Brazil to launch plan to expand mining production for energy transition

The Brazilian government is preparing to announce a plan before the end of this year to encourage the production of minerals to serve the energy transition.

The plan, being drafted by the mines and energy ministry, includes offering loans to mining companies exploring and producing lithium, copper and nickel.

Currently, small and medium-sized companies with mining operations in Brazil tend to raise financing abroad, mainly on the stock exchanges of Canada, Australia and the US.

"It is difficult to reverse this logic, because in the equity markets of these countries there are investors who are more accustomed to the cycles and risks associated with mining, even in less mature projects, while in the Brazilian financial market there is still no such culture," mining consultant Pedro Galdi told BNamericas.

The government also wants to increase geological knowledge in the country so new minerals associated with the energy transition can be explored.

Recently, the federal government introduced the national energy transition policy (PNTE), approved by the national energy policy council (CNPE). The government projects that the country could attract 2tn reais (US$360bn) in investments in the green economy over the next decade.

However, the plans linked to the energy transition in Brazil are facing some criticism. 

"Government plans need to have established deadlines and specific targets. Without these two elements, it's difficult to move forward with this because it's not possible to know whether the goals are being met within the established deadlines," the president of Brazil's solar industry association Absolar, Rodrigo Sauaia, told BNamericas.