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About Brazil
One of the world’s top five mineral producers
Brazil is a country of vast mineral wealth.
The fifth largest country in the world by land mass, Brazil has a wide variety of geological environments, and produces more than 90 different minerals. It is the world’s largest producer of niobium and second largest producer of iron ore.
Brazil’s mining industry employs approximately 2.5 million people in direct and indirect jobs. The industry is a significant contributor to Brazil’s annual gross domestic product and is a key driver of Brazil’s ongoing trade surplus.
Brazil is one of the globe’s top 15 gold producers and is home to approximately 4.4 per cent of known gold reserves in the world.
90 minerals
produced in Brazil
1700 to 1820
Brazilian Gold Rush
top producer
of niobium
in the world
4.4% of
gold reserves
in the world
12th largest
economy
in the world
7th most
populated
country in the world
Lavras Gold’s LDS Project is in southern Brazil. It is well south of Amazon rain forests and far away from any Indigenous lands. The main economic activity is cattle ranching, and the area has one of the 10 largest herds in the state. The town hosts calf fairs in spring and autumn, and has a very active Rural Union.
Although mining dates to the 1700s, mineral exploration was dormant in the area for many years. However, modern mineral exploration was reactivated in 2006, when a small number of companies began exploring for copper, gold, and phosphate.