On June 15, 2026, Canadian developer Resouro Strategic Metals (ASX: RAU, TSXV: RSM) released a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for a starter operation at its Tiros project, located in the Alto Paranaíba region of Minas Gerais state, about 350 kilometers from Belo Horizonte. The study, prepared under NI 43-101 standards by Norda Stelo, sets out a US$159 million capital cost for a 500,000-tonne-per-year open-pit operation with an initial 20-year mine life and staged expansion potential.
Until now, Brazil's rare earth narrative has centered almost entirely on Goiás — Serra Verde's ionic clay operation in Minaçu, and Aclara's Carina project advancing toward production in Nova Roma and Aparecida de Goiânia. Tiros adds a second state to that map, and a geologically distinct deposit type: a hard-rock titanium-rare earth resource rather than ionic clay.
A Dual-Revenue Resource at Scale
Tiros's Measured and Indicated resource stands at 1.4 billion tonnes grading 12% titanium dioxide (TiO2) and 4,000 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) — equivalent to roughly 165 million tonnes of contained TiO2 and 5.5 million tonnes of contained TREO. The deposit's rare earth content is concentrated in magnet-relevant elements: neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. Resouro holds 28 mineral concessions covering 497 square kilometers, with less than 10% of the roughly 50,000-hectare landholding drilled to date.
The PEA's structure is notable for what it deliberately avoids: rather than sequencing toward the full resource, Resouro's CEO Christopher Eager framed the starter operation as a way to reach production faster while limiting the project's initial social and environmental footprint, with the dual TiO2-TREO revenue stream underpinning the economics of even this smaller first phase. Metallurgical testwork disclosed earlier in 2026 showed sulphuric acid leach extractions of 89-95% for TREO and up to 94% TiO2 recovery from fine-particle feed, supporting a conventional processing flowsheet.
Stratis View
Two things make Tiros relevant beyond its own balance sheet. First, geographic diversification: Brazil's rare earth investment thesis has so far been a single-state, single-geology story, which concentrates regulatory and operational risk in Goiás's evolving framework, including the verticalization requirements introduced this month. A bankable project advancing in Minas Gerais — Brazil's most established mining jurisdiction, with deeper infrastructure and a longer institutional track record with foreign miners — broadens the base case for anyone underwriting Brazilian rare earth exposure.
Second, the dual-commodity structure changes the risk profile. A project that earns from titanium dioxide — an established, liquid market — while building toward rare earth output is less dependent on rare earth pricing alone to reach a positive investment decision. For a sector where most projects still compete for capital on a single, volatile commodity, that combination is itself a point of differentiation.