By Brazil Stock Guide – Viridis Mining & Minerals Ltd. (ASX: VMM) secured investment commitments of as much as US$120 million to develop its Colossus rare-earth project in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, the Australian miner said Thursday.
The financing positions Viridis to advance a project expected to require US$449 million in total investment as Brazil seeks to expand domestic processing of critical minerals.
Funding structure
One Investment Management, or OneIM, committed as much as US$75 million. Existing strategic investors ORE Investments and Régia Capital will provide US$5 million upfront, while other institutional investors, mostly from Brazil, committed about US$40 million.
The new funding, combined with US$14 million in cash and US$20 million still available under an earlier agreement with ORE and Régia, takes Viridis’s identified equity sources to approximately US$154 million.
That exceeds the estimated US$135 million in equity needed to advance Colossus. Viridis must still arrange long-term debt and secure agreements with customers to purchase future production.
Investment decision and production
Viridis is working on offtake contracts and the project’s long-term debt structure ahead of a final investment decision targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with commercial production expected in 2028.
Brazil weighs tighter foreign-investment rules
The commitments come as Brazil’s Congress considers legislation that would give the government authority to block foreign partnerships in the critical-minerals industry.
The Chamber of Deputies approved the bill, which is now before the Senate. The proposal would broaden the executive branch’s regulatory powers and establish a national policy for critical minerals focused on sovereignty, domestic refining and the energy transition.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva helped secure the bill’s progress in the Senate following a rapprochement with Senate President Davi Alcolumbre.
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