On CNN Talks, government and private sector debate critical minerals council

The creation of a new council to coordinate the national policy on critical and strategic minerals concentrated part of the debates this Tuesday (30) on CNN Talks: Nova Era da Minação.

The theme appears in the project approved by the Chamber of Deputies that creates the PNMCE (National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals). The proposal still needs to be analyzed by the Senate, but it already mobilizes the government, Congress and the private sector around the powers and limits of the new collegiate.

The approved text creates the CIMCE (National Council for the Industrialization of Critical and Strategic Minerals), linked to the Presidency of the Republic. The body will play a role in defining priorities, monitoring strategic projects and guiding instruments to support the sector.

In practice, the council will also have the power to analyze and block operations considered sensitive, which has increased companies' concerns about the degree of government intervention in projects, contracts and business decisions.

Reporter of the proposal in the Chamber, deputy Arnaldo Jardim (Cidadania-SP) stated that the federal government is already working on regulating the council, even before the analysis by the Senate is completed.

"I can reveal that the government is working on this regulation. The fact that the project is in the Senate does not mean that it is stopped. The regulation is progressing and is being done", said Jardim.

According to the text approved by the Chamber, regulation must occur within 90 days after the final approval of the proposal. According to Jardim, the intention is for the council to focus on large projects, and not on analyzing smaller or routine operations in the sector.

On the private sector side, the main demand is for objective criteria. President of the board of the AMC (Association of Critical Minerals), Marisa Cesar stated that the proposal still needs to make it clear which minerals will be treated as critical and which types of projects must pass the collegiate's scrutiny.

"Within the policy, it is not defined which minerals are critical, and they will all pass through the council. At the same time, what type of project will we have to be approved by the council?", asked Marisa.

She argued that the discussion is not about the existence or not of the council, but about the filters that will be applied.

For AMC, the model needs to prevent smaller contracts, offtake structures and operations without relevant strategic risk from being subjected to excessive analysis.

Marisa cited international experiences, such as Australia and Canada, where policies for critical minerals use criteria linked to the value of the operation, the investor profile and geopolitical risks.

In the Australian case, according to her, not all operations go through government scrutiny. The analysis considers, for example, the participation of countries considered hostile and higher values, in the range of billions of dollars.

The executive also mentioned Canada as an example of a country that adopts clearer restrictions on the entry of certain foreign investors into strategic assets. The logic, he stated, is to protect sensitive chains without blocking the entire flow of private capital into the sector.

President of Simineral-PA (Mineral Industries Union of the State of Pará), Anderson Baranov, also defended a less generic discussion on critical minerals.

For him, Brazil needs to evaluate mineral by mineral before defining where it only wants to export raw materials and where there is real space for adding value.

"Are we mature enough to live what we are experiencing today as a society? Do we know what we want? Why don't we discuss something bigger: what do we want? Which minerals are only suitable for export? Which ones are we going to add value to?", he said.

The speech summarizes one of the main concerns of the private sector: preventing critical minerals policy from being treated as a single rule for very different chains.

Companies argue that the national strategy takes into account geological vocation, internal demand, industrial capacity, competitiveness, scale of projects and real possibility of processing in Brazil.

The government, on the other hand, argues that the creation of the council is necessary to organize national priorities at a time of global competition for minerals used in batteries, renewable energy, defense, fertilizers, semiconductors and high-tech equipment.

The assessment within the Executive is that Brazil needs to stop acting only as a supplier of raw materials and expand its presence in the stages of higher added value, such as processing, refining, industrial transformation and manufacturing of components.

"I disagree with the assessment that the project exceeds the powers granted to the council", said the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, when arguing that the collegiate needs to have instruments to coordinate the national policy on critical and strategic minerals.

The debate also included Brazil's ability to transform geological potential into concrete projects. The CEO of the SGB (Brazilian Geological Survey), Vilmar Simões, stated that the resumption of aerial geophysics surveys helps reduce risks for investors and improves knowledge about areas with mineral potential in the country.

"Aerial geophysics had been at a standstill in the country for decades. From 2025 onwards, we will once again use this method, combined with geochemistry, and make this data available to society", said Simões.

According to him, the production of pre-competitive geological, geophysical and geochemical data is a way of providing more security to the sector. This information helps companies, governments and researchers identify promising regions before the more detailed mineral research phase, reducing uncertainty in a high-risk, long-term maturation sector.

Predictability was also defended by the CEO of Belo Sun, Clóvis Torres. The executive stated that Brazil has a favorable environment for mining, but cited the complexity of environmental licensing as one of the main challenges in transforming projects into operation.

"Brazil is a country extremely suitable for mining. We heard this directly in Canada, how difficult it is to license in Canada. Indeed, today we have an organized and easy environment. Brazilian laws are pro-business in mining," said Torres.

Despite the praise, the executive said that the multiplicity of bodies involved in licensing processes can generate uncertainty.

He also stated that the company has been in dialogue with local communities and that the advancement of formal mining can help organize areas under pressure from illegal mining, an activity that, according to him, operates without the same supervision required of licensed enterprises.

The discussion takes place at a time when Brazil is trying to transform its geological advantage into economic and diplomatic protagonism.

The country has relevant reserves of different minerals, but still faces challenges in financing, environmental licensing, infrastructure, technology, traceability and the formation of more sophisticated industrial chains.

CNN Talks: New Era of Mining brings together authorities, businesspeople, experts and representatives of the productive sector to discuss the paths of Brazilian mining in a new phase of global competition for critical minerals, energy transition and security of supply chains.

The meeting takes place at a time when Brazil is trying to transform its geological advantage into economic, industrial and diplomatic protagonism, with debates on financing, environmental licensing, innovation, sustainability, traceability, added value and greater participation of the country in the most noble stages of the mineral chain.

Source: CNN