Deep sea mining may end US reliance on China, enviro concerns remain

The quest for a truly American-made electric vehicle (EV) faces a significant hurdle: the dependency on imported minerals, with China controlling the lion’s share of the supply. However, a growing new industry that involves sourcing these essential materials from the ocean floor could potentially shift this narrative.

The Metals Company (TMC) is one of the groups at the forefront of deep sea mining, with an aim of extracting polymetallic nodules rich in minerals crucial from the Pacific Ocean for EV production. Likened to a “battery in a rock,” the collection of nodules that TMC is after could power approximately 280 million EVs, nearly equivalent to the entire current U.S. passenger vehicle fleet.

“What we have alone from our resource in the Clarion Clipperton zone of the Pacific Ocean, is sufficient to bring the United States to independence in nickel, cobalt, and manganese,” Craig Shesky, chief financial officer at The Metals Company, told Straight Arrow News. “So, to take the U.S., effectively from no primary production of those three, to independence at all three, this really is a truly scalable solution.”

Despite the emissions reduction potential and domestic sourcing benefits, environmental groups like Greenpeace remain staunch critics. The group argues that the extraction process for these nodules may cause harm to marine ecosystems, outweighing the environmental benefits of transitioning to green technology.

From boarding one of The Metals Company’s deep sea mining vessels, to confronting industry representatives with a giant inflatable octopus, Greenpeace has been protesting against the extraction of these underwater resources.

“Greenpeace used to say that before this industry were to go forward, they want more science,” Shesky said. “TMC and others have been working to provide that science and actually show what the real effects are not based on speculation.”

In response, The Metals Company asserts that its approach is less environmentally impactful than current mining practices for obtaining these minerals on land. TMC said it has spent nearly $200 million over the last decade on environmental research campaigns. Those campaigns have found the process of nodule extracting to be less harmful to the surrounding ecosystems than initially expected.

“This is a resource located in the abyssal zone of the Pacific Ocean,” Shesky said. “That means it’s very deep. It’s very dark. There is no plant life, therefore, there’s limited animal life. Let’s go to the places on the planet with the least life rather than the most life. Because, think about where we go to get our nickel or cobalt today, you’re talking about biodiverse, carbon-storing rain forests, in the backyards of local communities who sometimes have to deal with the impacts for decades or hundreds of years following the closure of those mines.”

As debate over the environmental implications of deep sea mining continues, U.S. lawmakers are already taking legislative action, introducing the Responsible Use of Seafloor Resources Act. This proposed legislation seeks to allocate federal funds toward leveraging underwater resources while initiating comprehensive studies on the potential impacts on human health, the environment and technological advancement.

“It’s hard to pin a timeline on government actions,” Shesky said. “But, we feel that in the coming months are going to be a lot of potential catalysts, potentially with dollars attached to it from Washington, D.C., related to polymetallic nodules.”