On September 2, 2026, the Brazilian Senate approved Bill No. 2,780/2024, establishing the National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals (PNMCE). Since the bill had already been approved by the House of Representatives and no significant amendments were made by the Senate, it will now be submitted to the President’s office to be passed into law (or vetoed in part or in full).
Context and key points of the bill
At a high level, the bill seeks to position Brazil within the global critical minerals landscape at a time when demand is projected to surge, driven by the energy transition, advanced-technology applications, and defense and security spending worldwide. At the same time, there is uncertainty about whether existing and planned mines can keep pace with that demand, and supply chains have proven unreliable. Compounding these challenges, the long lead times inherent in mining mean that meeting future demand hinges on discovering new deposits, bringing new mines online, and sustained investment in research, development, and innovation.
Against this backdrop, the bill establishes mechanisms for stronger federal oversight of the mining sector, particularly for critical and strategic minerals, as an exercise of national sovereignty. It creates a National Council for the Industrialization of Critical and Strategic Minerals and envisions closer government monitoring of projects involving these resources. Corporate transactions, acquisitions and dispositions of mineral rights, as well as offtake or supply contracts involving critical and strategic minerals, will be subject to government approval (referred to in the bill as homologação – a formal ratification process under Brazilian administrative law).
The bill also introduces incentives to encourage exploration and mining of critical and strategic minerals. These include tax credits against the CSLL (a Brazilian federal tax on corporate net income) and incentivized debentures – both conditioned on domestic mineral processing and transformation to keep more value within Brazil. Additionally, the bill provides for the creation of a Mineral Activity Guarantee Fund, to which companies dealing in critical and strategic minerals must contribute 0.2% of gross operating revenue for the first six years. Companies are also required to invest 0.3% of gross operating revenue in research, development, and innovation during the same initial six-year period, rising to 0.5% thereafter.
By Adriano Drummond Trindade, Partner, Mattos Filho
