The production of minerals recorded a significant growth in the year 2021 according to data from the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME), published a few days ago by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Improved technical conditions as well as the upturn in industries after the Covid-19 pandemic are noted as the main factors for this scenario.

Of the various minerals, the highlight goes to the growth of the group of metals, namely gold, whose production increased by 56.7%, from 488 kg in 2020 to 764 kg in 2021. In the group of metallics, the increase in the production of rutile, which reached 49.6%, also stands out, having gone from 5.9 thousand tons in 2020 to 8.9 thousand tons in 2021.

Still in the group of metallic minerals, the growth of heavy sands production by 75.6% stood out. In 2020, the total production of heavy sands, nationwide, stood at 7,000 tons, but in 2021 the amount rose to 12.8 thousand 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%, which increased the quantities produced from 18,000 tons in 2020 to 77,000 tons in 2021.

Of the non-metallic minerals, it was quartz that grew the most by reaching 628.1%. Here the quantities produced in 2020 were 163,000 kg to just over 1 million kg.

Of the non-metallic minerals are also precious and semi-precious stones, in which tourmalines and rubies are found to grow 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 group of fuel minerals, meanwhile, the production of coking coal grew by 22.7% and thermal coal by 58.6%, with the quantities increasing from 4.6 thousand tons to 5.7 thousand tons and from 3.3 thousand tons to 5.3 thousand tons from 2020 to 2021, respectively.

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

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

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

Regarding hydrocarbons, natural gas production recorded an increase of 1.2%, with the quantity standing at 188 million Gigajoule in 2021 against 185.8 million Gigajoule of 2020 and a drop of 5.3% in the production of condensed gas (the values reached 281 thousand barrels in 2020 against 266 thousand barrels in 2021); the export of natural gas reduced by 0.4% and condensed gas by 3.7%; the sale in the domestic market showed a growth by 1.4% between the year 2020 and 2021. (Letter)