Manganese, a mineral critical for the energy transition, hit record prices last year.
Brazil holds some of the largest deposits in the world. However, in Pará state, illegal extraction of the mineral has exploded, causing grave environmental damage, threatening local communities, corrupting local law enforcement agencies, and compromising supply chains.
The illegal extraction of "critical" minerals is a growing challenge that Brazil and other mineral-rich nations will be forced to increasingly face in coming years as the new minerals race heats up.
