Brazil’s Minas Gerais, a region known to have some of the world’s largest iron-ore mines, wants in on the global craze for lithium.
In an interview conducted earlier this week, Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema announced that the region welcomes investors from across the globe, particularly to Vale do Jequitinhonha, a valley with its own rich lithium deposits.
Several officials from the state, as well as representatives from the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, are slated to hold talks with bankers, shareholders, and traders at New York’s Nasdaq Stock Market. These officials will also join a meeting with key executives from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD Co during their New York roadshow.
A Timely Move
Brazil’s drive to promote privately-funded mining initiatives with a purview to cashing in on the lucrative lithium sector is a timely one. Its South American neighbor Chile is in the process of transforming its current model for lithium extraction and production. The Chilean government is likewise looking for majority stakes in new mining contracts within their jurisdiction.
Likewise, other nations are seeking to knock China from the top spot as the world’s leading producer of lithium through regional battery material supply chains that would meet the rising demand for EVs across the globe.
As of 2022, Brazil is already the world’s fifth largest producer of lithium, and it could grow its share of the market within the foreseeable future as the Vale do Jequitinhonha is now hosting a number of potential producers like Atlas Lithium and Latin Resources.
Just last month, another firm – Sigma Lithium Corporation – began its lithium concentrate production in Minas Gerais.