B.C. company watching closely as opposition grows to deep-sea mining
Global News
Deep-sea mining could provide a wealth of minerals for electric vehicle batteries, but conservationists fear it will cause irreversible environmental damage.
A Vancouver company is trying to navigate difficult political and environmental currents, amid a growing debate over the future of deep-sea mining.
It comes amid a high-stakes international meeting in Jamaica that could have lasting effects on access to what some believe to be the key future source of key minerals used for electric vehicle batteries.
B.C.-based mining enterprise The Metals Company is hoping to exploit a large deposit of what are known as polymetallic nodules located in what’s known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone near the Hawaiian archipelago.
“It’s conceivable that the supply from this resource could become the number one provider of battery metals for those important ingredients,” The Metals Company chairman and CEO Gerard Barron told Global News.
Located 4,000 metres below sea level, the small, potato-shaped nodules are rich in cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese, and could go a long way towards meeting growing demand for electric vehicle batteries.
But there’s also growing opposition to mining the sea floor.
“These nodules have taken millions of years to form, they are in ecosystems that are very slow moving, very deep seas — the impacts on biodiversity are irreversible,” said Susanna Fuller, vice-president with conservation group Oceans North.
The International Seabed Authority is currently meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, to come up with regulations to allow deep sea mining as early as 2024.