Overview

• Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said the goal is to develop the entire rare-earths chain rather than focus only on extraction, with prospecting and exploration as initial steps.
• The policy framework is advancing as the government drafts the National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals, PL 2,780/2024 moves in Congress with a vote expected by year-end, and the Mineral Policy Council is slated for installation in October.
• Fiscal tools feature prominently, including Redata tax exemptions for datacenter equipment and a proposed Reimte regime to attract processing and other value-added industries.
• Experts at the Brazil–US Energy and Tech Forum called US–Brazil cooperation a logical path to reduce reliance on Chinese processing, which accounts for about 95% of rare-earth refining.
• Brazil holds roughly 10% of global critical-mineral reserves yet produced only 20 tonnes of rare earths and 10,000 tonnes of lithium in 2024, while long project timelines, an ANM corruption probe, and limited geological mapping underscore execution risks.