Executive Summary:
Brazil’s new critical-minerals policy shifts from attracting investment towards actively steering it by conditioning public support on domestic production and technological development. However, its main tax-credit programme will only become operational in 2030, potentially delaying its contribution to industrial upgrading.
Key points:
- Brazil’s critical-minerals policy strengthens the state’s capacity to steer investment towards domestic processing and technological development.
- Public support is conditioned on requirements designed to increase domestic productive capabilities.
- The delayed implementation of tax credits may limit the state’s ability to translate investment steering into industrial upgrading before 2030.
Analysis:
On 2 September 2026, Brazil’s Senate approved the bill establishing the National Policy for Critical and Strategic Minerals and the National Council for the Industrialisation of Critical and Strategic Minerals. These measures introduce an approach aimed at steering investment, or the use of public policies and institutional mechanisms to direct investment towards specific economic activities and development objectives. The approach moves beyond Brazil’s general mining framework by creating mechanisms to promote domestic processing and technological development through financial incentives. The Council will therefore play a central role in this process, as it will establish conditions for access to the benefits created by the policy, prioritise initiatives, and approve projects jointly with the National Mining Agency.
Among the main investment-steering mechanisms there will be tax credits and financial guarantees, provided through the Federal Programme for the Beneficiation and Transformation of Critical and Strategic Minerals and the Mineral Activities Guarantee Fund, respectively. Under the Fund, mining companies will be required to make annual contributions to the initiative, as well as allocate a share of their gross revenues to research, development and technological innovation projects related to the industry. Access to the Programme’s financing will also be conditional on requirements including the use of domestically produced goods and services, incorporation under Brazilian law, administrative headquarters in Brazil, expenditure on mineral transformation, and production involving materials prioritised by the policy. Together, these measures seek to steer investment towards the processing and transformation of critical minerals by attaching conditions to companies’ contributions and access to public financial support.
However, the tax-credit programme will not become operational until 2030. This creates a potential gap between the establishment of the institutional framework and the availability of one of its main financial incentives. The institutions created by the policy will be able to define priorities and establish the conditions for developing the sector, but the financial support for mineral transformation through the programme will only become available four years after the policy enters into force. Brazil is therefore establishing mechanisms to steer investment towards critical-mineral processing before putting in place one of the main instruments intended to support this transformation.
The National Policy for Critical and Strategic Minerals reflects Brazil’s attempt to move beyond simply attracting investment towards actively conducting investment in the sector. It creates institutions and mechanisms to prioritise, incentivise and condition investment projects in order to strengthen domestic mineral processing and technological capabilities. However, the delayed availability of tax credits may limit the policy’s ability to translate institutional steering into industrial upgrading before 2030. Brazil is therefore building an ecosystem to develop domestic capabilities in critical minerals, but whether its new investment-steering architecture can translate regulatory and financial conditionality into tangible processing and technological capabilities remains to be demonstrated.
Policy Implications:
- The new framework increases the Brazilian state’s leverage over critical-mineral investment, making the Council’s project-selection and approval processes central to industrial-policy outcomes.
- The 2026–2030 period will be important for assessing whether Brazil can steer investment towards mineral processing without its main tax-credit instrument in operation.
Bibliography:
Senado Federal (2026a) ‘Senado aprova política nacional para minerais críticos e estratégicos’, Senado Notícias, 2 September. Available at: https://www12.senado.leg.br/noticias/materias/2026/09/02/senado-aprova-politica-nacional-para-minerais-criticos-e-estrategicos
Senado Federal (2026b) Projeto de Lei nº 2.780, de 2024: Institui a Política Nacional de Minerais Críticos e Estratégicos (PNMCE) e o Conselho Nacional para Industrialização de Minerais Críticos e Estratégicos (CIMCE). Câmara dos Deputados, 7 May. Available at: PL nº 2.780/2024 – documento legislativo
Senado Federal (2026c) Projeto de Lei nº 4.443, de 2025: Dispõe sobre a Política Nacional de Minerais Críticos e Estratégicos. Senado Federal, 2025. Available at: PL nº 4.443/2025 – documento legislativo
Tauil & Chequer Advogados in association with Mayer Brown (2026) Brazil – Mining Investment Fact Sheet: Critical Minerals, Strategic Opportunities and Investment Framework. Lexology, 22 May. Available at: Lexology – Brazil Mining Investment Fact Sheet
Warburton, E. (2024) ‘Nationalist enclaves: Industrialising the critical mineral boom in Indonesia’, The Extractive Industries and Society, 20, 101564. doi: 10.1016/j.exis.2024.101564.