Brazil jostles for rare earths share as US-China rivalry heats up

Share: X (Twitter) Facebook LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Print Brazil is rushing to regulate its critical minerals industry and unlock its vast untapped reserves of rare earths, aiming to position itself as a strategic producer with Chinese and US companies competing for fresh supplies. Despite opposition from some environmental and Indigenous rights groups, lawmakers in Brazil's lower house of Congress passed the government’s critical minerals policy bill last month, and backers now hope to secure final Senate approval before October's presidential election. Already a major mining nation with large reserves of graphite and copper, Brazil has the world's second-largest reserves of rare earth elements after China, with the difference that Brazilian reserves are largely untapped. This group of 17 minerals is used in permanent magnets for electric motors vital for clean technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines. As Chinese and US companies compete to secure supplies, Brazil hopes to serve them both. "We don't have any preferences. Whoever wishes to participate with us to help with the mining, processing, and production of the wealth that these rare earths can bring is welcome to invest in Brazil,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told journalists after meeting President Donald Trump in Washington in May. Log in here → Continue reading with free access Climate Home News is on the ground in Bonn — one of the few outlets covering the negotiations that will shape COP31 in November. Join free and keep reading → It takes less than a minute. ×Log in to your account Forgot your password? Brazil is rushing to regulate its critical minerals industry and unlock its vast untapped reserves of rare earths, aiming to position itself as a strategic producer with Chinese and US companies competing for fresh supplies. Despite opposition from some environmental and Indigenous rights groups, lawmakers in Brazil's lower house of Congress passed the government’s critical minerals policy bill last month, and backers now hope to secure final Senate approval before October's presidential election. Already a major mining nation with large reserves of graphite and copper, Brazil has the world's second-largest reserves of rare earth elements after China, with the difference that Brazilian reserves are largely untapped. This group of 17 minerals is used in permanent magnets for electric motors vital for clean technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines. As Chinese and US companies compete to secure supplies, Brazil hopes to serve them both. "We don't have any preferences.