March 21, 2025 — Critical minerals expert Constantine Karayannopoulos delivered powerful insights at PDAC 2025 during an InvestorNews.com interview with Tracy Hughes, pinpointing Brazil as a prime investment destination due to its aggressive government-backed industrial strategy. Emphasizing the magnitude of Brazil’s financial commitment, Karayannopoulos highlighted, “The Brazilian government is developing an industrial strategy with a lot of money behind it—in the order of billions,” particularly directed towards rare earths and lithium. Further reinforcing Brazil’s appeal, he confidently asserted, “Brazil has clays at least as good and perhaps better than what South China and now Myanmar, Vietnam, etc. have,” forecasting significant breakthroughs for the critical minerals sector in the region.
Addressing speculation about critical minerals in Ukraine, Karayannopoulos offered a sobering perspective, cautioning against premature excitement due to the lack of verified economically recoverable deposits. He described the discourse surrounding Ukraine’s mineral potential as “rather surreal,” pointing out that meaningful development would require “five years at least from when we start, and tens of millions of dollars.” Instead, he firmly advocated prioritizing proven jurisdictions like Canada, the United States, Australia, and Brazil, remarking, “You’re not going to get those [critical minerals] from Ukraine,” and urged strategic allocation of efforts and investments to more promising regions to effectively compete globally.
Karayannopoulos also provided clarity on the perceived urgency surrounding niche elements like gallium, germanium, and antimony, calling attention instead to the undeniable necessity of lithium and rare earth elements. Dismissing the complexities around gallium production, he remarked that “$50 million will build you a world-class gallium production facility,” underscoring that these smaller-volume metals are manageable. In contrast, he cautioned that lithium and rare earth markets face deeper structural challenges, predicting lithium shortages as early as late 2025, transitioning into a prolonged deficit toward 2028-2030. He affirmed, “We’re not mining enough. We’re not producing enough lithium,” forecasting significant price volatility as markets swing from “feast to famine.”
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