20 mineral deposits in Brazil are to be auctioned by the state geological service CPRM next year, with a tin reserve in Rondonia among the first five properties to be offered. The planned auctions are part of a government programme to stimulate investments and production in Brazil’s mining sector in order to accompany domestic market growth and booming international demand for commodities.
“The sites are being sold off with reserves already prospected and measured. They’re ready to develop and we have a great number of interested parties already, both Brazilian and international firms,” CPRM’s geological director Manoel Barretto told Metal Bulletin during a seminar organised by CPRM in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday.
At the same seminar Brazil’s mining minister Nelson Hubner said that a proposal to allow mining on indigenous Indian lands, which account for about 12% of the country’s land area, would be presented to congress within two months.
At the International Tin Conference held in Brazil last year, the country’s total tin reserves were said to amount to 875,000 tonnes of contained tin, a figure which could be expanded to some 1.2 million tonnes within a few years. Apart from Brazil’s existing tin companies, exploration work is currently being carried out by diversified giant CVRD and several North American and Australian companies.
