Mining in Brazil

Written by Dan Oancea - Updated Sep 2011

Overview

Brazil, the world's fifth largest country (8.5 million sq km), is situated in South America. The country boasts a population of 203,429,773 people which enjoy a high rate of literacy (88.6%). Population consists of diverse ethnic groups: white (53.7%), mullato (38.5%) and black (6.2%). Brasilia, the capital city, is inhabited by 3.789 million people. The official language is Portuguese.

The country's well-developed economy - agriculture, mining, manufacturing and service sectors - largely outweighs that of all other South American countries. The country has the world's sixth largest mining industry. Main exports are represented by manufactured goods, iron ore, coffee, oranges and other agricultural produce.

Brazil has the world's 10th largest railway system (28,538 km) and the 4th largest roadways system (1,751,868 km). Waterways are vital means of transportation in remote areas and the country has 50,000 km of navigable waters which makes it the world's second largest waterways system.

The country's high number of Internet users (domain .br) propelled the country on the fourth spot amongst the world's largest in 2009. International dialing code is +55.

To better understand the country, read the Brazil country profile on BBC.

If you are fluent in Portuguese you better check what the rich local media has to offer: O Correio Brasilense(an influential daily paper); Jornal do Brasil (daily published in Rio de Janeiro); O Globo(Rio de Janeiro daily); O Dia(Rio de Janeiro daily); and, Folha de Sao Paulo (daily).

Infomine also offers a Portuguese language site dedicated to mining in Brazil.

Mining History

The land that we nowdays call Brazil was claimed by Portugal in 1500. Initial Portuguese expeditions to the interior of the large and apparently inexpugnable country were marked by failure. It was only 200 years later, in the 1690s that Brazilian colonial scouts - named Bandeirantes- found gold in the mountains of Minas Gerais. The gold rush attracted 400,000 Portuguese and half a million African slaves to the region.

In the 16th and 17th century diamonds were so rare and expensive that ordinary people couldn't tell one. Placer miners found many glassy stones and used them as chips in poker games. In 1725 the 'chips' were identified as diamonds and for the next 120 years Brazil was practically the world's only diamond producer.

In 1891, Brazil's first Republican Constitution granted landowners mining rights over underground mineral resources found on their lands, and allowed foreign-owned companies to work the mines of Brazil.

During WWII, Brazil's nationalist government convinced the Allies, which were in a desperate need for iron ore, to transfer ownership of the UK-owned Itabira Mines and of the Vitoria Minas Railroad to them. In 1942, the Brazilian government nationalized mining activities and created Compahnia Vale do Rio Doce which was made responsible for all Brazilian mines.

Petrobras was created in 1953 as a state company that would control the oil industry. Subsequent laws prohibited foreign companies in getting involved in the mining sector.

In 1995, Brazil's Constitution was modified as to allow majority foreign ownership in mining projects and Vale became a privately-run company.

Geology, Geography and Climate

Brazil encompasses a wide range of geological formations – from billions years old Archaean rocks to younger Phanerozoic rocks – and boasts an astounding variety of mineral deposits.

Basement rocks that are making up the Brazilian shields are metamorphic rocks of amphibolite to granulite facies and granitoids of Precambrian age. They outcrop in more than 50% of Brazil: the Atlantic Shield is exposed in the eastern part of the country close to the Atlantic Ocean; the Guapore Shield occupies the central part of the country; and, the Shield of Guyana occurs north of the Basin of Amazonas. Shields are surrounded by Proterozoic mobile belts.

Starting with the Ordovician and Silurian periods (490 mil. years ago) as a result of marine transgressions sedimentation conditions existed in these stabile cratonic regions. Sedimentary and volcanic rocks, that are seldom metamorphosed, accumulated in three important basins Amazonas, Paraiba and Parana. Other less important geologic basins existed in coastal regions and also in intra-cratonic settings.

Mineral deposits of the cratonic regions are hosted in greenstone belts and volcanogenic and sedimentary rocks. They include iron ore in Banded Iron Formations (BIF) formations, gold, silver, manganese and other base metals. Huge iron ore reserves exist in the so called Quadrilatero Ferifero and Carajas regions.

Phanerozoic terranes host uranium deposits in continental sediments, evaporates and coal deposits (Parana Basin).

From a geomorphologic point of view Brazil could be divided in five main areas:

• The Plateau of Guyana is part of the Shield of Guyana and is located in the northern part of the country. It encompasses the Amazon North Plateau and the mountainous area. It is made of Precambrian crystalline rocks.
• The plains and lowlands of Amazon are located below the Plateau of Guyana and comprise low altitude Tertiary plateaus and recent valleys and terraces periodically flooded by the Amazon River.
• The Brazilian Plateau is located in central Brazil and consists of eroded crystalline rocks and sedimentary basins.
• The Pantanal plains are Quaternary and located in the west of the Mato Grosso do Sul and southwest of Mato Grosso.
• The coastal plains and low lands stretch from Maranho to the south of the country and are made of Tertiary and Quaternary rocks.

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