Brazil set to boost mining, energy R&D

The Brazilian government wants to boost research and develop new technologies to add value to mineral commodities.

Late on Thursday, the minister of mines and energy (MME) and science, technology, innovation and communications (MCTIC) signed an agreement creating an interministerial working group to discuss the issue.

Over the next 45 days, the group will prepare a plan and propose administrative and legal measures to bring the local mining and energy sectors closer to research centers, official news service Agência Brasil reported.

During the signing ceremony, MME minister Bento Albuquerque said regulatory agencies have unused resources for research collected from sector companies.

Albuquerque cited as an example the case of oil and gas watchdog ANP, which he said has used just 6bn reais (US$1.46bn) of the total 16bn reais available for research.

"There is no lack of resources, but lack of governance. Resources are scattered, dissociated from the results they could provide, and often not applied. They are waiting for the projects to become feasible," Albuquerque was quoted as saying.

Both ministries want to improve production chains and add value to the transformation of mineral commodities, with Albuquerque saying that will only be possible with science and technology, according to the report.

In photo: MME minister Bento Albuquerque (left) and MCTIC minister Marcos Cesar Pontes