Rare professionals: industrialization alone is not enough; the country needs workers who can transform minerals into technology.

Pilar Veloso/iStockphoto/CartaCapital

In an article published in CartaCapital, the CEO of the Center for Management and Strategic Studies (CGEE), Anderson Gomes, discusses one of the bottlenecks for Brazil's progress in this area: the training of specialized human resources.

Brazil may have one of the greatest mineral opportunities of the coming decades, and yet it is wasting it due to a lack of professionals capable of transforming ore into technology.

The discussion about rare earth elements usually begins with reserves, geopolitics, and investments needed to open mines, build separation plants, and manufacture advanced materials. All of this matters. But there is a less visible and equally strategic step: training engineers, chemists, physicists, geologists, technicians, and researchers capable of operating a chain that the country does not yet fully master.

The study "Rare Earths in Brazil: State of the Art, Scenarios and a Strategic Roadmap for 2026-2040 ," by the Center for Management and Strategic Studies (CGEE), identified this bottleneck. The country has good scientific groups, but there is still a severe shortage of specialists in areas such as hydrometallurgical separation and magnet production.

According to an estimate cited in the study, fewer than 50 Brazilian researchers have specific training in the separation of rare earth elements. A single industrial refinery can require between 80 and 120 specialized technicians and engineers. We can, therefore, secure investment, technology, and even build a plant before we have enough people to operate it autonomously.

Human resource development is not an afterthought. It's a strategic infrastructure. And humans take time to develop. An industrial plant can be built in a few years. A specialist in hydrometallurgy, rare earth metallurgy, or magnetic materials requires a much longer career path. The professionals needed for a refinery at the beginning of the next decade need to start being trained now.

Therefore, the CGEE roadmap sets a goal of training at least 500 specialists by 2040 and proposes an emergency program, starting in 2027-2028, with scholarships for master's and doctoral degrees, specialization courses, and training in national and international institutions.

It also proposes a National Research Network on Rare Earths and a national training program with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), the Ministry of Education (MEC) and entities such as Capes, CNPq, Senai and universities.

But the answer cannot be limited to postgraduate studies. A rare earth supply chain needs researchers, engineers, operators, and technicians. If we want to advance from mining to refining, to metals, alloys, and magnets, training needs to accompany each link.

At this point, Brazil is not starting from scratch. The National Institutes of Science and Technology demonstrate how networks can concentrate expertise and train professionals while addressing strategic problems. The INCT PATRIA project, focused on the processing and applications of rare-earth magnets, yielded significant expertise and results. Starting in 2025, INCT MATERIA expanded this trajectory, bringing together institutions from various regions in advanced rare-earth-based materials.

This network logic is suitable for Brazil. We don't need to create a "rare-earth university." We can connect postgraduate programs, technological institutes, SENAI (National Service for Industrial Training), companies, INCTs (National Institutes of Science and Technology), and research centers around concrete missions. This is different from simply offering more scholarships. Training must be linked to the technological map of the supply chain.

If the bottleneck is separation and refining, we need expertise in solvent extraction, hydrometallurgy, process control, and scale engineering. For metals and alloys, the expertise changes. For permanent magnets, materials science, magnetism, industrial processes, and product engineering come into play.

The Chinese experience helps to put the challenge into perspective. Over decades, China has built an ecosystem that brings together universities, technical schools, laboratories, research institutes, and companies. Recent surveys show dozens of specialized laboratories and educational institutions with courses related to rare earths, training hundreds of students per year. This accumulation of knowledge helps explain why Chinese leadership does not stem solely from the availability of minerals.

We don't need to copy this model. The lesson is simple: technological capacity is cumulative. The knowledge to operate a refinery or produce a competitive magnet doesn't emerge when a factory opens. It's built over years, circulates between laboratories and companies, and consolidates through continuity.

And now there is an important difference: Congress has already approved a national framework for critical and strategic minerals, forwarded to the president for approval. The discussion, therefore, is no longer just about the need for a policy, but about how to implement it.

At this point, human resources need to occupy a central position. It is not enough to create financing instruments and incentives for industrialization if the country does not train the professionals capable of transforming these instruments into productive and technological capacity.

For each priority sector, there should be a skills map: how many professionals will be needed, in which specialties, within what timeframe, and where they will be trained. Scholarships, industrial internships, factory labs, and technical courses designed with the productive sector can bridge the gap between training and employment.

There is also a territorial dimension. New mining activities need to leave capacities where they are established. Companies, universities, federal institutes, and technical schools can build curricula connected to local opportunities, expanding skilled employment in producing regions.

In the debate about mineral sovereignty, we talk a lot about controlling resources, assets, and technologies. We talk less about who possesses the knowledge necessary to make them work. Perhaps we should reverse the question: what makes a mineral strategic – its location underground or having workers capable of transforming it into technology?

Brazil already possesses the first condition. The second needs to start being built now.

By Anderson SL Gomes
CEO of the Center for Management and Strategic Studies (CGEE), full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and full professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco.

This article was originally published in CartaCapital magazine.