STORY-TRÅD·industri
Brazil’s critical, strategic minerals sector employs 129,000 people
In Brazil, activities related to critical and strategic minerals accounted for 129,423 jobs in 2025, equivalent to 57 percent of the 226,634 positions in the country’s mineral extraction industry. Compared with 2023, the number of jobs increased by 8.6 percent. Notícias relacionadas:Brazil seeks partnership with Europe for critical mineral mining.Brazil creates policy to boost production of critical minerals.The data are available on the Critical and Strategic Minerals Portal, launched last week by Brazil’s National Mining Agency (ANM). The Brazilian states with the highest number of jobs in this sector are Minas Gerais (62,631), Pará (27,047), and Bahia (9,147). In addition to employment data, the dashboard provides information on worker profiles, average wages, and the 21 substances associated with these activities, including aluminum, gold, iron, copper, rare earth elements, niobium, titanium, and lithium. Worker profile According to data from the portal, men account for 78 percent of all jobs related to critical and strategic minerals, with 100,765 positions out of a total of 129,423. Women hold the remaining 22 percent, accounting for 28,658 positions. The chart on employment related to critical and strategic minerals shows that 51,714 jobs require skilled labor, accounting for 23 percent of the total. Workers with a college degree account for 30,707 jobs, or 14 percent of the total. Of these, 19,060 are held by men and 11,647 by women. When broken down by mineral, iron ore mining employs the largest number of jobs (70,027), followed by precious metals, with 21,313 jobs. Locations The portal also displays the geographic distribution of producing municipalities on an geospatial map. Among the municipalities with the highest employment in activities related to these minerals are Parauapebas, in the state of Pará, with 8,234 jobs; Nova Lima, with 8,218; and Congonhas, with 7,114. The latter two are in the state of Minas Gerais.