Does Brazil have the potential to be a global lithium player?

Step by step, Brazil has seen the advancement of lithium projects, although it is still too early to say the country has the potential to be a global player in the industry. 

"There are indications that the existing lithium in Brazil has a higher quality potential than in the regions known as salt flats in South America [in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina] and this would make the cost of production here lower," Valdir Farias, executive director at mining consultancy Fioito, told BNamericas. 

"But it’s necessary to have more knowledge of our deposits to really know Brazil's lithium potential." 

According to the BNamericas database, there are four lithium projects in different phases of development in Brazil. 

All but one are in the southeast state of Minas Gerais, where there is favorable geology and also infrastructure for mining in general, and the most advanced is Sigma Lithium’s Grota do Cirilo. The other is in northeast state Ceará.

"The state of Minas Gerais has a longer mining culture than other states, but there are other regions that have evidence of lithium deposits, such as the entire coast of northeast Brazil," said Farias, who is a former director of the national minerals production department (DNPM). 

The federal government wants to encourage lithium production as global demand is predicted to rise with the energy transition and electromobility. 

In July, the government published a decree suspending the need for prior authorization for lithium imports and exports. 

Previously, such operations required the green light from government bodies such as the nuclear energy commission. The measure is expected to help attract lithium investments, which could reach 15bn reais (some US$3bn) through 2030, according to government projections.

BNamericas looks at the four projects under development.

GROTA DO CIRILO

Canada’s Sigma Lithium completed in July 25% of the construction of the first phase of Grota do Cirilo, a high-grade lithium spodumene deposit. Sigma, which operates in Brazil through subsidiary Sigma Mineração, expects the US$123mn phase 1 to be completed during the first quarter of 2023, involving production capacity of 230,000t/y of spodumene concentrate.

The project comprises three phases. Details of phase 1 can be seen via this link, phase 2 at this link and phase 3 at this link.

SALINAS 

In recent days, Australia’s Latin Resources announced that preliminary metallurgical test work conducted on drill core from the company’s Salinas lithium project returned positive results.

“While it is still early days, and more test work needs to be completed, the apparent ease of liberation of our spodumene producing such a high lithium concentrate may have significant positive implications for our Salinas project," said Latin Resources’ executive director, Chris Gale, in a statement. "This may well mean we will not require the more complex and costly flotation processing to achieve a very high-quality concentrate."

The Salinas project is located in the Jequitinhonha Valley district of Minas Gerais state. No capex figure has been released for the project.

ITINGA 

Canada’s Lithium Ionic started drilling its Itinga project in June. The company agreed to acquire two lithium mining licenses from Galvani Nordeste Mineração in Minas Gerais for US$3.2mn.

Itinga comprises five mining licenses covering more than 1,300ha in the Araceli district.

SOLONOPOLE

Australia’s Oceana Lithium raised in July US$4.1mn in an IPO on the ASX partly to invest in a lithium project in northeast Brazil's Ceará state.

Solonopole covers a 114km2 area three hours from the port of Fortaleza, Ceará’s capital.