Strategic Minerals: Bill 2780/2024 proposes to establish the National Policy for Critical and Strategic Minerals (PNMCE) and the Brazilian Committee for Critical and Strategic Minerals (CMCE) to foster the sustainable use of critical and strategic minerals.
Strategic Minerals: Bill 2780/2024 proposes to establish the National Policy for Critical and Strategic Minerals (PNMCE) and the creation of the Brazilian Committee for Critical and Strategic Minerals (CMCE).
On July 8, 2024, Bill No. 2780 of 2024 was proposed in the Chamber of Deputies by Representative Zé Silva. The bill aims to establish the National Policy for Critical and Strategic Minerals ("PNMCE") and the Brazilian Committee for Critical and Strategic Minerals ("CMCE"), among other provisions.
The purpose of the bill is to establish the necessary guidelines to promote the exploration, mining and transformation of critical and strategic minerals in a sustainable manner, strengthening the Brazilian mineral sector, as well as the transformation and processing industry, and the state itself, recognizing the crucial importance of these minerals for the energy transition and national development.
For the purposes of applying the policy, the Bill defines "Critical Minerals", "Strategic Minerals" and "Mineral Transformation" as follows:
Based on the definitions above, it will be up to the Committee for Critical and Strategic Minerals to define, by Resolution, which minerals will be considered critical and strategic for the country.
According to Article 1 of the bill, the National Policy for Critical and Strategic Minerals aims to promote the exploration, mining, and processing of critical and strategic minerals in a sustainable manner, as well as to support the development of industry, distribution, trade and consumption of the products of critical and strategic minerals. Article 2 of the bill also establishes among the principles of the PNMCE the goal of providing mechanisms to attract investments for the exploration of these minerals, increasing Brazil’s competitiveness on the global stage, and to meet both domestic and external demands for these resources.
Furthermore, the National Policy, as described in Article 10 of the Bill, will improve many instruments for its strategic operation. Among them are support for environmental licensing and dialogue between institutions involved in critical and strategic minerals projects, prioritizing these projects, promoting research and technological development, creation of incentives for the exploration, mining, and processing of these minerals and their production chains, and the development of studies and surveys on the production, demand, and processing of these minerals.
The Brazilian Committee for Critical and Strategic Minerals (CMCE), as per Article 5 of the bill, linked to the National Council for Mineral Policy (CNPM), will be responsible for formulating guidelines aimed at fostering the development of Brazil’s mining sector.
The legislative proposal also intends to assign to environmental agencies, the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and the Brazilian National Mining Agency (ANM) the duty of prioritizing the analysis of critical and strategic mineral projects that have been qualified under the Pro-Strategic Minerals Policy or accredited by the Committee (art. 12). Additionally, the Executive Branch will be responsible for instituting incentive mechanisms for specific credit lines for research and technological innovation development for the transformation of critical and strategic minerals (Article 13).
The Bill also seeks to grant tax benefits and subsidies to legal entities that develop exploration, extraction, or transformation projects for critical and strategic minerals (Articles 16 and 17).
Therefore, the bill aims to create a favorable environment for the development of projects related to critical and strategic minerals in the country, as well as to boost and catalyze investments in the sector.
The full text and progress of the bill can be accessed directly on the Chamber of Deputies’ website through the following link.
Cescon Barrieu’s Mining Law team is available to clarify any doubts regarding the subject.
