Brazilian agencies strike deal to speed up mining sector procedures

Brazilian government agencies related to the mining sector will join forces to implement more technologies in their processes.

Industrial development agency ABDI and mining regulator ANM signed a technical cooperation agreement with the aim of reducing ANM's procedural bottlenecks and proposing improvements in the regulatory framework of the mining sector.

"Among the actions planned to increase the agency's operational efficiency is the use of data intelligence to identify and resolve procedural liabilities, as well as proposals for improvements to the regulatory framework. Procedures for exploration authorizations, approvals of final reports and economic mining plans and concessions will be covered," ANM said in a statement.

"For this initiative, generative artificial intelligence will be used, which will allow for faster and more robust analysis of processes, facilitating decision-making by the technical team and the issuing of authorizations," it added.

Meanwhile, ABDI is planning to reach a similar accord with environmental review agency Ibama.

The objective is to speed up around 2mn processes that Ibama is dealing with.

According to ABDI head Ricardo Cappelli, the proposal is to develop a model that helps various sectors unlock investments that have been halted due to a lack of digital transformation.

“ABDI can be a decisive instrument for the federal government to help boost investments held back due to a lack of digital transformation," said Cappelli.