In this issue

Welcome to the latest issue of MINE Magazine.

This month, we consider what could come from this week’s Brazilian election, a runoff vote that could have dramatic consequences for both Brazilian and global mining. With more than $40bn set to be invested into the country’s mining sector over the next four years, and swathes of vulnerable environments around the country, the outcome of the election could push Brazil on a course of industrial expansion, or environmental responsibility, for years to come. 

Yet the presidential election could prove to be just the beginning, with the increasingly divergent policies of incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva trickling into wider Brazilian politics. As Brazil heads to the polls this weekend, it is unclear how much compromise, if any, can be found within the country’s mining industry. 

Elsewhere, we ask how and why the Mozambique Government has appropriated a mining claim it once granted to private firm Pathfinder Minerals, and ask what this could mean for the balance of power between state and private interests in African mining. We also investigate the environmental impacts of increased mining in Africa more broadly, and ask if greater mineral exploration could have dire consequences for the continent’s forests. 

We also assess how British Lithium is building a new lithium supply chain based in the UK, and consider the geopolitical dangers of the world’s rare earths supply chain being so reliant on Chinese production and export. 

For all this, plus our usual range of news and views, read on.

JP Casey, editor