Bahia Rare Earths Project Has a Plan but No Funding Yet
Brazil · MINING
Key Facts
- —Company Brazilian Rare Earths, listed in Australia, operating through Borborema Recursos Estratégicos.
- —Sites Mining at Jiquiriçá and Ubaíra, chemical separation planned at Camaçari.
- —Money About R$5 billion (US$961 million), none of it committed so far.
- —Reserves Brazil holds 21 million tonnes, second to China, says the USGS.
- —Exchange rate PTAX venda closed at 5.2005 reais per dollar on August 28.
The Bahia rare earths project has a number, a map and a slide deck, but no financing and no environmental licence.
Brazilian Rare Earths presented a five billion real plan to Bahia industry leaders on August 27, 2026. The Bahia rare earths project would dig ore inland and refine it near Salvador, if the money ever arrives.
What was actually presented in Salvador
Brazilian Rare Earths took its plan to the Federação das Indústrias do Estado da Bahia on August 27. That body, the Bahia state industry federation, is known by the short form Fieb.
The company put the cost at approximately R$5 billion (US$961 million). It named no financing source, no lender and no signed construction contract.
Company president Renato Gonzaga called it a project with mineralisation unique in the world. Fieb president Carlos Henrique Passos said the federation would help overcome obstacles.
That is the language of a pitch, not of a decision. Nothing presented in Salvador binds anyone to spend a single real.
Edvaldo Amaral, who heads the Bahia mining employers group Sindimiba, called the moment important for the state. He did not announce any commitment either.
The company and the ground it holds
Brazilian Rare Earths is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and works in Brazil through Borborema Recursos Estratégicos. The Bahia rare earths project sits inside what the company calls the Rocha da Rocha province.
That province covers more than 200 mineral rights across roughly 300,000 hectares. The ground runs about 160 kilometres, from Jiquiriçá and Ubaíra towards Jequié.
The flagship deposit is Monte Alto, and it is hard rock rather than ionic clay. That distinction matters, because hard rock is costlier to crush and treat.
The company reports neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium in the ore. Uranium, tantalum, scandium and niobium appear as possible by-products.
Drilling results released on August 26 included 25.6 metres grading 17.4% total rare earth oxides. The company stressed those holes are not yet a declared resource update.
Two phases, and a start date that keeps sliding
Phase one would mine and concentrate ore in the Jiquiriçá valley. Phase two would build hydrometallurgy and separation units at the Camaçari petrochemical complex.
The company now expects concentrate output around 2031 and Camaçari operations around 2034. Senai Cimatec, a Bahia research institute, is helping design the pilot plants.
In July 2024 the same company signed a protocol of intentions with the Bahia government. That document put the bill at R$3.5 billion (US$673 million) and promised first output in 2028.
By April 2026 the figure had become R$3.6 billion (US$692 million), split into R$600 million (US$115 million) for phase one. Four months later the headline number is R$5 billion (US$961 million) and first output moved to 2031.
So the Bahia rare earths project has grown by about 43% in cost since 2024. Its first production date has slipped by three years over the same period.
The valuation the company itself withdrew
On August 13 the miner published a scoping study valuing the asset at US$7.9 billion. It cited an 89% internal rate of return and a payback of 1.1 years.
Six days later that valuation fell to US$6.0 billion. The company also withdrew and cancelled its Rocha da Rocha production target and every financial projection attached to it.
The stated reason was the share of inferred mineral resources scheduled for mine plan years nine to fourteen. That share left no reasonable basis for the forward looking statements.
The withdrawal happened eight days before the Fieb presentation. Investors reading the R$5 billion (US$961 million) figure should know that forecast no longer stands.
A scoping study is the earliest and least binding stage of mine planning. It carries wide error margins and no commitment of capital.
No money has been committed
What exists with the Bahia state government is a memorandum of understanding, preceded by a 2024 protocol of intentions. Neither instrument obliges the company to build anything.
The company has said it still needs to raise the roughly US$969 million the scoping study requires. It has also said there is no guarantee the sum can be raised on the intended terms.
A pre-feasibility study began in 2026 and is due to finish in 2027. Process definition, engineering and environmental licensing all sit ahead of any construction decision.
No job figure was given at the Fieb event. The 2024 protocol had promised 200 permanent posts in phase one and up to 1,250 construction jobs in phase two.
Rare earth announcements in Brazil have a long record of stopping at this stage. This plan has now been announced three times without a shovel moving.
Where Brazil really stands on rare earths
The United States Geological Survey, or USGS, puts Brazilian reserves at 21 million tonnes. That is second in the world, behind China’s 44 million tonnes.
Output tells a different story. Brazil mined about 2,000 tonnes in 2025, against a world total near 390,000 tonnes and 270,000 tonnes in China.
Serra Verde, at Minaçu in Goiás, is the only Brazilian mine whose main product is rare earths. Araxá and Angico dos Dias yield rare earths as an unseparated phosphate by-product.
Serra Verde is being bought by a United States company with backing from Washington. Its output, not any Bahia plan, is what lifted Brazil’s numbers.
Brazil still has no industrial solvent extraction plant separating rare earths. That gap, not the reserves, is what the Bahia rare earths project claims it would close.
The policy backdrop in Brasília
The critical minerals bill, PL 2780/2024, reached the Senate on May 7, 2026 and has waited since. On August 28 it was placed on the order of business for September 2.
Senator Eduardo Braga was named floor rapporteur that same day. An urgency request filed in July, numbered RQS 506/2026, is still awaiting a vote.
The bill’s own text offers tax credits of R$1 billion (US$192 million) a year from 2030 to 2034. That is R$5 billion (US$961 million) in total, the same figure as this one project’s cost.
The Rio Times has covered the bill’s slow passage and Vale’s description of critical minerals as the new oil. The Bahia rare earths project shows how far the talk still sits from a working mine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has any money been committed to the Bahia rare earths project?
No. There is a memorandum of understanding with the state government and a 2024 protocol of intentions. Neither carries financing or a construction contract.
Why did the company cut its own valuation in August 2026?
Too much of the mine plan for years nine to fourteen rested on inferred resources. The company withdrew its production target and all attached financial forecasts.
Does Brazil already refine rare earths?
Not at industrial scale. Serra Verde in Goiás produces concentrate, and no solvent extraction separation plant is operating anywhere in the country.
Connected Coverage
Sources
- www.bahianoticias.com.br
- www.fieb.org.br
- classepolitica.com.br
- www.cnnbrasil.com.br
- brasilmineral.com.br
- brasilmineral.com.br
- brasilmineral.com.br
- brasilmineral.com.br
- brasilmineral.com.br
- clickpetroleoegas.com.br
- www.bahianoticias.com.br
- pubs.usgs.gov
- legis.senado.leg.br
- legis.senado.leg.br
- olinda.bcb.gov.br
- www.riotimesonline.com
- www.riotimesonline.com
- www.riotimesonline.com
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