MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula warns he will not allow others to seize Brazil's critical minerals

Although Lula did not name any country, the remarks come during a week of heightened diplomatic tension over minerals.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday he will not allow other countries to take the nation's rare earths and critical minerals, in remarks widely interpreted as a direct warning to the United States amid a growing dispute over control of these strategic resources.

“Brazil is a very large, powerful country with great mineral wealth such as rare earths and critical minerals. They already took all the gold, all the silver, all the diamonds, and now we will not allow them to take the critical minerals that belong to the Brazilian people,” Lula said at an event in Brasilia, according to EFE.

Although Lula did not name any country, the remarks come during a week of heightened diplomatic tension over minerals. Last week, the US Embassy in São Paulo hosted a Brazil-US Critical Minerals Forum attended by representatives from six US federal agencies led by David Copley, a White House National Security Council advisor on mineral supply chains. No senior official from Lula's government attended the event.

During the forum, the United States signed a memorandum of understanding directly with the state of Goiás — governed by Ronaldo Caiado, a political rival of Lula — to cooperate on rare earth exploration and production. Brazilian officials interpreted the agreement as an attempt to bypass the federal government.

Brazil holds the world's second-largest rare earth reserves, with approximately 21 million tons according to the US Geological Survey, and supplies over 90% of global niobium. However, it has only one commercially operating rare earth mine — Serra Verde in Goiás — and lacks significant refining capacity, a gap Lula has insisted on closing as a condition for any deal with Washington.

The Trump administration has committed over $565 million to critical mineral extraction projects in Brazil and has identified more than 50 potential investment projects. Washington is seeking to reduce its dependence on China, which controls roughly 60% of global rare earth mining and nearly 90% of refining. Brazil, for its part, declined to join the 54-nation critical minerals alliance promoted by the United States in February.

Frictions deepened after the expulsion of Trump advisor Darren Beattie, whose visa was revoked on March 13 for attempting to visit imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, which Brazil described as “undue interference in internal affairs.”

In February, Lula signed a critical minerals agreement with India during a visit to New Delhi, diversifying his options beyond the US orbit.