Critical Minerals, Mining, Energy & Infrastructure

This is perhaps the most present-relevant work of integration for business and government strategy Dr. Miguel Cerna has developed, and it fits at the core of where Brazil stands right now.

The result is Brazil: Critical Minerals, Mining, Energy & Infrastructure. Thirteen chapters. One argument: that the decisions being made right now about mining concessions, processing partnerships, infrastructure corridors, and bilateral frameworks will determine who captures the value from one of the most consequential mineral endowments on the planet — and who, once again, simply extracts it.

The paper is structured in three parts. The first establishes the landscape: Brazil's mineral endowment, its energy matrix, the China dimension, the geopolitical contest, and the investment flows shaping the sector. The second interprets it: where the supply chain creates value, where it leaks it, and where the structural risks are concentrated. The third — the core of the paper — translates everything into action: how infrastructure connects to mineral strategy in ways conventional analysis overlooks, how Chinese and Western negotiating logic diverge at the table and not just on paper, and what that divergence costs when it goes unrecognized.

It draws on more than 30 primary sources and covers the full supply chain from geological survey to negotiation intelligence.

It is written for executives, investors, and government officials who already know these industries and do not have time for analysis that stops short of a conclusion. This paper does not educate. It reframes.

Dr. Miguel Cerna releases this work as open access — a contribution to the professionals, institutions, and industries operating at the intersection of mining, energy, infrastructure, and geopolitics in Brazil and beyond. Download it, apply it, and share what it adds to your work.

© 2026 Dr. Miguel Cerna. All rights reserved.