Between Brazil and the European Union, there is a “convergence of interests very clear and positive” in view of future European investments in mineral exploration and transformationin that country. The guarantee comes from Apex Brasil.
In an interview with Diário de Notícias and Dinheiro Vivo, Ana Paula Repezza, business director at the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex Brasil), says that European officials showed interest in Brazilian mineral exploration and transformation projects.
At stake are rare earths, as well as other mineralssuch as lithium, magnesium and others. Together, they play a crucial role in the global economy, being essential to the automotive sector, for example. Now, the recent trade war put European industries in check, when China put a brake on the sector’s exports. The measure was, however, suspended, but the Brussels does not want to be dependent on fluctuations in the world’s second largest economyso look for other sources.
In this context, a delegation from Apex Brasil met with officials from the European Commissionat Raw Materials Week, in Brussels. There, he presented a total of 14 strategic projects, which are being developed in Brazilian territorytogether with Ibram (Brazilian Mining Institute). These involve “not just mineral exploration but, above all, mineral transformation”. For them to advance, it is crucial to attract foreign financing.
Brazil seeks investments from the Old Continent
In order to execute all these ambitions, investments of “almost seven billion dollars” will be requiredthat is, the equivalent of almost six billion euros, at the current exchange rate. To this end, it will be decisive for Apex to “work together with the European Commission to prioritize some of these projects and accelerate the attraction of European investment”, highlights the leader of that organization.
So that the process can move forward, EIT Raw Materials (an agency linked to the European Commission) will analyze the viability of the projects, after the Brazilian authorities have carried out tests in the same direction, with an affirmative conclusion. Afterwards, the European Investment Bank (EIB) will be able to move forward, side by side with banks and private fundspoints out Ana Paula Repezza.
In this context, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) is “perhaps the player most important”. This constituted a public-private fund dedicated exclusively to the mineral sector. It is valued at two billion reais (the equivalent of 321 million euros) and will be linked to the financing of projects, “in case a European investor wants to establish a partnership with Brazil, to invest”, he explains.
No, in the first quarter of 2026, a more concrete idea of the steps to follow should be created. This is because a Brazil-EU investment forum is scheduled for March, in Brasília. “The idea is that for this forum we can already have a set of priority projects and put private investors in contact”, he explains, without forgetting “public support, on both sides”.
Why Brazil? Stability and sustainability
From the responsible’s perspective, the EU wants to “have access to critical minerals that are located in reliable and stable partnersas is the case with Brazil and Mercosur”, he highlights. Remember that one of the problems the EU faces in relation to the minerals sector in China is precisely stability (or lack thereof).
In the energy field, she herself remembers that exploration and transformation processes require a lot of energy. Now, at a time when energy sustainability is an increasingly decisive factor in European policy decisions, it highlights that, In Brazil, 97% of energy is renewable.
Minerals therefore have a “very low carbon footprint, even at the end of the chain”.
Office in Lisbon and incubation of startups on the way
Apex Brazil It also has an office in Lisbonwhich is “very focused on startups”, reiterates the person responsible, in conversation with DN and DV.
In this context, Apex has plans to “incubate 10 startups” in that office. Certain “solutions aimed at the EU” will be developed there. The target sectors could be, for example, the mineral exploration and transformation industry.
“Maybe we will have a startup focused on sustainability solutions in the mining sector”, he says.