Niobium and Graphene: Brazil and Japan Sign Cooperation Agreement to Explore Production and Use of Minerals

Written by Flavia Marinho

Published on 11/01/2021 at 11:28

Updated on 11/01/2021 at 11:45

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On the morning of last Friday, January 8, 2021, the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, met at the Palácio do Planalto in Brasília with Motegi Toshimitsu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, to discuss matters related to the Production and Use of Niobium and Graphene. Luxury car from British manufacturer BAC will contain niobium supplied by Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM)

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Also on Friday, Brazil and Japan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the Field of Technologies Related to the Production and Use of Minerals and to provide more structured cooperation in the future, including potential joint projects.

“The objective of the bilateral document is to deepen mutual understanding to explore cooperation in the value chain of products that use niobium or graphene and to provide more structured cooperation in the future, including potential joint projects,” emphasizes the Ministry of Foreign Relations in a statement.

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Graphene and Niobium: Strategic Minerals for Brazil and Japan

Since the second half of 2016, when Brazil and Japan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for the Promotion of Investments and Economic Cooperation in the Infrastructure Sector, interest in expanding Japanese investment in Brazil has been growing, including in rare or strategic minerals such as graphene and niobium.

In July of last year, a public call was launched to support technological enterprises based on graphene, allocating approximately R$ 1.5 million to support applied research proposals, technological development, and innovation aimed at generating enterprises and technological solutions, focusing primarily on graphene.

Niobium, a strategic mineral for Brazil, in which the country is the largest global producer and responsible for approximately 86% of production, currently counts Japan as one of the main importers of ferroniobium alloy (9.6% of exports from Brazil).

Niobium and Graphene: Brazil and Japan Sign Cooperation Agreement to Explore Production and Use of Minerals

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Graphene and Niobium: Strategic Minerals for Brazil and Japan

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Niobium and Graphene: Brazil and Japan Sign Cooperation Agreement to Explore Production and Use of Minerals

Cooperation Agreement Between Brazil and Japan Related to the Production and Use of Niobium and Graphene Resulting from Negotiations Begun by President Jair Bolsonaro

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Seen from space, an image taken by an astronaut shows an unlikely oasis in the Saudi Arabian desert, protected by a terrain that slows the advance of sand, surrounded by green circles, remnants of an extinct lake and nearly 10,000 years of preserved history.

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In Botswana, a salt flat of up to 16,000 km² that was once an African megalake spends months as an absolute white desert, but during the rainy season it transforms into a shallow sea that reappears from nowhere and can be seen from space in the middle of southern Africa.

The Blood Falls of Antarctica hide a living ecosystem trapped under the ice for over 2 million years, where microbes survive without light, without oxygen, and without ever having seen the Sun.

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