4 months ago
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The communicative truthful far: India and Brazil signed a memorandum of knowing (MoU) connected uncommon earths and captious minerals during President Lula da Silva’s authorities sojourn to India connected February 21, 2026. The associated connection said the 2 countries privation to enactment unneurotic crossed the afloat mineral “value chain” and that the knowing includes exploration, mining, processing, recycling, and refining. The connection besides said the purpose is to fortify proviso chains and competitiveness.
What is India doing astir captious minerals?
India is presently trying to physique capableness astatine location crossed the captious minerals worth concatenation and to trim dependence connected immoderate 1 state by gathering much overseas partnerships for minerals and processing. On the home front, the Union Cabinet approved the National Critical Mineral Mission successful January 2025 to screen each stages of the worth chain, including exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing, and betterment from end-of-life products. It is meant to tally from 2024-25 to 2030-31 with important nationalist expenditure.
India besides published a database of 30 captious minerals successful July 2023 and has utilized the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act 2023 to springiness the Centre much powerfulness to auction blocks for captious and strategical minerals. By September 2025, the Ministry of Mines said it had tally aggregate rounds of specified auctions covering respective blocks. Further, the state-backed conveyance Khanij Bidesh India Ltd. is presently exploring overseas acquisitions and signing exploration arrangements, including successful Argentina and Chile.
India has besides utilized changes successful customs work to trim the outgo of importing inputs that it doesn’t person capable of astatine home. This includes customs work cuts successful caller budgets for immoderate captious minerals and for scrap and discarded that tin beryllium processed to retrieve these minerals.
Finally, the Indian authorities is besides pushing late-stage manufacturing. According to Union Minister for Mines G. Kishan Reddy, India aims to statesman home accumulation of rare-earth imperishable magnets by the extremity of 2026 nether a government-backed programme, with the stated extremity of cutting import dependence successful sectors similar electrical vehicles and defence.
What does the MoU mean for India?
In India’s authoritative briefing, Secretary (East) P. Kumaran said President Lula spoke of Brazil’s “substantial” reserves of which lone astir 30% had been explored and that Brazil would worth India arsenic a spouse to research and process them. Associated Press reported that the MoU is non-binding.
Among different things, the statement volition summation India’s bargaining power. If India had lone 1 oregon 2 realistic sources of these materials, sellers would cognize India can’t locomotion distant from their presumption adjacent if they were exorbitant. Now, however, India tin accidental “we tin root from Brazil”, which volition impact sellers’ incentives.
The MoU besides signals to companies that their inputs won’t beryllium disrupted by export controls oregon geopolitical shocks, encouraging them to put more. Likewise if India and Brazil get connected the aforesaid leafage vis-à-vis biology and different standards, India tin much easy merchantability finished products into markets that progressively request impervious astir wherever materials were sourced from.
Does the MoU intersect with Pax Silica?
Pax Silica is simply a U.S.-led inaugural that brings unneurotic spouse countries; India joined it connected February 20. It’s meant to marque the “silicon stack” — the strategy that starts with earthy materials and runs done factories and equipment, each the mode to modern computing, including information centres and AI hardware — much secure.
Plainly speaking, Pax Silica sets retired a wide extremity successful the signifier of securing proviso chains for the U.S. and its spouse countries. The bilateral MoU, signed the adjacent day, could assistance with 1 portion of that goal, which is to access, and perchance process, definite minerals.
The MoU doesn’t marque Brazil a Pax Silica member, however, nor volition activities nether the MoU beryllium tally arsenic portion of Pax Silica projects.
What volition the MoU bash for Brazil?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Brazil has 21 cardinal tonnes of rare-earth-oxide equivalent, 2.7 cardinal tonnes of bauxite, 270 cardinal tonnes of manganese, and 0.4 cardinal tonnes of lithium. From Brazil’s constituent of view, the MoU could beryllium a mode to crook this mineral wealthiness into much worth for its industry.
Specifically, it could assistance Brazil pull Indian superior and buyers into Brazilian projects, which tin marque caller mines and processing plants easier to finance. It besides gives Brazil a large, increasing marketplace that tin motion semipermanent acquisition contracts truthful that projects are not built connected speculation.
The MoU covers exploration, mining, processing, recycling, and refining, each of which besides suit Brazil’s extremity to determination up the worth concatenation alternatively than conscionable research earthy ores, and volition besides fortify Brazil’s negotiating presumption arsenic well.
mukunth.v@thehindu.co.in
