Mineral production grew significantly in 2021 according to data from the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME), published a few days ago by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The improvement in technical conditions, as well as the recovery of industries after the Covid-19 pandemic, are pointed out as the main factors for this scenario.

Of the various minerals, the highlight goes to the growth of the metallic group, namely gold, whose production increased by 56.7%, from 488 kg in 2020 to 764 kg in 2021. Also noteworthy in the metals group is the increase in rutile production, which reached 49.6%, rising from 5.9 thousand tons in 2020 to 8.9 thousand tons in 2021.

Also in the metallic minerals group, production of heavy sands grew by 75,6%. In 2020, total production of heavy sands throughout the country stood at 7,000 tons, but in 2021 the quantity rose to 12,800 tons.

In the non-metallic minerals group, beryl grew by 314.6%, with quantities increasing from 80 tons in 2020 to 330 tons in 2021. In this group, graphite also grew by 324.7%, increasing the quantities produced from 18,000 tons in 2020 to 77,000 tons in 2021.

Of the non-metallic minerals, quartz grew the most, reaching 628.1%. Here the quantities produced in 2020 stood at 163,000 kg to just over 1 million kg.

Non-metallic minerals also include precious and semi-precious stones, including tourmalines and rubies, which grew by 233.8% and 213.5%, with quantities increasing from 110 kg to 2.6 thousand kg and 1.5 thousand carats to 5 thousand carats between 2020 and 2021, respectively.

In the fuel minerals group, coking coal production grew by 22.7% and thermal coal by 58.6%, with quantities increasing from 4.6 thousand tons to 5.7 thousand tons and from 3.3 thousand tons to 5.3 thousand tons between 2020 and 2021, respectively.

"The increase in production was due to the improvement in technical production capacities, the resumption of operations by mining companies once negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and greater control of artisanal mining activities as well as screening actions by the Kimberley Process Management Unit," reads INE's Extractive Industry Statistical Report 2020-2021.

As far as exports are concerned, the same report states that the group of non-metallic minerals and combustible minerals recorded the highest volume of exported products.

Meanwhile, it reveals a decrease in sales on the domestic market from 2020-2021, namely thermal coal (53.6%), limestone (60%), building stone (78.5%) and clay (96.1%); an increase of 293.5% in diatomite and 9.5% in building sand.

With regard to hydrocarbons, natural gas production increased by 1.2%, with the quantity standing at 188 million Gigajoule in 2021 compared to 185.8 million Gigajoule in 2020 and a drop of 5.3% in condensate gas production (the figure was 281,000 barrels in 2020 compared to 266,000 barrels in 2021); natural gas exports fell by 0.4% and condensate gas by 3.7%; sales on the domestic market grew by 1.4% between 2020 and 2021. (Letter)