Brazilian Rare Earths wins final permit for Bahia pilot plant; mid-2026 start in sight

Key highlights

• Final operating authorisation granted by Brazil’s National Authority on Nuclear Safety (ANSN, ex-CNEN) for BRE’s rare-earth beneficiation + hydromet pilot facilities at the Camaçari Petrochemical Complex (Bahia). 
• Pilot plant will optimise flowsheets for BRE’s high-grade and ultra-high-grade mineralisation, confirm technical parameters, and support downstream separation options ahead of potential industrial scale-up. 
• Operations expected mid-2026; siting within Camaçari aims to shorten timelines via coordinated permitting, world-class infrastructure, access to low-cost reagents and a skilled workforce. 
• CEO Bernardo da Veiga says Camaçari was a “deliberate choice” that lowers risk and improves execution as BRE moves from discovery to development. 
• Market snapshot (1:30pm AEST, Thu 4 Sep 2025): BRE A$3.11 (Cboe live); +A$0.26, +9.12% (ASX delayed); Vol. 1.02m; 52-week A$1.565–3.35; Mkt Cap ~A$350.6m; Shares on issue ~112.7m. (Session data provided.)
  
   

Brazilian Rare Earths (ASX: BRE) has cleared the last regulatory hurdle for its pilot-scale processing hub in Bahia, with final operating authorisation issued by ANSN for the company’s beneficiation and hydrometallurgy facilities at the Camaçari Petrochemical Complex. The approval, which covers nuclear-related aspects assessed to national safety standards, is the final permit required to commence pilot operations, now targeted for mid-2026. For investors, it marks a pivot from lab-scale optimisation toward pilot-level validation in an industrial setting—an essential step before any decision on commercial-scale rare-earth separation. 

What the permit covers—and why it matters

The authorisation enables BRE to operate a pilot plant and laboratory dedicated to refining beneficiation routes and hydromet leach/precipitation steps for its high-grade and ultra-high-grade rare-earth mineralisation. Pilot campaigns will aim to confirm key technical parameters, derisking scale-up assumptions that underpin downstream separation options and potential industrial operations. In short, the permit turns a flowsheet concept into an executable pilot program with regulatory certainty—often the longest pole in the tent for complex chemical plants. 

Why Camaçari? Execution advantages baked in

BRE’s decision to locate within Camaçari, Brazil’s largest petrochemical and industrial complex, is about speed, cost, and certainty. The company points to five advantages:

• Operational certainty: a mature ecosystem built for advanced chemical/metallurgical businesses.
• Coordinated permitting: streamlined environmental, safety and industrial approvals across federal and state agencies.
• World-class infrastructure: immediate access to utilities, port/roads, power and specialised industrial services.
• Low-cost feedstocks: proximity to reagent producers for supply-chain efficiencies and technical collaboration.
• Skilled workforce: deep pool of talent familiar with specialised industrial operations. 
  
   

In practical terms, Camaçari’s plug-and-play infrastructure can shrink the gap between engineering readiness and commissioning, while local reagent access supports cost control during iterative pilot runs—especially important in rare-earth hydromet where reagent intensity drives operating economics. 

Management’s take: from discovery to development

Managing Director and CEO Bernardo da Veiga framed the authorisation as an execution win built on “coordinated permitting, world-class infrastructure and a skilled workforce,” which together shorten timelines and lower risk for the move “from rare earth discovery to development.” The emphasis on government engagement and safety standards provides a useful signal to downstream counterparties who prize compliance track records alongside grades and recoveries. 

What the pilot aims to prove

BRE’s pilot is designed to do three things:

• Optimise beneficiation to produce a consistent feed with predictable mineralogical behaviour.
• Refine hydrometallurgical parameters—reagent selection, pH windows, residence times, impurity rejection pathways—under plant-relevant conditions.
• Generate data and samples to support downstream separation opportunities and inform a potential industrial-scale processing configuration.
  
   

Locationally, the pilot sits ~260 km northeast of the Monte Alto Project, anchoring the processing hub close to reagent supply and logistics while remaining tied to BRE’s feed sources. The company’s narrative is clear: pilot first, separation second, with the former providing the data backbone for any commercial separation strategy. 

Timeline, milestones and de-risking tasks

With the final permit in hand, BRE is guiding to mid-2026 for pilot operations. Between now and first runs, investors should watch for:

• Engineering and procurement updates specific to pilot modules and analytical laboratories.
• Commissioning sequence and initial KPIs (throughput, recovery, purity) that validate bench assumptions at pilot scale.
• Product specifications and sample dispatches to prospective partners in separation/refining.
• Any indications on industrial-scale siting within Camaçari and how pilot learnings migrate to a full flowsheet. 
  
   

Regulatory tone also matters. Today’s decision by ANSN—which rigorously assessed the nuclear-related components—may streamline subsequent interactions as the project advances, given the continuity of oversight within Camaçari’s well-trodden permitting framework. 

Strategic context: what success could unlock

If Camaçari delivers on its promise—coordinated permitting, low-cost reagents, skilled operators—BRE can attack the two bottlenecks that typically slow rare-earth developments: repeatability and specification risk. Repeatable pilot runs build confidence in recoveries and impurity control; meeting spec lowers barriers for offtake and separation partners. Those two signals, combined with the security-of-supply premium that the market increasingly assigns to Western-aligned projects, are what move a developer from story to schedule. 

Balanced view: risks to monitor

• Scale-up risk: Parameters proven at bench may tighten at pilot—solids loading, rheology, residence times and impurity deportment can materially shift opex.
• Commissioning risk: First-of-a-kind modules often need debug cycles; schedules can extend if analytical turnarounds lag pilot throughput.
• Downstream path: Separation partnerships and pricing will hinge on consistent product quality; any variability elongates qualification timelines.
• Macro sensitivity: Rare-earth basket pricing, policy shifts and trade dynamics can affect project economics and timing.
  
   

None of these are unusual for the sector, but they bear watching as BRE progresses toward mid-2026 pilot operations within Camaçari. The core near-term question is execution tempo: how quickly can the company move from permit to meaningful pilot KPIs and customer-grade samples that anchor downstream decisions? 

At the time of writing this article BRE traded at A$3.11, with the ASX delayed feed showing +A$0.26 (+9.12%) on the session.