Rare Earths and Goiás in the Imperial Orbit

Abstract

The announcement of the acquisition of the Serra Verde group, which extracts rare earths in Minaçu, in northern Goiás, by the U.S. company USA Rare Earth (USAR), has rekindled the debate on critical minerals, national sovereignty, and the struggle over the subsoil in Brazil. Consequently, it is timely to present conjunctural interpretive efforts in light of the geopolitical dynamics involving the United States and China around issues such as the relationship between mining and the energy transition, technological innovations, and weapons production by contemporary war economies. Moreover, in a year in which the period of presidential elections in Brazil is approaching, and the debate around rare earths will certainly be present in the contest between different projects for Brazil—with the presence of the ultraliberal far right—it is incumbent upon us, as geographers, to propose radical analytical perspectives. In summary, we hope that this text circulates and contributes to this purpose, serving as an instrument for debate on the mining model in the country. A model that reproduces the contradictions of a predatory economy and subordinates territories to the orbits of global extractive imperialism.