Critical minerals have moved from a niche subject to a geopolitical priority. They are the raw materials essential to batteries, high-performance magnets, wind turbines, electric vehicles, electronics and defense — and whose supply is considered vulnerable because it depends on only a few countries. Official lists such as the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) list and the European Union's Critical Raw Materials Act name dozens of them, including rare earths, lithium, niobium, graphite, nickel, copper, manganese and tantalum.
What makes a mineral "critical"
A mineral joins these lists for two combined reasons: economic importance (it is an indispensable input for key technologies) and supply risk (production is geographically concentrated or subject to instability). It is not only about geological rarity — many are relatively common in the crust, but hard to find in economic concentrations and to process at scale.
Why Brazil stands out
Brazil combines an ancient, diverse geology with large mineral provinces that are still under-explored. A few points that put it at the center of the map:
- Niobium: the country holds most of the world's production (about 90%), notably from deposits associated with carbonatites, such as Araxá (Minas Gerais).
- Rare earth elements (REE): according to the USGS, Brazil consistently ranks among the countries with the largest reserves in the world. The Serra Verde mine, in Minaçu (Goiás), became the country's first commercial-scale rare earth producer, from ionic clays, entering production in 2024.
- Lithium: the Jequitinhonha Valley (Minas Gerais), nicknamed the "Lithium Valley", came into operation in recent years with pegmatite projects, increasing Brazil's presence in this market.
- Graphite, nickel, manganese, copper, tin and tantalum: Brazil also holds relevant reserves and production of these inputs, many of them linked to electrification and energy storage.
A strategic landscape in motion
The drive to diversify supply chains — reducing dependence on a few suppliers — has led governments and companies to look at Brazil as a partner. Recent deals and investments involving Brazilian rare earths illustrate this interest. For the country, the challenge and the opportunity lie in turning geological potential into projects: mapping, discovering and developing deposits with environmental and social responsibility.
From potential to target: where exploration begins
Much of this potential still lies in areas that have not been mapped in detail. This is where modern mineral exploration comes in: public geology and airborne geophysics data make it possible to identify, at a regional scale, the structures and signatures that tend to host critical minerals — carbonatites and alkaline complexes (niobium and rare earths), pegmatite fields (lithium and tantalum) and weathering covers (rare earths in ionic clays). Cross-referencing these layers is the first step to prioritize where to invest.
How Lithogeo helps
This is exactly the kind of work the Lithogeo platform automates. From an ANM process number or a polygon of your area, it processes and integrates the public data — magnetometry, gamma-ray spectrometry, geology, terrain and mineral occurrences — and delivers the products described here ready for analysis, in minutes and right in the browser.
Educational content. Reserve and production figures vary by source and year; consult up-to-date official surveys (such as the USGS and the Geological Survey of Brazil) and the support of a geoscience professional for exploration decisions.