Brazil's mineral resources

Brazil’s metallic mineral resources, especially iron and aluminum, underpin a strong industrial sector and are high-value exports, in particular iron and gold. The country also has large crude oil reserves in South America after Venezuela. Brazil’s forest industry and agricultural produce are major sources of exports and contribute significantly to the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).

The Country

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, with an area of 8.5 million square kilometers. It is the largest and most geographically diverse country in South America, occupying most of the northeast of the continent, and has a coastline of about 7,490 kilometers along the Atlantic Ocean. The country has a tropical or semitropical climate, with diverse natural vegetation dominated by tropical rainforests, dry forests, and savannas. Brazil is generally low lying, with elevations between 200 and 800 meters. Higher elevations, of about 1,200 meters, are limited to the south. Brazil has a drainage system dominated by the Amazon River, which originates in the Andes Mountains and has created an extensive lowland floodplain area in the northern part of the country.

Brazil’s economy has been growing rapidly. By 2024, it had the largest economy in South America. Its resource base has not been fully ascertained, but key resources so far exploited include iron ore, in the states of Minas Gerais (in the south-central region) and Pará (in the north); oil, mostly in offshore fields; timber, from extensive natural forests and plantations; and precious stones in various locations. Agriculture is most important in the south, where most of Brazil’s commercial crops are produced and where most cattle ranches are located. In the northeast and in the Amazon basin, agriculture tends to be subsistent and may involve shifting cultivation.

Metals

In 2023, Brazil had exported $378.5 million metric tons of iron ore, a 10 percent increase from the previous year. Brazil was one of the world's leading iron ore producing countries. However, in terms of iron content the reserves are the best in the world. The Brazilian mining company Vale S.A. (formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce) produces iron ore, nickel, bauxite, manganese, copper, kaolin, and potash.

Most of Brazil’s iron reserves are in the state of Minas Gerais and the remainder are in Pará. The ores occur as hematite (ferric oxide). The open-cast Carajás Mine in Pará is among the world’s largest iron-ore mines and also contains deposits of manganese, copper, tin, cobalt, and aluminum. In general, the Carajás District is exceptionally rich in minerals. Other base metals produced in substantial quantities include manganese and aluminum.

Gold, tantalum, and niobium are also produced in Brazil. The late 1980s were the period of peak gold production for Brazil. As of 2024, its gold reserves comprised about 4.4 percent of the world total and were found mainly in Minas Gerais and Pará. In 2022, Brazil produced 130 metric tons of gold, according to Statista. Most was used by the jewelry industry.

Tantalum and niobium are relatively rare metals, but Brazil is a major source of both. Tantalum is extracted from tantalite and colombite mined from one site, Pitinga/Mineração Taboca, in the state of Amazonas. It is used for the manufacture of electrolytic capacitors. Brazil was among the world's largest producers of tantalum in the world as of 2024. This mine also produces tin, uranium, and niobium. The latter is used in forensic science and to make alloys with iron to improve the strength of piping, among other uses. It is found in four states, predominantly Minas Gerais, and is extracted from pyrochlore (niobium oxide). Brazil and Canada produce nearly all the world’s niobium, which amounted to about 105,530 metric tons in 2022.

Fossil Fuels

Brazil has substantial reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas. According to the US Energy Information Administration, in 2021 Brazil’s primary energy production is as follows: 44.4 percent from oil, 11.6 percent from natural gas, 5.5 percent from coal, and the remainder comprising hydroelectric power, ethanol from sugarcane, and nuclear power. Globally, its coal reserves are not extensive (6.596 billion short tons compared to 248.941 billion metric tons possessed by the United States in 2022). Most of Brazil’s coal comes from the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Paraná, Brazil’s southernmost states. This coal is used within Brazil.

Brazil has substantial oil reserves and production. In 2021, the country had crude oil reserves of 12.715 million barrels per day, and in 2023, refined petroleum output was 4.221 million barrels per day. An increase in the 2000s was mainly due to raised output from offshore oil fields, notably the Campos and Santos basins located off the southeast coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. These fields contain the vast majority of Brazil’s proven reserves. Such increases have made Brazil almost self-sufficient in oil, though light crude is still imported because of refinery capacity. The state-owned company Petrobras controls about 95 percent of crude oil production, which amounts to about 2.23 million barrels per day. Brazil was also a leading producer of natural gas. It produced about 22.67 billion cubic meters in 2022, mostly from offshore fields. Brazil is a net importer of natural gas, with consumption topping 31 billion cubic meters in 2022.

Other Energy Resources

Most of Brazil’s remaining energy needs are met by hydroelectric power and ethanol, a biofuel made from sugarcane. Brazil is one of the world's leading producers of hydropower. Although just less than half its potential has been realized, it provides about 66 percent of Brazil’s electricity. Much of this has been made possible by the vast Itaipu Dam constructed in the late 1980s, which Brazil shares with neighboring Paraguay. Other large-scale schemes included the Tucurui Dam on the Tocantins River in Pará and Boa Esperança on the Parnaíba River near the city of Guadalupe. Another dam, the Belo Monte, was completed on the Xingu River, also in the state of Pará, in 2016. The Belo Monte was controversial because it dried up parts of the river, depleting the supply of fish Indigenous Brazilians depended on. Many small-scale dams also contributed to Brazil’s hydropower capacity.

Although Brazil is not the only nation to develop biofuels, it is unique insofar as ethanol became available as a fuel in the 1920s. Ethanol rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, when world oil crises prompted the Brazilian government to decree that all automobiles had to operate on a fuel that contained at least 10 percent ethanol. Brazil is a leading producer of ethanol and user of ethanol as a fuel; it has been described as having the world’s first sustainable biofuel economy. In 2023, Brazil was responsible for for about 28 percent of the world's ethanol used as fuel. Ethanol can be produced by the fermentation of sugarcane, one of Brazil’s major crops, which was introduced by Europeans in the sixteenth century. In 2023, Brazil produced 705 million metric tons of sugarcane from 6.7 million hectares, mostly in the central/southern region. The sucrose content is the raw material for ethanol, which is produced at processing plants mostly in Brazil’s southern and coastal states. Brazil has automobiles that can run on any combination of petroleum/ethanol-based fuels, though environmental implications remain because sugarcane plantations rely on irrigation, mechanization, and other techniques that affect the environment.

Agricultural Resources

Brazil is a world leader in the export of agricultural products, and the agricultural sector contributed more than 15 percent to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) as of 2024. Of Brazil’s total land area (almost 8.5 million square kilometers), 0.8 percent was used for crop production. Apart from sugarcane, soybeans, maize, rice, coffee, wheat, citrus fruits, and cocoa are significant economic crops. Beef production is also important in Brazil; the country has extensive cattle ranches in the hinterland of São Paulo. Soybean cultivation has increased significantly but is no longer dominant in São Paulo’s hinterland, having expanded into central western and northeastern regions (where its and sugarcane’s spread occurs at the expense of savanna and forest ecosystems). This expansion is partly associated with increased demand for biofuels. Brazil is among the world’s largest exporters of soybeans, producing a record 3,744 million bushels in 2023, a 29 percent increase from the previous year.

Two other major Brazilian exports include coffee and orange juice. Coffee is grown mainly in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, while oranges were cultivated mostly in the state of São Paulo. Brazil is among the world’s largest producers of coffee and is also a leading exporter, mainly to the United States and Europe; in 2022, coffee exports totalled more than 8.86 million metric tons and earned $637 million. Brazil is also among the world’s biggest producers of orange juice, selling $905 million of fresh orange juice mainly to Europe, North America, and Japan in 2023.

Cattle meat (notably beef and veal), pork, and chickens/chicken meat are important components of Brazil’s agriculture and export earnings. Cattle ranches are prevalent in the west-central region, though ranching has expanded north, and illegal grazing is now a major cause of Amazon deforestation. Brazil has one of the largest cattle industries in the world, with more than 200 million head of cattle. It is also a leading exporter of beef, mainly to Europe and Chile, and the industry continues to expand. Pig rearing is also important in Brazil’s agricultural sector. The three southern states dominate production, but pig rearing has spread to the center-west region, especially in the state of Mato Grosso. Russia and Eastern Europe constitute the major overseas markets; domestic demand is also high. Chicken meat is another significant export, notably to Asia. In 2023, Brazil had more than 6 billion chickens, making it the second-largest exporter of chicken meat in 2023, with the United States being the first. Brazil's animal-product exports in 2022 were valued at $25.9 billion.

Wood and Wood Products

As well as being home to the world’s largest extent of tropical forest in the Amazon basin, Brazil has millions of hectares of plantation forests, comprising fast-growing pine and eucalyptus. These were planted mainly between 1967 and 1987, a process stimulated by tax incentives, as some 70 percent of the land used is publicly owned. The plantations produce all of Brazil’s pulp and paper. Most sawn wood is produced from natural forests, of which Brazil has lost an area at least the size of France.

A conflict of interest between conservation and forestry has arisen, especially in relation to the serious problem of illegal felling. Approximately 50 percent of the Amazon forest has some type of management and protection, and most wood is removed from the portion that is privately owned. Prior to extraction, landowners must have a management plan and a permit from Brazil’s environment agency. Amazonian forests, especially those in the states of Pará, Mato Grosso, and Rondônia, generate more timber than any other forests in the world. Most of this wood is used within Brazil itself. Many other forest products are significant resources, including charcoal, fuelwood, nuts, fruits, oil plants, and rubber.

Other Resources

Brazil produces a range of precious and semiprecious stones, including diamond, emerald, topaz, tourmaline, beryl, and amethyst. These come mainly from the states of Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, Goiás, Pará, Tocantins, Paraíba, and Piauí. Both raw and cut stones are exported, especially to the United States, and they also support an internal jewelry industry.

Brazil is a significant producer of graphite, magnesite, and potash and has abundant sand and gravel deposits. As of 2023, it had the second-largest graphite reserves, of about 74 million metric tons. The richest deposits are in Minas Gerais, Ceará, and Bahia. Graphite is used domestically in the steel industry and for battery production. Reserves of magnesite are also extensive. The deposits occur in the Serra das Éguas, in the state of Bahia. Magnesite is used in a variety of Brazil’s industries, especially steel manufacture. In 2023, some 4.1 million metric tons of potash were produced in Brazil, though it continued to import most of its potassium fertilizer. Phosphate deposits also supply fertilizer, and in 2023, Brazil’s production comprised 5.2 million metric tons, making it one of the largest producers in the world. Phophate contributed substantially to crop production, as Brazil is among the world’s largest consumers of fertilizers, and was also used for manufacturing detergents.

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