Brazil Senate Approves Bill to Boost Rare Earth Mining and Processing

Brazil's Senate gave final approval to a landmark bill regulating the extraction and processing of critical and strategic minerals, moving the proposal toward presidential signing by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The legislation follows an overwhelming endorsement by the lower house on May 6 and establishes a 2 billion-real Mineral Activity Guarantee Fund to back mining projects, alongside a five-year, 5 billion-real tax-credit program to spur domestic processing.

It also creates a National Council for the Industrialization of Critical and Strategic Minerals to prioritize funded initiatives. Brazil, with the second-largest rare-earth reserves after China, is courting investors; USA Rare Earth recently agreed to purchase Serra Verde, owner of the Pela Ema mine in Goiás, for roughly $2.8 billion. Lula has said the country will seek to become a major beneficiary of these resources, engaging partners from the United States, China, Germany, France and others. Critics from the Climate Observatory argue the bill offers too much regulatory flexibility without protecting affected communities, while scholars call for a broader public debate on the state's role in mineral access.