Lula Presses Brazil’s Senate on the Critical Minerals Bill
Brazil · MINING
Key Facts
- —Bill PL 2780/2024 would create a National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals.
- —Senate Leaders put the Brazil critical minerals bill in the week starting August 31.
- —Money Tax credits of up to R$5 billion (US$969 million) across five years.
- —Niobium Brazil mined about 93% of world output in 2025, per USGS.
- —Exchange rate PTAX venda was 5.1604 reais per dollar on August 26.
The Brazil critical minerals bill is back on the Senate agenda after four stalled months.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has spent the northern summer pushing senators to move the Brazil critical minerals bill. On August 26 he met the presidents of both chambers and won a slot in the last voting week before the elections.
Where the bill stands in the Senate
The Brazil critical minerals bill is formally PL 2780/2024, PL being the Portuguese short form for projeto de lei, or draft bill. The Chamber of Deputies approved it on May 6, 2026, and sent it to the Senate two days later.
Senate records show the text sitting in the plenary queue since May 8, 2026. A leaders’ urgency request, numbered RQS 506/2026, has waited for floor time since July 6.
No Senate rapporteur, or relator, has been named for the measure itself. That gap is one reason the text drifted for nearly four months without a vote.
In the Chamber the rapporteur was Deputy Arnaldo Jardim of Cidadania, from São Paulo. He rewrote the original draft by Deputy Zé Silva before the May floor vote.
What the text would create
The Brazil critical minerals bill would create a National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals, known by the Portuguese initials PNMCE. It would also set up a committee, the CMCE, attached to the National Mineral Policy Council.
That committee would decide which minerals count as critical and review the list every four years. It would also screen mergers, acquisitions and changes of control in priority mineral projects.
The Chamber text offers tax credits of up to R$5 billion (US$969 million) over five years. The credits are capped at R$1 billion (US$194 million) a year from 2030 to 2034.
A guarantee fund for mining ventures would draw R$2 billion (US$388 million) from the federal treasury. Companies using the benefits must spend 0.3% of gross revenue on research, rising later to 0.5%.
Export limits and the sovereignty argument
Agência Câmara reported that the rapporteur’s text limits exports of raw, unprocessed ore. The government would set the terms under which lightly processed shipments may leave the country.
That clause is the heart of the sovereignty framing the president and his ministers use. Senator Nelsinho Trad told colleagues that Brazil needs to stop exporting only raw ore.
Mining companies read the same clauses differently and worry about a committee holding veto power. Industry groups told senators the structure concentrates too much control over corporate decisions.
The competing Senate draft softens that point, replacing prior approval with registration and monitoring. Which version prevails is the main open question before any floor vote.
The rival Senate text and its rapporteur
A second measure, PL 4443/2025 by Senator Renan Calheiros, runs in parallel inside the Senate. The Economic Affairs Committee approved it in December 2025 on a substitute by Senator Esperidião Amin.
It then moved to the Infrastructure Services Committee, where Senator Wilder Morais of Goiás is rapporteur. He filed a favourable report on July 13, 2026, with a substitute text of his own.
The committee granted a collective review request, a vista, on July 14 and postponed the vote. Senator Rogério Carvalho filed three further amendments the next day, returning the text to the rapporteur.
Congressional negotiators now favour merging the two drafts rather than running them separately. That would let the Brazil critical minerals bill reach the floor as a single package.
What Lula said and when
Lula gathered ministers and specialists at the Planalto Palace in Brasília on July 10, 2026. He said then: we do not want to be sellers of raw material, we want to be exporters of knowledge.
On August 11 Poder360 reported him complaining that the issue had been discussed for two and a half years. He asked his chief of staff to call a smaller meeting and finally take the needed step.
At a campaign rally in Rio de Janeiro on August 22 he returned to the sovereignty theme. He said he has no preference between China and the United States, and invited partners to come.
On August 26 he met Senate President Davi Alcolumbre and Chamber President Hugo Motta at the Alvorada Palace. Agência Senado listed the Brazil critical minerals bill among five priorities for the week of August 31.
Brazil’s share of the world’s minerals
Brazil has no single binding list of critical minerals yet, which is part of what the policy would fix. The closest official document is Resolution 2 of June 18, 2021, a list of strategic minerals.
That resolution sorts minerals into three baskets: import-dependent, high-technology, and export-advantage substances. Niobium, rare earths, lithium, graphite, nickel, copper and titanium all appear on it.
United States Geological Survey figures for 2025 put Brazilian niobium output at 104,000 tonnes. That was roughly 93% of a world total of 112,000 tonnes, with Canada a distant second.
The same survey credits Brazil with 21 million tonnes of rare earth reserves, second only to China. Yet Brazilian mine output reached only 2,000 tonnes, against 390,000 tonnes worldwide.
Brazilian lithium production was 12,000 tonnes in 2025, about 4% of the 290,000-tonne world total. Natural graphite output came to 65,000 tonnes, near 4% of the 1.8 million tonnes mined globally.
Royalties, tariffs and the timing
China supplied an estimated 82% of natural graphite and 69% of mined rare earths last year. That concentration is the supply risk the whole legislative push is written against.
Mining royalties in Brazil flow through CFEM, the financial compensation for mineral exploitation. The National Mining Agency, or ANM, collected R$7.91 billion (US$1.53 billion) in CFEM during 2025.
Iron ore still made up 69% of that take, with copper at 7.8% and gold at 7.5%. Critical minerals barely register in the royalty base today, which is the gap the policy targets.
Reuters reported in May 2026 that no minerals accord with Washington was ready to sign. Brazilian officials said the country lacked a modern framework and was leaning on mining rules from the 1960s.
The Mines and Energy Ministry pressed senators again on August 18 through a senior mining official. Whether the Brazil critical minerals bill clears the Senate in early September remains unconfirmed.
More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Brazil critical minerals bill?
It is PL 2780/2024, a draft law creating a national policy for critical and strategic minerals. It bundles tax credits, a guarantee fund, export limits and a new federal committee.
When could the Senate vote on it?
Congressional leaders scheduled it for the concentrated voting week running from August 31 to September 4. Reports point to a final decision by late September, which is not yet confirmed.
How large is Brazil in critical minerals?
Brazil mined about 93% of the world’s niobium in 2025 and holds the second-largest rare earth reserves. Its actual rare earth, lithium and graphite output stays small next to China.
Connected Coverage
Critical Minerals Could Add US$37.8 Billion to Brazil’s GDP
Flávio Bolsonaro’s Government Program to Feature Courts, Minerals and Term Limits
Sources
- www12.senado.leg.br
- www12.senado.leg.br
- www25.senado.leg.br
- legis.senado.leg.br
- www.camara.leg.br
- www.camara.leg.br
- www.poder360.com.br
- pt.org.br
- www.terra.com.br
- www.gov.br
- www.gov.br
- pubs.usgs.gov
- pubs.usgs.gov
- pubs.usgs.gov
- pubs.usgs.gov
- br.investing.com
- www.brasil247.com
- www.riotimesonline.com
- olinda.bcb.gov.br
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