Lula Government Approves Rule Waiving Environmental Licensing for Critical Mineral Research

The federal government is preparing a new regulation that will exempt initial stages of mineral research from environmental licensing, aiming to unlock investments in strategic inputs for the energy transition.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva‘s government is in the final phase of drafting a national regulation aimed at simplifying mineral exploration in Brazil. The proposal, coordinated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Micro-enterprise, and Small Business, suggests waiving environmental licensing for field research activities, provided they do not involve the extraction or commercialization of minerals.

This move is seen as a key step to boost the discovery of reserves of critical minerals, such as nickel, niobium, and rare earths, as well as essential inputs for agribusiness, such as potash and phosphate. Currently, the disparity in state-level requirements creates a bottleneck that delays the prospecting of new deposits nationwide.

Standardization to Mitigate Legal Uncertainty

The lack of a single federal regulation creates a scenario of uncertainty. According to data from the National Council for Mineral Policy (CNPM), most Brazilian states do not have clear risk classification criteria for the start of surveying. This results in unequal bureaucratic processes, where mining companies face varied requirements that discourage new investments.

To resolve what the government calls a “regulatory limbo,” the new rule will classify surveying and prospecting activities as “level 1 risk.” In accordance with the Economic Freedom Law, this category represents the lowest possible environmental impact, allowing research to proceed with greater agility and predictability for investors.

The MME states:

“The initiative aims to particularly favor the research of critical and strategic minerals that are among the relevant minerals for energy transition, food security, and the country’s economic development.”

Strict Limits and Environmental Protection

While the waiver of licensing is the central point of the measure, the government emphasizes that it is not an unrestricted release. The text of the resolution establishes rigorous conditions: research activity cannot involve the opening of permanent access roads, nor allow the suppression of native vegetation in preserved Atlantic Forest areas, or generate any impact on speleological heritage, such as caves.

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) clarified that the measure merely seeks regulatory uniformity for phases that do not involve productive impact. The ministry stresses:

“Any waiver of environmental licensing does not exempt the entrepreneur from the need to obtain other authorizations, licenses, or approvals provided for in legislation.”

Context and Next Steps

The decision accompanies recent legislative efforts to make Brazil a competitive player in the global green supply chain. In early September, the Senate approved a new legal framework that allocates BRL 5 billion in tax incentives for the exploration of rare earths and other strategic materials.

While the proposal awaits the final formalities for publication, bodies such as Ibama highlight that the classification of activities with “insignificant impact” has been adopted since 2005. The expectation is that, with the national standard, Brazil will reduce the processing time for procedures and gain traction in a global race for resources that are, today, the pillars of global energy sustainability.