Brazil could be major exporter of uranium

According to the minister of Mines and Energy, Edson Lobão, Brazil has an estimated 1.3 million tons of uranium reserves with a market value of $100 billion.

Speaking at the rollout of the government’s National Mining (“Mineração”) Plan for 2030, Lobão presented a stark choice for the country: “Either we ensure an abundance of safe energy at low cost and we exploit it rationally or – we get bogged down. All over the world, the trend is in the direction of nuclear power plants fueled with uranium. We have some of the world’s biggest uranium reserves,” declared Lobão.

The ministry’s 2030 plan is based on three guidelines: public governance based on mining in the national interest; socio-environmental sustainability; and aggregated value as a result of greater knowledge and technological development.

Under the 2030 plan, over the next 20 years Brazil will invest around $350 billion in mining and triple the number of jobs in the sector.
According to Camillo Penna, the president of the Brazilian Mining Institute (“Ibram”), there are a lot bottlenecks in the sector. “First, a heavy tax burden, one of the highest in the world. We have to be more competitive in the international marketplace. The logistics of transportation is complicated and difficult, especially for the exporter.

Our Achilles heel is the problem of few skilled workers,” he declared.
Then, there is the legislation. Penna says the present Mining Code is out of date. “It was drawn up many decades ago. It is obsolete, rotten and needs to be revamped,” he declared.

In 2010 the mining sector had revenue of $157 billion with exports of $57 billion.