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Brazil joins race to loosen China's grip on rare earths industry

COMPLEXITIES

While labour is cheap, developers face technical hurdles. Unlike in China, many Western companies are still perfecting the complex processes for producing rare earth metals, a costly challenge that has stalled projects for years.

To spur developments, the Brazilian government launched a 1 billion reais ($194.53 million) fund in February to finance strategic minerals projects, including rare earths.

It also wants to build an industry for transforming these minerals into alloys for batteries, wind turbines and electric motors, the Ministry of Mines and Energy said in a statement.

The challenge is to stimulate production and build partnerships to promote element separation technologies and supply chain development, the ministry said. It is also looking into rare earths recycling.

Among companies talking to the government about recycling technology is Australia's Ionic Rare Earths

which has a pilot recycling plant in Belfast and a tie up with Brazilian developer Viridis Mining and Minerals (VMM.AX)

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/brazil-joins-race-loosen-chinas-grip-rare-earths-industry-2024-06-17/