ANM’s 2026 Mineral Information Secrecy Review Explained

When Data Becomes a Strategic Asset: Brazil's Mining Information Dilemma

The question of who gets to know what about a country's mineral wealth has never been purely administrative. Across major resource-producing nations, the architecture of information access shapes investment flows, environmental accountability, and the distribution of economic power. In Brazil, that architecture is now being deliberately redesigned. The Agência Nacional de Mineração (ANM) has formally opened a period of structured public consultation to inform the revisão de sigilo de informações da ANM, a move that touches every stakeholder in the Brazilian mineral economy, from multinational mining companies to indigenous land communities.

Understanding why this revision is happening now, what it could change, and why it matters beyond regulatory paperwork requires looking at the deeper forces reshaping how mineral data is governed globally. Furthermore, the evolving geopolitical mining landscape makes transparent and predictable data governance more critical than ever.

Why the Revisão de Sigilo de Informações da ANM Could Not Wait Any Longer

Regulatory frameworks age. What begins as a carefully balanced normative instrument can, within a few years, become a source of ambiguity, unpredictability, and institutional friction. Resolução ANM nº 01/2019 has been in force for more than six years, a period that has witnessed profound shifts in Brazil's legal landscape, technological infrastructure, and institutional design.

Three converging pressures made the revisão de sigilo de informações da ANM not just desirable but structurally necessary:

• The consolidation of Brazil's information access framework. The Lei de Acesso à Informação (LAI) and the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD) have, since the resolution's original publication, matured into well-established legal instruments with growing administrative jurisprudence. A secrecy regime constructed before this consolidation now sits in potential tension with norms that have since been clarified and reinforced.

• Institutional transformation from DNPM to ANM. The creation of the ANM as an independent regulatory agency, replacing the older Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral (DNPM), introduced a new governance culture oriented toward regulatory quality and evidence-based decision-making. The legacy of the DNPM's data management practices embedded within Resolução 01/2019 no longer reflects the ANM's current institutional standards.

• The explosion of geoinformation and open data tools. Territorial intelligence platforms, digital mining process systems, and public geoscientific databases have fundamentally altered what information is technically accessible and how it can be cross-referenced. A confidentiality framework built for an era of paper files and manual processes requires reconceptualisation when applied to interconnected digital environments.

ANM Superintendent of Regulatory Policy Marina Dalla Costa has stated that mining generates information of economic, environmental, territorial, and scientific relevance to the country, and that the revision must establish more objective parameters compatible with the current legal order while offering greater predictability to both regulated entities and the broader public.

How Brazil's Current Mineral Information Secrecy Regime Actually Works

The Foundational Principle: Publicity as the Default

A common misconception about mineral information governance is that secrecy is routine or automatic. Under the current resolution, the opposite is true. Access to information in mining processes is the default rule, and restriction is the exception that must be actively sought and justified.

This distinction is not semantic. It places the burden of proof squarely on the mineral right holder, not on the regulator or the public. A company that wants a document kept confidential must file a formal petition, articulate a defensible basis for protection such as commercial secrecy or competitive advantage, and obtain a positive determination from the ANM before any restriction applies.

Only two categories of processes carry automatic restriction without a formal request:

• Kimberley Certificate processes, governed by an international protocol regulating the trade of conflict diamonds.

• CFEM collection processes (Compensação Financeira pela Exploração de Recursos Minerais), which involve fiscally sensitive royalty payment data.

Document Categories Subject to Confidentiality Requests

Accessing Mining Processes as a Citizen or Institution

Public access to non-confidential mining process documents is available through the ANM's SEI Pesquisa Pública system without any registration requirement. For documents classified as confidential, citizens retain the right under Article 29 of the LAI to request declassification, placing the agency under an obligation to review and justify any continued restriction.

In practice, users have reported friction in navigating both the digital systems and the procedural pathways for physical file access, a set of practical limitations that the current revision process is expected to address. You can review ANM's official guidance on information secrecy for further detail on how these access rights currently operate.

What the Tomada de Subsídios Process Actually Represents

Regulatory Impact Analysis as a Governance Tool

The Análise de Impacto Regulatório (AIR) is a structured methodology embedded in Brazil's federal regulatory policy framework. Rather than producing new rules through internal deliberation alone, the AIR process requires regulators to gather evidence, analyse impacts across affected groups, and incorporate social participation before drafting normative changes.

The Tomada de Subsídios, which opened on 11 May 2026 and closes on 10 June 2026, is the foundational input-gathering phase of this AIR. It is not a public consultation on a finished draft. It is an upstream exercise designed to shape the very questions the regulator asks before producing a new rule.

This distinction matters because it means stakeholders have an unusually high degree of influence at this stage. The framing of a regulatory problem, which ambiguities need resolving, which interests deserve greater weight, and which technical adjustments are feasible, is still being defined. This mirrors how government intervention in mining across other jurisdictions has shaped regulatory outcomes.

Who Has a Stake in Participating

The breadth of interested parties in this process is broader than most mineral sector consultations:

• Mining companies and mineral research firms: primarily interested in maintaining or clarifying confidentiality protections for commercially sensitive geological and economic data.

• Academic and research institutions: frequent users of geological and territorial data who stand to gain from expanded open access provisions.

• Federal oversight bodies (TCU, MPF) and environmental agencies: focused on ensuring that confidentiality protections do not obstruct accountability, enforcement, or environmental monitoring functions.

• Investors and market analysts: need reliable access to production and reserve data to make capital allocation decisions, and are disadvantaged by opaque or unpredictable information regimes.

• Press and civil society organisations: rely on accessible process information for investigative reporting and sector monitoring.

• Affected communities and landowners (superficiários): hold a fundamental right to information about mining activities that may affect their land, environment, and livelihoods.

How to Submit Contributions: Step-by-Step

1. Visit the Brasil Participativo platform at brasilparticipativo.presidencia.gov.br/processes/informacao-anm

2. Log in using a Gov.br account (mandatory for submission)

3. Review the thematic axes of the consultation published by the ANM

4. Prepare and submit your contribution before 10 June 2026

5. Monitor the subsequent publication of the AIR subsidy report and the progression toward a revised resolution

Participation is open to any individual, legal entity, or institution. The Gov.br login requirement applies to contribution submissions, not to reviewing consultation materials.

The Central Tensions in Brazil's Mineral Data Governance Debate

When Secrecy Becomes a Structural Problem

Carla Viganigo Castilho, ANM Manager of Data Governance, Document Management, and Memory, has noted that the current resolution was built within an institutional context that no longer exists, and that revision allows the agency to reduce conceptual ambiguities and strengthen criteria for information classification and treatment.

Those ambiguities are not abstract. After six years of application, specific pressure points have emerged:

• Categories whose boundaries are insufficiently defined, creating inconsistent outcomes across similar requests.

• Procedural requirements that create barriers for legitimate users without meaningfully protecting commercially sensitive information.

• Gaps in how classified information can legally flow between public institutions, creating silos that impede policy coordination.

• Misalignment between digital information practices and rules designed for analogue administrative processes.

The Dual Risk of Getting the Balance Wrong

The revision faces a genuine dilemma in both directions. An excessively permissive approach to transparency could expose legitimate commercial intelligence, discourage investment in costly geological research, and create first-mover disadvantages for companies that share data through regulatory compliance. Detailed reserve estimates, exploration methodologies, and economic modelling embedded in technical reports represent years of investment and competitive positioning.

Conversely, overly broad confidentiality protections create their own set of risks:

• Reduced capacity for oversight bodies to detect irregularities or verify compliance.

• Impaired ability for researchers, civil society, and communities to participate meaningfully in decisions affecting mineral resources.

• Weakened investor confidence in the reliability and completeness of information available about Brazilian mineral assets.

• Diminished attractiveness of Brazil relative to competing jurisdictions with more transparent and predictable data regimes.

ANM Superintendent of Mineral Economics Inara Barbosa has articulated the positive case for transparency: structured and accessible information strengthens economic studies, territorial analyses, state planning, and the understanding of mineral activity across the country, and regulatory improvement must account for this context.

Transparency and Investment Attractiveness: A Relationship Worth Quantifying

Brazil's competitive position in global mining investment is directly connected to the quality of its regulatory information environment. Major institutional investors and junior mining companies alike conduct regulatory risk assessments as part of their capital allocation processes. A jurisdiction where data access rules are ambiguous, inconsistently applied, or excessively restrictive introduces a risk premium that affects both the cost and the volume of investment.

The revision of the secrecy framework therefore carries implications well beyond administrative efficiency. A cleaner, more predictable information regime has the potential to reduce transaction costs for companies navigating the system, improve the quality of third-party analysis available to investors, and signal that Brazil's regulatory environment is modernising in line with international standards. In this context, considerations around natural capital in mining operations are increasingly influencing how data transparency is valued by the investment community.

Comparative Interests Across Stakeholder Groups

Frequently Asked Questions About the ANM Information Secrecy Review

What Exactly Is Being Reviewed, and Why Now?

Resolução ANM nº 01/2019 governs which documents in mineral administrative processes can be treated as confidential and under what conditions. It is being reviewed because the regulatory, technological, and legal context has changed significantly since 2019, particularly with the consolidation of the LAI and LGPD frameworks and the expansion of digital information tools in the sector.

Is Mineral Information Normally Secret by Default?

No. With two exceptions (Kimberley Certificate and CFEM processes), secrecy is never automatic. The mineral right holder must file a formal, justified request, and the ANM must approve it. Absent such a request, documents are publicly accessible by default.

Who Can Participate in the Tomada de Subsídios?

Any individual, company, academic institution, civil society organisation, or public body can participate via the Brasil Participativo platform using a Gov.br account. There is no restriction on the type of entity or professional background required.

How Will Contributions Be Used?

All contributions received during the 30-day window will be systematised and used as evidence for constructing the Análise de Impacto Regulatório (AIR). This AIR will in turn form the technical and participatory foundation for drafting the revised resolution.

What Happens After the Tomada de Subsídios Closes?

The ANM will consolidate contributions, complete the AIR, and proceed to a formal Consulta Pública on a draft revised resolution before the ANM's Board of Directors approves and publishes the final norm.

Could the Revision Affect How Investors Access Brazilian Mineral Data?

A clearer, more predictable secrecy framework is likely to reduce information asymmetries that currently complicate due diligence for investors. Greater precision in classification criteria and improved data interoperability between public institutions could enhance the quality of publicly available information about Brazilian mineral production and reserves. This is particularly relevant given the growing focus on critical raw materials transition and the strategic value of reliable mineral data.

What Comes Next: The Regulatory Pathway Ahead

Expected Sequence of Events After 10 June 2026

The closure of the Tomada de Subsídios marks the beginning of a multi-stage process rather than its conclusion:

1. Consolidation phase: ANM technical teams systematise and analyse contributions received across stakeholder categories.

2. AIR preparation: The formal Análise de Impacto Regulatório is constructed using the collected evidence, mapping impacts across affected groups and evaluating alternative regulatory approaches.

3. Consulta Pública: A draft revised resolution is published for a second round of public input, this time on a specific normative text rather than on the open-ended question of what the norm should address.

4. Board approval: The ANM's Conselho de Administração deliberates on and approves the final revised resolution.

5. Publication and implementation: The new norm enters into force, with potential transition provisions for pending confidentiality requests under the current resolution.

Indicators to Monitor Throughout the Process

The quality and ambition of the revised regulation can be assessed across several dimensions as the process unfolds. For instance, the mining claims framework debates in other jurisdictions offer useful comparative lessons on how information access rules evolve alongside broader regulatory reform. Key indicators include:

• Participation breadth: The diversity of stakeholder categories represented in the Tomada de Subsídios contributions will signal whether the process captured the full range of affected interests.

• Precision of new classification criteria: Whether the revised norm introduces measurable, objective thresholds for confidentiality eligibility rather than broad discretionary categories.

• Interoperability provisions: Whether new rules actively enable data sharing between the ANM and other public institutions, research bodies, and transparency platforms.

• LGPD alignment: The degree to which data protection principles are explicitly integrated into mineral administrative information management.

• Open data impact: Whether the revision produces measurable improvements in the volume and usability of publicly available mineral sector data.

The revisão de sigilo de informações da ANM represents one of the most consequential regulatory exercises in Brazilian mineral governance in years. Its outcome will shape the information environment for the sector across a wide range of stakeholders for years to come. The 30-day window closing on 10 June 2026 is a rare opportunity for structured influence over that outcome.

Readers seeking to follow the regulatory debate around mineral sector transparency and information access in Brazil can find ongoing specialised coverage at Brasil Mineral, which tracks ANM regulatory developments and the Conselho Nacional de Política Mineral on a regular basis.

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