use in energy transition applications and in decarbonization. A few examples are high-resistance cables for use in the building industry, micro alloyed specialty steels for wind towers, and niobium for use in nanomaterials for magnetic applications and even in fungicides. To develop these programs, CBMM's annual research and development budget ranges from R$ 250 million to R$ 300 million, apart from some R$ 700 million in capex.

Is the time right for rare earths?

Rare earths mining in Brazil has attracted the attention of a few companies, mainly junior companies with a stock exchange listing in either Canada or Australia. Recent discoveries of ionic clays open a new prospect for Brazil as a future producer of rare earth elements (REEs).

In January 2024, Mineração Serra Verde began commercial production of a mixed rare earths concentrate under the first stage of its Pela Ema deposit, located in the municipality of Minaçu, in Goiás. Once it reaches full capacity, the company hopes to be producing 5,000 tons a year of rare earth oxides (REOs), used in the manufacture of high-efficiency permanent magnets needed in both EVs and wind turbine generators. Pela Ema is a large deposit of ionic clay, with a long productive lifetime and holding a high proportion of valuable heavy and light rare earths, notably neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), terbium (Tb), and dysprosium (Dy), all four deemed essential for the energy transition. Serra Verde has conducted studies for a capacity expansion in the first stage of the venture by optimizing procedures in the plant, and is now assessing the potential for a further, second stage, expansion, which could double gross output by the end of the twenties. To bring the first stage into operation, the company invested some US$ 170 million. A significant feature of the Pela Ema operation is that, until now, no secondary ionic clay deposit had been brought into production in any country except China.

Meteoric Resources, an Australian junior company that acquired the Caldeira ionic clay deposit at Poços de Caldas, in Minas Gerais, is developing the engineering needed to work the deposit, which holds inferred resources of 409 million tons of ionic clay with a total rare-earths oxides (TREO) content of 2,626 parts per million. In 2023 the company announced that it may invest as much as R$ 1.5 billion to bring the Caldeira project into production by 2027. The plan is start with a capacity of 10,000 tons of rare-earth oxides, corresponding to approximately 5 percent of worldwide demand for neodymium and praseodymium. The project can easily be scaled up, the company says, if that should be required, with the possibility of reaching 20,000 tons of rare-earth oxides including 7,000 tons of neodymium and praseodymium, by 2030.

Bemisa is investing in detailed geological research in the area where it is developing its Bambuí project, extending through four municipalities in the northeast of Minas Gerais: Carmo do Paranaíba, Arapuá, Matutina and Tiros. The area holds resources of over 1 billion tons of high-content rare-earth oxides. The company is simultaneously developing tests for the recovery of ionic clay. The venture covers three mining permits, covering an area of approximately 36 square kilometers (14 square miles), where fourteen boreholes were drilled to an average depth of 96 meters (315 feet). The TREO content was found to average 0.45 percent, with some samples yielding a content above 1 percent. Leaching tests gave positive results, with Bemisa now having good expectations for the future of the project. It has programmed further drilling in the first half of 2024 and further laboratory tests, in the confident expectation that the deposit will emerge as a world-class source of rare-earth elements.

Viridis Mining is pressing ahead with an exploration program at its Colossus project in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais. It has contracted consultants to estimate the mineral resources in compliance with the Australian JORC Code, with early findings described as "excellent" in view of the high REE content. Viridis says it is confident that Colossus will become a significant source of REEs, in particular of magnetic rare-earth oxides (MREOs), needed for high-tech and green energy applications.

Brazilian Rare Earths is a mining venture still at the pre-operational stage, supported by Gina Rinehart, a mining magnate and Australia's richest woman. With a market valuation of around US$ 200 million, the company holds the concession to extract rare earths in an area of over 1,400 square kilometres (540 square miles) in the Jequié region in Bahia, considered highly promising for rare earths and other minerals. Resources, assessed in accordance with the JORC Code, amount to 510 million tons of ore with a TREO content of 1.513 parts per million, in an area of which only one-twentieth has been explored so far. The Monte Alto project alone is assessed at 25.2 million tons of monazite sands with a 1 percent TREO content.

Equinox Resources, another Australian company, reports the discovery of "convincing initial evidence" of the presence of rare-earth minerals in ionic clay at its Campo Grande project in the Jequié region in Bahia. The company says its two projects combined, Mata da Corda and Campo Grande, cover an exploration area of approximately 2,550 square kilometres (980 square miles) in that rapidly developing region of ionic clays.

Appia Rare Earth & Uranium Corp., listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has signed an agreement with Beko Invest Ltd. acquiring a share of up to 70 percent in its Cachoeirinha rare earths project, located in the Tocantins structural province, part of the Brasília fold belt in the Arenópolis Magmatic Arc in the state of Goiás. Covering an area of 176 square kilometres (68 square miles), Cachoeira is classified as a highly anomalous occurrence of intrusive alkaline rock holding REEs and niobium. The company reports that recent geochemical exploration indicated a good potential for both REEs and niobium in lateritic ion-adsorption clays.

Aclara Resources, also listed in Toronto, has announced the results of a PEA for its Carina project, extracting ion-adsorption clay, located at Nova Roma in Goiás. The initial capital cost is budgeted at US$ 576 million. The net after-tax present value is close to US$ 1.2 billion. The company also projects an average net annual revenue of US$ 474 million and Ebitda of US$ 340 million, with an average production cost of US$ 13.1 per ton. The expectation is that the project will be commissioned by the end of 2029. The company is confident that the venture has an essential role to play in meeting growing demand for high-quality rare earths. The processing plant will have an average output capacity stated as 4,498 tons per year of REOs in concentrates. The mineralized area at Carina covers around 14 square kilometers (5.5 square miles), with the potential for future enlargement. The company will use its own technological process that is pioneering and environmentally sustainable.

Rainbow Rare Earths has signed a memorandum of understanding with The Mosaic Company for the joint development of a process flowsheet and to conduct a PEA for extracting REEs from Mosaic's phosphogypsum stack in the Uberaba area in Minas Gerais. The stack contains valuable REEs that occur as byproducts of the manufacture of phosphoric acid. The material at Uberaba is like that at Rainbow's Phalaborwa project in South Africa, based on a carbonatite phosphate hard rock deposit. Although hard rock carbonatite does not contain rare earths in sufficient quantities to be mined for those elements alone, the process that they undergo serve to concentrate the rare earths contained in them, resulting in higher concentrations than were present in the original hard rock.

Alvo Minerals has reported that it achieved highly promising results from auger drilling at its Bluebush project, seeking to ascertain the presence of rare earths in the northern half of the Serra Dourada granite, which hosts the Serra Verde ionic clay deposit. The project is located in the municipality of Palmeirópolis in the state of Tocantins.

Mineração Taboca and the University of São Paulo's Laboratory for Recycling, Waste Disposal, and Extraction (Larex) are jointly working on a project to process the tailings from tin mining to recover valuable materials such as REEs. The company is also active in the niobium and tantalum markets, operating two main units, the Pitinga mine, producing tin, niobium, and tantalum in the state of Amazonas and a metallurgical plant at Pirapora do Bom Jesus in the state of São Paulo.

Canada Rare Earth Corp. has reported that it has acquired the right to increase its shareholding, to 52 percent, in the ownership of the tailings at Bom Futuro, in Rondônia, and that it will be in charge of operating the venture. The company's rights include a licence for extractive activity and the recovery of 70 million tons of tailings accumulated in the course of twenty-five years of tin mining by Paranapanema S.A. as well as by artisanal operators. The tailings occupy an area of 590 hectares on a rented property measuring 9,960 hectares. Marketable minerals that can be economically recovered from the tailings include cassiterite (tin ore), ilmenite, zircon, and rare earths. Included in the contract are all tailings arising from any present or future mining activities conducted during the 26-year term of the contract. In addition, the company has a preferential option to purchase the mining rights to any underground deposits found anywhere on the property.

Resouro, a Canadian company, has announced "significant" initial results from its exploration of the Tiros project, a deposit holding titanium and rare earths at Tiros, in Minas Gerais. The project covers an area of 152 square kilometers where ten separate mining concessions are thought to hold — according to surveys conducted by previous owners — potentially 630 million tons with a 12 percent titanium oxide content, in addition to REOs.

Foxfire Metals Ltda. discovered REEs at a site in the so-called Brazilian Lithium Valley in the north of Minas Gerais. Recent laboratory tests demonstrate the presence of REEs at content levels ranging as high as 3,050 ppm, and also of lithium, rubidium, niobium, and zirconium. Soil and rock samples were collected from thirteen points around an area of 35 square kilometers (13.5 square miles). The analysis showed that sixteen of the seventeen REEs were present in all thirteen samples. All the samples, similarly, showed niobium, rubidium, and zirconium at high content levels, while twelve of the thirteen samples also contained lithium.

Vatic Ventures, also a Canadian company, has signed a deal to acquire the sole prospection rights to a property where lithium is found in hard rock. The location is a well-known pegmatite mining area, 40 kilometers from Solonópole in the state of Ceará. The property includes a number of extensive pegmatite dikes where samples have given results showing a lithium oxide content ranging from 3.41 percent up to 5.03 percent. Named Solonópole Sul, the property comprises four blocks covering 48.1 square kilometers.

including monazite, that will enter the parent company's REE supply chain in the United States. More than 3,300 boreholes have already been drilled, showing significant concentrations of titanium (in ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (in zircon), and REEs (in monazite). The company says the project has the potential to supply from 3,000 up to as much as 10,000 tons of monazite sand concentrate per year, depending on the production scale, plus from 1,500 to 5,000 tons of REOs, possibly over a period of decades. Energy Fuels' main interest is monazite, which contains REEs and uranium. Preliminary tests suggest that the monazite content in the HMS ranges from a minimum 0.62 percent up to a maximum 12.82 percent. The uranium content of the monazite is thought to be on a comparable innovative technology for processing minerals that, until now, had been disregarded because they were thought to be uneconomical. The aim is to process tailings that hold varying levels of light REEs such as neodymium, praseodymium, lanthanum, and cerium. The plant is located within Senai Climatec's complex at Camaçari, in the state of Bahia.

In 2023 Brazil became a producer of battery-grade greentech lithium, having until then produced chemical-grade lithium only. The change came with the startup of Sigma Lithium's Grota do Cirilo project, located in the municipalities of Itinga and Araçuaí, in Minas Gerais. In the initial stage, the installed capacity is 270,000 tons a year of lithium, corresponding to 36,700 tons a year of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Meanwhile, a technical report has demonstrated the feasibility of an expansion at Grota do Cirilo to 510,000 tons a year of lithium. Capex required for the expansion would be US$ 155 million.

AMG Mineração, another leading lithium producer in Brazil, has brought on stream its lithium concentrate processing plant, the first stage of a project located in the municipalities of Nazareno and São Tiago, in Minas Gerais. This will increase the company's overall capacity from 30,000 to 90,000 tons a year by the end of the first quarter of 2024, for a US$ 50 million investment. The lithium concentrate shipped from this plant undergoes further processing on its arrival in China or Europe, to complete its transformation into the lithium required for industrial applications. Another AMG project calls for a lithium carbonate conversion plant, extending the company's production chain in Brazil. The project was begun in 2022, with completion planned for the last quarter of 2026. The lithium carbonate produced in Brazil will be shipped for further processing at an AMG facility in Germany. The end product will be lithium hydroxide, widely used in battery manufacture. Once this conversion unit becomes operational, AMG Brasil expects to produce around 15,000 tons per year. The venture will require an investment in the range from US$ 250 million to US$ 270 million.

Atlas Lithium is in line to become Brazil's next lithium producer, with an end-2024 date in view for startup of the first stage of its Litio Mineiro project, located in six municipalities in Minas Gerais — Araçuaí, Itinga, Coronel Murta, Rubelita, Taiobeiras, and Virgem da Lapa — where it holds 54 mining rights. Budgeted at US$ 49.5 million, this first stage will have an output capacity of 150,000 tons per year of spodumene concentrate. A second stage of the project, for which the timetable and the budget have not yet been defined, would double the capacity to 300,000 tons a year. The company has signed sales contracts, in exchange for investment capital, with two Chinese companies, Chengxi Lithium Group and Yahua Industrial Group, both of which are suppliers of lithium hydroxide to major EV manufacturers.

Lithium Ionic plans to become one of Brazil's largest lithium producers. It is currently readying its Bandeira project, a long-term (20 years), low-cost, and highly profitable underground mine located at Araçuaí and Itinga in the so-called Lithium Valley in Minas Gerais, where the company holds reserves amounting to some 60 million tons. Planned capacity is 200,000 tons a year of spodumene concentrate. Feasibility studies first presented in October 2023 and now being updated suggest that the capex for construction of the venture will be in the range from US$ 200 million to US$ 230 million. To provide the necessary funding, Lithium Ionic will negotiate pre-sales agreements to supply the concentrates to prospective buyers, a common practice in the market. Licensing applications — for both an environmental license and an installation license — were duly filed in February 2024, with the expectation that both will be forthcoming by the end of June. As soon as both licenses are issued, it is the company's intention to start work immediately on constructing the mine and the processing plant, in addition to the required infrastructure, with detailed basic engineering. The venture is expected to become operational in the early weeks of 2026 at the latest. The company has already signed a contract with Cemig, the Minas Gerais electric power utility, to guarantee the energy supply beginning on October 1, 2025. This will enable the venture to become operational either in the last quarter of 2026 or, at the latest, at the beginning of 2026.

Lithium Ionic also has another lithium project, named Baixa Grande Salinas, in the municipality of Salinas, Minas Gerais. The company expects to announce shortly the scale of the lithium reserves. The plan is to conclude implementation of the project within two years.

Fertilizers: Brazil still dependent on imports

Raw materials for fertilizers, principally phosphate and potash, needed to keep agribusiness on its upward course, are still a challenge for Brazil, which remains heavily dependent on imports. In 2023, phosphate and potash imports amounted to US$ 10.1 billion, split roughly half and half between US$ 5.24 billion for phosphate and US$ 4.86 billion for potash. Government officials and private-sector representatives, meeting together as the National Council for Fertilizers and Plant Nourishment (Confert), adopted in November 2023 a National Fertilizer Plan, aimed at reducing import dependence and enabling Brazilian producers to improve their competitiveness while also enhancing sustainability, thus contributing to food security. The intention is that, by 2050, domestic producers should be supplying between 45 and 50 percent of demand. With this aim in view, the plan laid down five guidelines, twenty-seven targets, and 168 short-, medium-, and long-term actions. The principal short- and medium-term actions call for reactivating, building, or enlarging facilities that produce those fertilizers deemed of strategic importance for the country, in particular nitrogen- and phosphate-based fertilizers.

In addition to increasing the domestic output of chemical fertilizers, the plan also calls for measures to increase the supply of organic and organomineral nutrients and to reuse solid waste and remineralizer, or rock powder, that can make chemical fertilizers more effective. The plan calls for extensive geological mapping to assess the potential for phosphate and potash production in Brazil, proposing sixty named areas to be surveyed over a period of decades, located mainly in the states of Goiás, Tocantins, Bahia, and Mato Grosso. It also recommends that companies should seek to form partnerships with science and technology institutes, to engage in scientific research focusing on the production and use of sustainable inputs.

The main producers of raw materials for fertilizers in Brazil are Mosaic, CMOC Brasil, Fosnor/Galvani, Eurochem, and Morro Verde. Phosphate offers the best chances for reducing Brazil's import dependence, though there are important projects in potash too. Several major investment projects are planned, that have encountered difficulties in obtaining environmental licensing. That has caused setbacks in implementing the original timetables, which in turn has led to even greater dependence on imports.

In phosphate, Eurochem is starting up a major project, its Serra do mining and industrial complex, which will produce around 1 million tons a year of phosphate-based fertilizers, adding 15 per cent to Brazil's total present-day output. It will make a substantial contribution to reducing the degree of import dependence, which today stands at around 85 percent. Investment in the Salitre complex amounted to approximately US$ 1 billion. This will be the EuroChem group's first mining venture anywhere outside Europe.

Fosnor/Galvani is progressing with its R$ 200 million expansion project that will double its output of phosphate-based fertilizers at Luís Eduardo Magalhães, in Bahia. In a separate project, the company will invest R$ 340 million to implement a further stage of its phosphate mining venture at Irecê, also in Bahia. A third project, named Santa Quitéria, is currently at the licensing stage. Budgeted at R$ 2.3 billion, this project is for a mining and industrial complex in the state of Ceará. When it comes on stream, Santa Quitéria will produce 1.05 million tons per year of phosphate-based fertilizers, enabling the company to supply 25 percent of fertilizer demand in the Northern and Northeastern regions of Brazil.

Morro Verde has a mine at Pratápolis, in Minas Gerais, holding 50 million tons in proven reserves of phosphate having an average 10 percent content, which is twice the Brazilian average. Output capacity is currently 400,000 tons a year, but the company is planning to almost quadruple that to 1.5 million tons a year, at which level the reserves will last 60 years. Morro Verde's plan is to invest more than R$ 500 million in the course of the next five years, partly in an expansion of mine output and partly to launch new products.

In potash, Potássio do Brasil is in the process of obtaining the necessary licences for building a complex at Autazes, in the state of Amazonas, where it has already invested US$ 230 million. The facility is planned to produce 2.2 million tons a year of potassium chloride, which would supply around 20 percent of the total demand in Brazil at the present level. By the time construction is completed, the company will have invested a further US$ 2.5 million, covering an underground mine and a processing plant plus a road and a port terminal.