Viridis clears final hurdle for Brazilian rare earth licence
Viridis Mining and Minerals confirmed today it remains on track to secure the all-important Preliminary Licence (LP) for its flagship Colossus ionic clay rare earths project in Poços de Caldas, Brazil.
The company says that, notwithstanding a minor delay in the environmental permitting process, management remains confident it will receive approval at the regulators’ next formal meeting on 19 December.
On 28 November 2025, the project was briefly withdrawn from the COPAM (State Environmental Policy Council of Minas Gerais) voting agenda at the request of the environmental regulator FEAM (Minas Gerais State Environmental Foundation) to allow time to formally respond to a late recommendation from the federal public prosecutor’s office (MPF).
Viridis and FEAM have both stressed the move is purely procedural and does not alter FEAM’s unchanged favourable technical opinion which strongly recommends granting the LP.
The MPF’s 24 November note raised high-level questions around hydrogeology, cumulative impacts, vegetation suppression and residue classification – points Viridis says were already addressed in its environmental impact assessment report (EIA/RIMA), public hearings and multiple supplementary submissions.
Independent reviews also confirm only three of 98 local springs will be affected and the processed clay residue is officially classified as non-hazardous according to ABNT’s environmental standard 10.004, removing the need for tailings dams.
ABNT - Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas - is Brazil’s national standards body and the Brazilian equivalent of the international waste-classification frameworks similar to the US’ EPA or EU waste codes.
Colossus continues to benefit from strong support across all levels of Brazilian government. The temporary withdrawal from the COPAM agenda is a standard procedural step following MPF recommendations and has no impact on FEAM’s publicly documented, favourable technical assessment supporting the Project’s Preliminary Licence.
Two of the four COPAM councillors who previously sought extra review time have since publicly backed the licence.
The project is now expected to be re-listed for final deliberation at the next COPAM Mining Chamber meeting on 19 December.
Viridis’ Colossus project hosts a JORC 2022-compliant maiden mineral resource of 201 million tonnes at an average 2640 parts per million (ppm) total rare earths oxides (TREO), with 740ppm magnet rare earth oxides (MREO).
Conversion of 100 per cent of the measured and indicated resource into probable reserves yields a 200.6 million-tonne probable ore reserve at the same grade, delivering about 530,000 tonne of contained TREO.
The reserves make the Colossus deposit one of the biggest and highest-grade ionic-clay rare earth deposits outside China.
With FEAM’s technical green light intact, the company’s robust studies already accepted and only standard procedural formalities remaining, Viridis is confident its Preliminary Licence will be awarded this month, clearing the path for installation licence applications and company’s first production targeted in late 2026.
A positive decision on 19 December would mark the final regulatory gate for one of the Western world’s most strategically important rare-earth developments.
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