Rare earths expose dilemma between advancement and protection in Brazil

While Australians invest heavily in Minas Gerais, MPF pauses licenses and demands more caution; the country faces the dilemma between accelerated development and the protection of its people and territory

Brazil finds itself, once again, facing one of those decisive moments that define the course of a nation. On the one hand, the concrete promise of a billion-dollar investment, in the order of 655 million dollars, to explore a strategic resource for the future of the planet: rare earths. Essential minerals for the production of wind turbines, electric vehicles and a multitude of green technologies. On the other, the recent and painful memory of a past where the rush for development left a trail of mud, mourning and destruction in Minas Gerais.

Two Australian mining companies, Viridis Mining and Meteoric, are the protagonists of this new crossroads. With projects located on Minas Gerais soil – the Colossus, worth 358 million dollars, and the Caldeira, worth 297 million –, they represent the vanguard of a global race for critical minerals. However, the path to unlocking this wealth is no longer open and unquestioned. In November, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) recommended the suspension of environmental licensing analyzes of projects, requesting new studies and consultations on social and environmental risks. The State Environmental Foundation (Feam) and the State Environmental Policy Council (Copam) responded to the recommendation, momentarily halting the process.

Read also: Australian investments strengthen Brazil’s presence in rare earths

This intervention is not a mere bureaucratic formalism. It is a sign of a country that, still recovering from the wounds of Mariana and Brumadinho, allows itself – or should allow itself – to be more cautious. It is a reflection of a more attentive civil society and institutions that, it is hoped, learned from the tragedy. The pause imposed by the MPF echoes the outcry of communities that already feel the centuries-old weight of mining and demand that, this time, their voices be heard before, and not after, the damage.

Business confidence and institutional resistance

Companies, however, maintain unwavering optimism. His speeches are confident in the process and technical soundness of his studies. Rafael Moreno, director of Viridis, states that the Colossus project “continues to benefit from strong support at all levels of the Brazilian government” and sees the temporary withdrawal from the Copam agenda as a “standard procedure”. He guarantees that all MPF points have already been answered in the Environmental Impact Study (EIA/RIMA) and in public hearings, confidently projecting the resumption of the analysis for December 19th.

Meteoric follows a similar line. Its director, Stuart Gale, acknowledges the frustration with the postponement, but maintains that “the work carried out by our team supports the approval” of the preliminary license. “Based on our analysis, there do not appear to be any new impediments”, he added, demonstrating faith in the agility of the resumption.

The companies’ stance is understandable from a business point of view. They are betting on a Brazil that, under current management, shows robust signs of economic recovery. President Lula’s third government records the lowest average unemployment rate (6.4%) since the beginning of the historical series, with the average worker’s income breaking a record and growing 9.7% between 2023 and September this year. With the recent exemption from Income Tax for those earning up to five thousand reais, the prospect is that this purchasing power will continue to expand. Inflation, another ghost of the recent past, is under control, projected to be the lowest in a four-year period in the country’s history.

These are numbers that paint a favorable macroeconomic scenario and that, without a doubt, attract investments. Senator Humberto Costa (PT-PE) celebrates this “historic moment” of an economic policy that, in his words, “promoted growth beyond any prediction”. Senator Augusta Brito (CE) reinforces that these “are not just loose numbers”, but represent “families that managed to put food on the table again”.

True development is that which does not repeat mistakes

Here lies precisely the heart of the debate. The economic development celebrated in Brasília needs to be harmonized, in practice, with social and environmental justice in the territories where the projects are installed. It is not enough to generate employment and aggregate income in the country if, locally, the result is the degradation of springs, the harassment of traditional communities or the repetition of an extractive model that treats the environment as an obstacle.

The MPF, by recommending the break, acts as a necessary tidying brake. It reminds everyone – government, companies and society – that environmental licensing is not a mere formality to be fulfilled, but a crucial protection instrument. The interruption is a precious time to ask yourself: are the studies really robust? Were community consultations carried out in a free, prior and informed manner? Are the plans for possible environmental liabilities solid and independent?

Brazil cannot give up this rigor. The exploration of rare earths, a symbol of the transition to a low-carbon economy, cannot be born under the shadow of old predatory practices. The country that recently left the Hunger Map and that is recovering the income of its population cannot allow the search for minerals of the future to compromise water security and quality of life in the present.

The decision that now returns to Copam is more than technical; It is politics and ethics. Australian mining companies may be right in their bureaucratic confidence. But the trust that Brazil needs to build is different: that of its people, who legitimately demand that the announced prosperity does not arrive, once again, accompanied by mud and lamentation. The real record to be broken is not just in economic indicators, but in the ability to develop without destroying, to grow by including and protecting. This is the only rare path worth taking.