The US wants to work in "warp speed" to secure Brazil's rare earths and other critical minerals, a panelist familiar with White House operations said at a market event in the country's capital Brasilia yesterday.
The US is "shovel ready" to deepen its partnership with Brazil, specially regarding rare earth elements, said Eurasia Group managing director for the Americas Christopher Garman, during a critical minerals seminar held by Brazil's mining institute Ibram.
The White House had — according to the panelist — identified Brazil and Malaysia as possible partners on rare earths because their reserves are mostly found in ionic clay, which is easier to process than other deposits.
The US selected Brazil, Garman said, as shown by actions including the $2.8bn acquisition of Brazilian heavy rare earth producer Serra Verde, which followed $560mn in financing for Serra Verde and for soon-to-be producer Aclara Resources.
"Donald Trump will continue to view Brazil pragmatically because of the value of its mineral assets," Garman said. He added that neither the newly reimposed US tariffs on Brazil nor the recent classification of local organised crime groups as terrorists signals a change in Trump's stance towards Brasilia. "They were parallel decisions that were being worked on for a long time."
Mauricio Lyrio, a former ambassador and Brazil's current secretary for climate, energy and environment, agreed.
"We are seeing geopolitics dictate most decisions related to Brazilian critical minerals," Lyrio said at the same panel, noting that Brazil's mineral assets gain value when conflicts and geopolitical issues arise elsewhere because of its good relations with every UN nation. "Brazil can seal cooperation agreements on every mineral with every country, which is key in this day and age."
Both panelists said the quality of Brazil's critical mineral reserves and its technical mining expertise give the country an advantage in negotiations, but time is crucial.
Brazil holds the world's second-largest rare earth reserves, but produced less than 1pc of the total global output.
"Brazil has a massive opportunity in front of itself, but we need to have a very strong sense of urgency in order to capitalize on it," Lyrio said. "Brazil needs to dictate the terms, not react to other people's will."
