Why Brazil?
Brazil has strong similarities with Australia as an emerging gold production country and, at its current stage of development, is similar to where Australia was in the late 1970’s:
- in the late 1970’s Australia was ranked the world’s 13th largest gold producer; currently, Brazil is ranked 15;
- by the mid-1980’s Australia had emerged as the world’s 2nd largest gold producer largely developing mid-tier gold assets, some of which progressed into Tier One assets. These assets largely emerged from exploration on Australia’s Archean geological shield;
- in the late 1970’s little activity was undertaken by junior to mid-tier mining companies which focused on the potential of these emerging assets during the 1980s;
- until recent years, Brazil had a similar gold mining profile to Australia’s in the late 1970’s. Asset development in Brazil is gathering momentum as junior and mid-tier companies start to actively invest in the gold sector in Brazil;
- the Archean shield which was so productive in Australia is more than double the size in Brazil;
- Brazil remains an immature country for exploration compared to countries such as Australia, with substantial untapped opportunities;
- Brazil is a rapidly emerging economy with appropriate infrastructure, mature regulatory structures and strong mining expertise readily available.
