Brazil's rare earth districts: Minaçu, Poços de Caldas and beyond

§ 01 · Overview

Where are Brazil's rare earth districts?

Brazil's rare earth districts are in the centre and southeast of the country, with emerging prospects in the northeast. The table below lists the main ones with representative projects that have published information. It is a map for orientation, not a complete inventory; the ANM had about 2,700 rare earth projects under consideration according to Folha de S.Paulo, as reported in 2026.

§ 02 · Goiás

What makes Minaçu and northern Goiás Brazil's leading rare earth district?

Minaçu leads because it has the only Brazilian ionic clay mine in commercial production. Serra Verde's Pela Ema mine produces a mixed rare earth concentrate containing neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium and yttrium. In February 2026 the US International Development Finance Corporation provided a US$565 million package to refinance debt and fund optimisation and expansion, with a target of about 6,500 tonnes of rare earth oxides by the end of 2027.

Minaçu is a mining town with a long history. It grew around a chrysotile asbestos mine and sits near the Serra da Mesa reservoir and hydroelectric plant, which matters for power. It lies in the north of Goiás, close to the border with Tocantins and within reach of the BR-153 corridor. Infrastructure, a mining workforce and grid power are part of why a clay mine could be built here. The same advantages make the surrounding area attractive for further projects, and competition for well-located permits and land has grown since the mine began production.

For buyers, Serra Verde has two effects on the district. It proves that Brazilian ionic clays can be mined and processed commercially, and it raises expectations for nearby permits. A permit next to a producing mine is not a mine. Geology changes over short distances in weathered profiles, and every area needs its own drilling and metallurgy. The Serra Verde transaction and its financing are discussed in detail in our guide to rare earth offtake and financing in Brazil.

1. 01

   Locate the permit

   Plot the ANM polygon and measure its real distance from the producing mine and from other active claims.

2. 02

   Read the geology

   Ask whether the permit sits on the same weathered rock types as the producing deposit, supported by a geological map.

3. 03

   Test the clay

   Insist on auger or drill samples with laboratory certificates, and on desorption tests showing recoverable rare earths.

4. 04

   Check the land

   Identify the landowners across the permit area and whether access and compensation can be agreed.

5. 05

   Price the stage

   Value the permit as exploration until a resource and metallurgy exist, and use options or staged payments.

§ 03 · Goiás

What does Aclara's Carina project show about Goiás rare earths?

Aclara's Carina project shows that Goiás clays can support a heavy-rare-earth project with published feasibility economics. Its feasibility study, announced in April 2026, outlines average production of about 4,378 tonnes a year of rare earth oxides in a mixed concentrate, including about 156 tonnes of dysprosium and 27 tonnes of terbium, and about 1,191 tonnes of NdPr.

Aclara runs a pilot plant in Goiânia and signed a memorandum of understanding with the State of Goiás and the municipality of Nova Roma to support permitting and regional development. Those details matter beyond Aclara: they show the state government's interest in rare earths and the kind of local partnership projects use.

§ 04 · Minas Gerais

Why is Poços de Caldas one of the world's most watched rare earth districts?

Poços de Caldas is watched because two of the largest reported ionic clay resources outside Asia sit inside it. The district is an ancient alkaline volcanic complex in southern Minas Gerais, roughly circular and tens of kilometres across, whose weathered rocks formed thick clay profiles enriched in rare earths. The area also has a long mining history, including Brazil's first uranium mine.

Poços de Caldas has advantages beyond geology: it is close to the industrial southeast, with roads, power and skilled labour, and within reach of the ports of Santos and Rio de Janeiro. It also has constraints. It is a tourist city with hot springs, agriculture and water resources that the community values. Large clay mines need careful land, water and rehabilitation planning, and local acceptance is part of licensing.

History adds to that sensitivity. The Caldas uranium operation, Brazil's first, left a legacy that has been under remediation for years, and residents and regulators are attentive to radioactive and water issues in the region. Projects that can show low radioactivity, closed water circuits and credible rehabilitation plans have an advantage in licensing. Viridis' reported radiological exemption and the water-recirculation designs common in clay projects respond directly to those concerns.

Smaller permits around the complex are often marketed on the back of these two projects. The same caution applies as in Minaçu: proximity is not grade, and grade is not recovery.

§ 05 · Carbonatites

What role do Araxá, Catalão and other carbonatites play?

Brazil's carbonatite complexes, such as Araxá in Minas Gerais and Catalão in Goiás, are known for niobium and phosphate mines, and they also contain rare earths. Their role is mainly as potential by-product sources: rare earths could be recovered from ore, tailings or phosphate processing streams if prices and processing routes justify it.

• Araxá. Home of a major niobium operation; rare earths in the ore and tailings have been studied, but the operator has said that commercial investment depended on prices.
• Catalão. Hosts niobium and phosphate mining in southern Goiás, within a carbonatite complex that also contains rare earths.
• Phosphogypsum. Projects near Uberaba have studied recovering rare earths from phosphogypsum stacks, a by-product of fertiliser production.
• Amazon tin. The Pitinga tin mine in Amazonas has long been studied for rare earth and other by-products.

By-product projects can be attractive because the material is already mined, but they depend on the main operation's owner, its willingness to partner and its processing plans. For an outside investor, they are usually partnership or technology opportunities rather than assets to buy.

Carbonatites also illustrate a broader point about Brazil's rare earth potential. Much of it sits inside existing mining systems that were built for other minerals. Unlocking it may depend less on new mines than on new processing technology, partnerships and the price incentives that the critical minerals law is designed to create. Investors with processing know-how may find their best opportunities here rather than in greenfield exploration.

§ 06 · Bahia

What is happening with rare earths in Bahia?

Bahia is emerging as a hard-rock rare earth district. Brazilian Rare Earths, an ASX-listed company, published a scoping study in August 2026 for its Rocha da Rocha project, which includes the Monte Alto district and plans an integrated refinery hub at Camaçari. The company described Monte Alto as ultra-high-grade, and the study reported very strong headline economics, with first sales targeted for 2030–2031 subject to funding and permitting.

Scoping studies are early and low-confidence by design. They are useful for showing potential, not for pricing an acquisition. Bahia also has a history of monazite-bearing coastal sands, which supplied rare earths decades ago, and an industrial base at Camaçari that could host processing. A buyer looking at Bahia should expect higher grades than in the clays, along with the processing and radiological questions that hard-rock deposits bring.

Camaçari matters because separation and refining, not mining alone, decide who captures value in rare earths. Brazil's critical minerals law offers incentives for local processing and transformation, and an industrial hub with chemical plants, ports and a skilled workforce is a natural location. Investors who can contribute processing technology or downstream offtake may find Bahia projects more open to partnership than to outright sale.

§ 07 · Due diligence

How should due diligence change from one rare earth district to another?

The core checks are the same everywhere: ANM title, land, data, metallurgy and the new critical minerals law. What changes by district is where the main risk tends to sit.

For the legal side, see our guide to Brazil's new critical minerals law and our general guide to whether foreigners can buy a mine in Brazil.

§ 08 · Our method

How BRAZIL MINE works across Brazil's rare earth districts

We are based in the centre of Brazil, close to the Goiás clays, and our founder is a mathematician and land surveyor who has spent years checking land records and boundaries in Goiás, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and Bahia. In rare earth projects, where clay deposits spread across many properties, that boundary work is often where a deal is won or lost.

We also help buyers read a district before they read an asset: who holds the surrounding permits, which projects have published data, where the infrastructure is and which agencies will be involved. That context makes it much easier to judge whether a permit offered at a high price is a genuine opportunity or simply sits on the right map.

• KYC and NDA before confidential information is shared.
• ANM title, polygon and land checks in-house.
• Data and metallurgy review before presentation: certificates and desorption tests, not only headline grades.
• Independent experts chosen by the buyer.
• No advance fees at any stage.

For context on foreign investment in Brazilian critical minerals, read Brazil's critical minerals and foreign capital, and for Gulf investors, Gulf capital in Brazilian mining.