Nickel projects worth US$1.8 billion in Brazil gain momentum

Two major nickel projects in Brazil, with combined investments that could reach almost US$1.8 billion, have gained extra momentum amid optimistic expectations in the sector.

The Australian miner Centaurus Metals has secured access to power for its US$380 million nickel project in the Brazilian state of Pará.

The company received approval from the National Electric System Operator (ONS) to connect its main asset, the Jaguar Nickel Sulphide Project, to the national 230kV power grid.

With the authorization, the company gained access to reliable, low-cost electricity through connection to Brazil’s national high-voltage power grid, which connects the entire country through an extensive transmission network.

“Securing access to Brazil’s high-voltage power grid is an important milestone for the company in advancing Jaguar towards development. Reliable and competitively priced energy is an essential component of any large-scale mining operation, and this approval reinforces Jaguar’s position in the lowest quartile of operating costs when it is in operation, while significantly reducing the risk associated with the project’s development,” said the company’s director, Darren Gordon, in a statement.

“It is important to highlight that we have already secured the main environmental approvals required for the construction of the transmission line, which puts us in a good position to integrate this work into the broader development of the project as we move toward a Final Investment Decision,” he emphasized.

To ensure the allocation of 20MW, the company will deposit a guarantee of 9.7 million reais (US$2 million) with ONS within 90 days; this guarantee will remain in effect until the project enters into operation.

Centaurus intends to offer this guarantee at the time of the Final Investment Decision on the project.

Recently, the company had already announced that it obtained tax incentives from the government of Pará, the state where the project is located, for purchases of goods, equipment, raw materials and reagents to be used in the project.

Brazilian Nickel

This week, Brazilian Nickel obtained financial support from the state development bank BNDES for its Piauí Nickel Project, with an estimated investment of US$1.4 billion.

The state-owned bank approved financing of 100 million reais that will be used by the company for the acquisition of machinery, equipment, or industrial services to support the production of high-purity nickel and cobalt precipitates in the project, located in Capitão Gervásio Oliveira, in the state of Piauí.

Although BNDES financing represents a small part of the company’s investment needs in the project, the support of the state-owned bank can be an important element in the search for additional financing.

“Looking at the development bank’s experience in other segments, we see that BNDES is an important catalyst for attracting other financiers to projects,” senior political analyst Mário Sérgio Lima of Medley Global Advisors told BNamericas.

According to BNDES, with the financing, Brazilian Nickel will be able to acquire machinery, equipment, industrial systems, components, information technology and automation goods produced in Brazil, as well as domestic services and imported equipment with no similar domestic product available.

The project being developed by Brazilian Nickel foresees a production capacity of 27.000 tons of nickel and 900 tons of cobalt per year, with production starting in 2028.

Scenario

In recent years, nickel projects have gone through a challenging period due to downward price pressure, driven mainly by high production in Indonesia.

However, in recent quarters, this scenario has reversed, with analysts revising their nickel price projections upward, encouraging new projects in the segment.

As part of this better outlook, in March this year Atlantic Nickel began the construction process of Latin America’s largest underground nickel mine, which is expected to require investments of around 3.3 billion reais.

The company, controlled by the international investment manager Appian Capital Advisory, has started work at the Santa Rita mine, in the state of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, ahead of the completion of the definitive feasibility study for the initiative.

The project consists of converting the existing operation, an open-pit mine, into an underground mine, which should extend its useful life. Atlantic Nickel delivered its pre-feasibility study (PFS) in 2024 for the underground expansion of the mine, projecting a long useful life with an annual production rate of 30,000 tonnes of nickel equivalent.

Amid positive price expectations, investments in the sector are expected to increase.

Investments in the nickel sector in Brazil are expected to reach US$4.7 billion between 2026 and 2030, an increase of 24.2% compared to the cycle between 2025 and 2029, according to projections by Ibram, the association that represents mining companies in Brazil.