mine to bring the ionic-clay model to commercial scale outside China. It
will not be the last. Aclara Resources at Carina in Goiás and Meteoric
together they could more than triple Brazil's rare-earth supply before
the end of the decade.¹
estimated 2,000 tonnes in 2025 — proved that ionic-clay rare-earth
mining could be executed at commercial scale in Brazil.² That proof
point has changed how capital, regulators and offtake partners treat the
country's broader pipeline.
is developing Carina in northern Goiás, targeting commercial production
in 2028. Meteoric Resources (ASX: MEI) is advancing Caldeira in Minas
deposits, both offer a potentially attractive mix of light and heavy
rare earths, and both are positioned to benefit from the international
capital and offtake interest that 2025 pulled toward Brazilian rare
earths.
critical 2025 milestones. In May 2025 the company submitted its
construction permitting.¹ In September 2025 the U.S. International
support the project's progression.¹
in what appears to be a corridor of weathered granitoids along the
northern edge of Goiás where deep tropical weathering has produced
favourable ionic-clay conditions. Resource work to date has confirmed
grades and tonnages comparable to Chinese operations, with a rare-earth
distribution that includes a meaningful heavy-rare-earth component.
permitting and construction proceed on schedule. Aclara has signalled
that first production would likely be at a smaller scale than Serra
dependent on commissioning performance and market conditions. A 2028
start would position Carina to ride the early-2030s demand curve for
permanent-magnet rare earths, which Adamas Intelligence and other
specialists project as a period of sustained undersupply.
flagship is Caldeira, located in Minas Gerais. The deposit was
identified through targeted exploration on the understanding that
southern Chinese ionic-clay heartland.
rare earth exploration company Frontera Minerals represents a different
but complementary style: a large alkaline system with TREO grades above
clays. Taken together, the ionic-clay producers and an advancing
alkaline project like JORD describe a more diversified Brazil rare earth
exploration pipeline than the 2024 narrative suggested.
attractive at current rare-earth prices. Meteoric has been working
through the sequence of drilling, metallurgical testwork and regulatory
engagement that a project at that stage requires.
its location and ownership. As an ASX-listed Australian company with a
high-quality Brazilian asset, Meteoric embodies the model of
international capital markets funding Brazilian ionic-clay development.
in 2026, it will accelerate the entire sector by demonstrating that
outside the DFC channel that has dominated the Serra Verde and Aclara
stories.
make them particularly relevant in the post-2025 policy environment.
carbonatite-hosted projects; their environmental footprint is smaller;
and they carry a meaningful share of the heavy rare earths (dysprosium
and terbium in particular) that the April and October 2025 Chinese
export controls made strategically scarce.³
needs exactly the heavy-rare-earth fraction that ionic clays carry.
terbium oxides will rise to 1,800 and 450 tonnes per year respectively
by 2040 — amounts roughly equal to current annual production of each.⁴
developments in the global pipeline positioned to address that gap.
comparatively simple to separate into individual rare-earth oxides,
which makes them attractive feedstock for the next generation of
non-Chinese separation facilities. The Viridis-Ionic hub in Poços de
alignment between Brazilian upstream mines and Brazilian midstream
refineries is one of the quieter competitive advantages the country is
building.
at roughly 2,000-3,000 tonnes initial capacity, and Caldeira reaches a
final investment decision by 2027 with first production in 2029-2030,
Brazilian ionic-clay output could exceed 10,000 tonnes per year by 2030.
existing CBMM and other operations, total Brazilian rare-earth supply in
2030 could approach 12,000-15,000 tonnes per year.
globally, behind only China and Australia, and comparable in scale to
would be the largest non-Chinese supplier of heavy rare earths — a
commercially valuable and strategically valuable position in a world
that has been actively trying to diversify away from Chinese
heavy-rare-earth dependence since the April 2025 export controls.