Investments in the mining sector in the state of Minas Gerais should reach an estimated BRL 16 billion ($2.98 billion) in the next four years, according to a media report from O Tempo.
The estimate was unveiled by Wilson Brumer, president of the board of the Brazilian Mining Institute, also known as IBRAM.
Brumer said the state of Minas Gerais should account for almost half of a combined BRL 32.5 billion ($6 billion) investment expected for the Brazilian mining segment in four years. He warned that Minas seeks to diversify its mineral portfolio and said that other states are producing well in the segment.
The great concern of world leaders will, in Brumer’s view, be to seek employment in their countries. “This has an impact on the economy and certainly has an effect on mining. I am very optimistic about mining, because we managed, even with the whole pandemic, to create conditions in mining so that the smallest number of people could be reached in our operations,” he said.
The manufactured industry in Brazil, which already represented around 22%, 23% of its GDP, today is below 10%. Regardless of all that, it has these $ 32 billion projects for the next five years. That should generate a lot of jobs and development and shows the belief of the companies that are located here in the mineral sector to continue exporting, meeting their market demands.
Iron ore is at US $ 120 with the Real at more than five, which is about over R $ 600. Gold is already over US $ 2,000 per ounce. In addition to the trade balance, mining companies will have a very positive year in terms of profitability. Even with the pandemic, with all the care being taken by all companies, they forward to the rest of the year in terms of mining growth. The sector, in every pandemic, had no news of unemployment. There were some adjustments in the schedule of some projects, to preserve people’s health, but had no postponement of projects. The moment is very positive for the sector. “We have a set of some commodities that the price has gone up a lot, this added to the current value of the real x dollar means more taxes that the sector itself pays to the government.”
Minas Gerais is home to a number of large mining and steelmaking companies, including Vale, Anglo American Brazil, Gerdau, flats producer Usiminas, among others.
Source: O Tempo.
