Federal Government of Brazil aims to buy the world’s largest niobium mine

Free translation by : Franyi Sarmiento, Ph.D., Inspenet, June 16, 2022

The federal government of Brazil plans to buy Codemig, in Araxá, a niobium company controlled by the state of Minas Gerais, which owns 73% of this raw material in the world.

The President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, said last week that the Federal Government intends to buy Codemig shares, a company that is being sold by the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema (of the Novo party). The president affirms that (the party of) the Union is interested in preventing Brazilian niobium from being in the hands of other countries. Earlier this year, in February, the Minas Gerais Legislative Assembly (ALMG) rejected the urgent request to veto the sale of Codemig.

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According to Bolsonaro, when Zema talked about selling Codemig’s shares, the Federal Government began to negotiate so that he could take over those shares. It is important to remember that, last year, Minas Gerais announced its intention to privatize Codemig. However, thus far, state legislators have not yet evaluated the process.

The company receives royalties for the manufacture of niobium, which is used in superconductors, steel, among others. Bolsonaro, in an interview with AgroMais, an arm of the Bandeirantes group focused on issues in the agro-industrial sector, commented on the meeting with Elon Musk, from the Tesla company, an electric car company.

The Brazilian president once again insisted that niobium batteries with graphene would be the future of the automobile industry and also praised the fact that a large part of it is located in national territory. According to Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil has 98% of this raw material produced by Codemig. In Araxá, this material is controlled by the government of Minas Gerais, with which the Federal Government is negotiating. Brazil also has large volumes of niobium in the Amazon Six Lakes region.

This material from the ClickPetroleoEGas portal was edited for clarity, style and length.

Source and photo : https://clickpetroleoegas.com.br/governo-federal-quer-comprar-a-maior-mina-de-niobio-do-mundo/