Brazil offers $815 million to back strategic minerals projects

Western nations have been ramping up efforts to bolster critical minerals to reduce reliance on China, the dominant supplier of many metals seen as critical to technology.

Brazil is offering about $815 million in financing for projects aimed at boosting development of strategic minerals within the South American nation.

BNDES and government funding agency Finep, earmarked 5 billion reais in financial backing for companies, including credit lines and equity investments. The support can be used to develop supply chains of minerals including lithium, rare earth elements, nickel, graphite and silicon, as well as investments in manufacturing batteries, photo-voltaic cells and magnets used in products such as electric vehicles and wind turbines.

Western nations have been ramping up efforts to bolster critical minerals to reduce reliance on China, the dominant supplier of many metals seen as critical to technology. Brazil, with its significant mineral reserves, is seeking to position itself as a supplier of raw materials while developing a supply chain for value-added metal products.

Such financing could generate 25 billion to 50 billion reais in investments for such projects, according to a Tuesday statement on the announcement. BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante said they’re looking for partnerships between domestic and foreign entities, from miners to technology holders.

“The call is an important step forward in the mineral sector for achieving the Brazilian government’s goals of expanding the industry’s production capacity in the context of sustainable and technological development of the new industrial policy and the ecological transformation plan,” he said in the statement.