The New Frontier of Brazilian Mining Is 3,000 Meters Deep in the South Atlantic — And It May Hide Billions in Nickel, Copper, and Cobalt

Written by Valdemar Medeiros

Published on 02/07/2025 at 06:42

Foto: IA

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Brazil Studies Exploring Valuable Metals Like Nickel and Cobalt at 3,000 Meters Deep in the Elevation of Rio Grande, in the South Atlantic.

Imagine a submerged mountain range larger than many Brazilian states, hidden beneath the deep waters of the South Atlantic and rich in metals that power electric cars, satellites, turbines, and even defense systems. This is the Elevation of Rio Grande, an oceanic plateau that could turn Brazil into a global powerhouse of deep-sea mining — and it has been studied quietly for over a decade.

While the global race for lithium, niobium, and rare earths advances on solid ground, Brazil holds a billion-dollar treasure beneath its waters: polymetallic crusts and nodules filled with nickel, cobalt, copper, and critical elements for the energy transition. And at 3,000 meters deep, this new frontier is starting to be explored.

A Submarine Mountain with Geological History — and Enormous Economic Potential

The Elevation of Rio Grande (ERG) is a submerged geological formation that extends over approximately 150,000 km², up to 1,500 km from the coast of Brazil, in front of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. In comparative terms, it is a larger area than the entire state of Ceará.

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CPRM and Navy: The Brazilians Who Are Already Studying Deep Mining

Since 2009, the Geological Survey of Brazil (CPRM), in partnership with the Brazilian Navy and the CIRM (Interministerial Committee for Marine Resources), has been conducting scientific expeditions to the region. There have been dozens of missions with ships equipped with sonar, bottom dredgers, and submersible robots, mapping the seabed with very high resolution.

The goal: to identify, map, and quantify the mineral reserves of interest for future exploration requests to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN-related agency.

In 2013, Brazil formalized a request to the UN to extend its continental shelf and secure sovereignty over part of the Elevation of Rio Grande. The expectation was to include the ERG within the so-called “Blue Amazon” — the country’s strategic maritime area.

Seabed Metals: The New Global Rush Has Already Begun

The extraction of critical metals in the open sea is no longer science fiction. Countries like Japan, China, France, and Canada are already testing technologies to collect crusts and nodules at depths exceeding 3,000 meters.

Private companies like The Metals Company and GSR (Global Sea Mineral Resources) are already operating prototypes of underwater harvesters that scrape the nodules from the seabed, sending them through pipes to platform ships. Japan has successfully extracted zinc, gold, and silver from hydrothermal sources at 1,600 meters.

And why does this matter?

Because the metals contained in these submarine deposits are considered irreplaceable in the global clean energy chain. Cobalt and nickel, for example, are essential for electric car batteries. Copper is essential in any electrical system — and demand is expected to explode by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

How Much Can the Elevation of Rio Grande Be Worth?

Although there is no official estimate, studies from CPRM indicate that the area may contain millions of tons of metals, including nickel and cobalt with a higher purity grade than continental deposits.

Only in cobalt crusts, studies indicate more than 10 kg/m² in some regions. Considering the high price of these metals (cobalt: approximately US$ 60,000/ton), the potential value of the ERG could exceed tens of billions of dollars.

Brazil, therefore, holds not only a valuable economic reserve but a strategic asset in light of the global mineral supply crisis.

Submarine Mining: Opportunity or Environmental Bomb?

While critical metals are essential to a green economy, deep-sea mining still faces strong environmental resistance. Deep marine ecosystems are fragile, often millennia old, and scraping nodules or crusts can cause irreversible impacts.

Organizations such as Greenpeace, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, and even the UN warn that unregulated ocean mining could lead to a new form of global devastation — silent, invisible, and difficult to repair.

For this reason, no country has yet begun commercial exploration in international waters. The International Seabed Authority is still discussing a regulatory framework for the sector, and many are calling for a global moratorium.

Is Brazil Going to Explore or Preserve?

Brazil is still in the phase of scientific research. CPRM has already prepared maps, collected samples, and submitted reports to the UN. But extraction still depends on:

Recognition of the continental shelf’s extent by the UN;
Creation of a national regulatory framework for marine mining;
Development of proprietary technologies or in partnership with global consortia;
Detailed assessment of environmental impacts.

In practice, this means that mining at the Elevation of Rio Grande is not expected to start before 2030, at the earliest. But studies already position Brazil among the countries with the greatest potential in the race for deep-sea resources.

Why This Matters: A New Cycle for National Mining

If confirmed viable, the Elevation of Rio Grande could be the starting point for a new development cycle for Brazil. Just as the pre-salt revolutionized the energy sector, deep mining could transform the country into a global supplier of strategic metals — with a leading role in energy transition and mineral geopolitics.

But the challenge is not just technological. It is also political, environmental, and strategic.

Brazil will need to balance sovereignty with responsibility, ambition with prudence — and, above all, avoid repeating historical mistakes of exporting raw wealth and importing refined technology.

The new gold rush will not be in the mountains: it will be on the seabed.

The New Frontier of Brazilian Mining Is 3,000 Meters Deep in the South Atlantic — And It May Hide Billions in Nickel, Copper, and Cobalt

Brazil Studies Exploring Valuable Metals Like Nickel and Cobalt at 3,000 Meters Deep in the Elevation of Rio Grande, in the South Atlantic.

A Submarine Mountain with Geological History — and Enormous Economic Potential

CPRM and Navy: The Brazilians Who Are Already Studying Deep Mining

Seabed Metals: The New Global Rush Has Already Begun

How Much Can the Elevation of Rio Grande Be Worth?

Submarine Mining: Opportunity or Environmental Bomb?

Is Brazil Going to Explore or Preserve?

Why This Matters: A New Cycle for National Mining

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The New Frontier of Brazilian Mining Is 3,000 Meters Deep in the South Atlantic — And It May Hide Billions in Nickel, Copper, and Cobalt

Brazil Studies Exploring Valuable Metals Like Nickel and Cobalt at 3,000 Meters Deep in the Elevation of Rio Grande, in the South Atlantic.

A Submarine Mountain with Geological History — and Enormous Economic Potential

CPRM and Navy: The Brazilians Who Are Already Studying Deep Mining

Seabed Metals: The New Global Rush Has Already Begun

How Much Can the Elevation of Rio Grande Be Worth?

Submarine Mining: Opportunity or Environmental Bomb?

Is Brazil Going to Explore or Preserve?

Why This Matters: A New Cycle for National Mining

While an average building in London or New York takes three years to be completed, in China a 26-story tower went up in five days with about 100 workers, and the global modular construction market already moves US$ 95 billion per year.

A Chinese factory in Guangdong is assembling a humanoid robot every 30 minutes while Tesla, Figure, and Boston Dynamics still struggle to deliver 10 thousand per year.

Australia installs giant concrete structures on the seabed 800 meters from the shore to create an ocean intake for desalination that will draw in saltwater and produce 30 million liters of drinking water per day.

Secret chamber sealed 4,500 years ago found in the Pyramid of Khufu, and Hawass announces its opening to the world in 2026

A public school student single-handedly created a machine capable of treating water for up to 50 people using only solar energy. It was awarded third place at one of the most important science fairs in the world.

Germany installed vertical solar panels on a lake in Bavaria, and the result broke conventional logic: instead of producing energy at midday peak, the plant generates more early in the morning and in the evening, exactly when families turn on appliances and factories are in full swing.

While communities suffer from water scarcity and the advancing desert, women in Morocco use nets high up in the mountains to trap fog droplets, fill reservoirs, and transport drinking water through more than 10 km of piping.

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