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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Graphene and Niobium: Strategic Minerals for Brazil and Japan

With billions in loans, China is rebuilding Nigeria’s railway network from scratch, abandoning the British colonial tracks that have turned to scrap and creating a corridor of over 1,300 km to take the load off the roads of Africa’s largest economy.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

Forget petroleum-based asphalt: a Scottish company transforms 684,000 plastic bottles into one kilometer of road that is 60% more resistant and up to 10 times more durable, and the technology has already started replacing traditional asphalt in more than 30 countries.

A British company has installed in the middle of the ocean the world’s first floating platform that generates electricity 24 hours a day from the temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the Atlantic, without relying on wind or sun.

Austrian engineers have developed an inflatable concrete technology that transforms flat slabs into domes using only air pressure, eliminating scaffolding and temporary forms, and potentially changing the way bridges, tunnels, and curved roofs are constructed worldwide.

A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

The James Webb telescope spotted a planet 700 light-years from Earth with mornings full of sand clouds and nights with clear skies, the temperature difference between the two hemispheres reaches an impressive 170 degrees.

The largest precious metals mine under construction in the world is situated on a layer of ore 25 times thicker than common mines in South Africa, and has just connected a third shaft that will quintuple the extraction of platinum, palladium, and gold.

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