Page 94 - Economia Azul - versão: inglês

tional Seabed Authority, and the under- IV. Survey and mapping of areas with oc- agreement between the SGB-CPRM and the blocks contracted between the SGB-CPRM
taking of deep water research (X PSRM). currences of marine phosphorite depos- International Seabed Authority (ISA), spon- and the Authority in 2015.
Included in these programs, the main its in the region, with emphasis on the sored by Brazil. The 2015 contract covered Thus, according to More (2018), from the
marine geology projects of the SG-CPRM, continental shelf of Santa Catarina and an area represented by 150 blocks, with 20 2018 Proposal onwards, the RGR changed
Rio Grande do Sul (Phosphorite Project),
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completed or in the execution phase, with especially on the Rio Grande terrace, km each, making a total of 30,000 km , as from the area’s legal regime to the continen-
emphasis on the object of this study in with results were presented in the Ma- highlighted in yellow in Figure 3. tal shelf’s legal regime. As a result, barium
item (vii), are rine Mineral Resources Report entitled According to articles 1 (1), 133, and 136 (Ba), cerium (Ce), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu),
I. Geology of the South Atlantic, with “Prospecting and Exploration Project for (a) of the United Nations Convention on lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), tho-
rium (Th), tellurium (Te), titanium (Ti), vana-
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the RGR was
data organized in a Geographic Infor- Marine Phosphorite Deposits on the Bra- dium (V) and zinc (Zn) embedded in the co-
mation System, more recognized by its zilian Legal Continental Shelf (acronym under the Area legal regime: all resources
acronym in English: GIS (Geographic In- REMPLAC in Portuguese)” 4 at or beneath the seabed (soil and subsoil) balt-rich crusts of the RGR passed under the
formation System); V. Survey, geological mapping and assess- were “common heritage of humanity.” jurisdiction and sovereignty of Brazil.
The legal regime over the RGR changed
At this point it is important to highlight:
II. Geology of the Brazilian Legal Conti- ment of the mineral potential of areas of by a supervening fact in December 2018, until the 2018 Proposal is definitively ex-
nental Shelf and Adjacent Oceanic Ar- economic and strategic importance for which three years later (2021) would justify hausted by Brazil before the Commission
eas, with data also organized in GIS; the Brazilian State, in particular with a on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, the
view to mapping the deposits of cobalt and result in Brazil’s decision to withdraw
III. Geological survey and assessment crusts from the Rio Grande Rise and other sponsorship from the contract with the Au- RGR is under the jurisdiction and sover-
of mineral potential in coastal area and mineral substances, and data related to thority and, simultaneously, in the termina- eignty of Brazil. Therefore, the RGR is no
shallow continental shelf (30-meter iso- the geological, palaeoceanographic and tion of the contract by the SGB -CPRM. longer legally and geographically under the
bath), in particular of siliciclastic and geophysics (PROERG-REMPLAC - Project In December 2018, Brazil submitted a Authority’s powers and functions. All the
bioclastic marine aggregates (Platafor- Cobalt Crusts of the Rio Grande Rise). Revised Partial Proposal for the Eastern and living and non-living resources of the RGR,
ma Rasa do Brasil Project), being carried and therefore all the minerals, are, in an
out in the states: Ceará, Rio Grande do VI. Survey and identification of occurrenc- Southern Margin (2018 Submission) to
Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas es of hydrothermal vents near the axis the CLCS, as provided in article 76 of the exclusive way, under the sovereign right of
and around the island platform of the of the equatorial mid-Atlantic ridge and UNCLOS and article 8 of Annex II of the Brazil as provided for in article 77 of the
Fernando de Noronha Archipelago. Par- associated transform faults. Projeto de same Convention. The Submission has as UNCLOS. As a result of the geographical
tial results published in the Marine Min- Prospecção e Exploração de Sulfetos Poli- its object the region of the Vitória-Trindade location of the RGR beyond the limit of
eral Resources Reports and maps with metálicos da Cordilheira Meso-Atlântica – Chain (at the height of Espírito Santo), the 200 nautical miles, there is also the obliga-
the potential of marine granules in the PROCORDILHEIRA (Project for Prospecting Santa Catarina plateau and the Rio Grande tion to contribute to the ISA according to
surveyed areas, available in the CPRM and Exploration of Polymetallic Sulfides in Rise (RGR). As can be seen in Figure 3, the article 82, when and in the manner defined
Institutional Geosciences Repository; 3 the Mid-Atlantic Cordillera) – PROAREA. polygon presented by Brazil covered all the by the State parties.
3. RGR: the particularities of territorial space 4. RGR ‘s potential mining resources

The RGR is highlighted by the red poly- continental shelf of Brazil, as a natural What is known about RGR ‘s mining collected samples and collected data and
gon in Figure 2. It is a positive geological extension of the continental margin, as potential? The SGB-CPRM has conduct- information whose analyzes were part of
feature, an elevation that projects 4,000 m proposed by Brazil to the Commission on ed mineral surveys and research at RGR the annual reports contractually required
from the ocean floor to a depth of 600 m the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) since 2010 as preparatory studies that in- by the ISA, as part of the duty to share
from the adjacent surface, located ap- in 2018 (BRASIL, 2018). tegrated the Work Plan of the agreement scientific knowledge. At the same time,
proximately 1,100 km off the coast of Between November 2015 and December signed in 2015 with the ISA. there are are still reports and analysis
Rio Grande do Sul. The estimated area 2021, the exploration of cobalt-rich crusts Throughout the agreement (2015- pending by the SGB-CPRM, even after

is 1 million km .The RGR integrates the at RGR was the subject of an exploration 2021), the SGB-CPRM analyzed past data, the advent of the contract termination,
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92 BLUE ECONOMY Blue Amazon: The Rio Grande Rise 93