Early October, The Metals Company commenced the next phase of an extensive environmental baseline and impact monitoring campaign in preparation for the company’s subsidiary NORI’s ongoing pilot nodule collection system trials (“geoexpro.com: Green Light for NORI”).
Aboard a dedicated monitoring vessel, scientists recently conducted pre-disturbance monitoring studies on a sub-section of the NORI-D exploration area to establish an environmental baseline for nodule collection.
NORI’s offshore strategic partner, Allseas, is now operating a system consisting of a prototype nodule collector at the seafloor connected to a riser system to bring nodules to the surface production vessel (Hidden Gem).
At Deep Sea Minerals 2022 in Bergen, October 25-27, Kamila Mianowics, Senior Specialist on Environmental Procedural Standards at Interoceanmetal Joint Organization will give an overview of baseline studies concerning polymetallic nodules.
At the same conference, The Metals Company will give three talks: Public Perception Status: Narratives Propagated About the Industry, by Erika Ilves, Chief Strategy Officer, Pyrometallurgical and Future Zero-Waste Processing of CCZ Polymetallic Nodules by Jeffrey Donald, Head of On-Shore Development and Lifecycle Analysis by Erica Ocampo, Chief Sustainability Officer.
“Testing of a fully integrated nodule collection system is a landmark event in the progression of our nascent industry. The environmental data we collect from the test will be key to defining and quantifying the key environmental impacts of our nodule collection process, which up to this point have been subject to speculation and conjecture,” says Dr Michael Clarke, Environmental Program Manager at The Metals Company.
Having established a baseline of the NORI-D collector test area, scientists will proceed to monitor the environmental impacts of deployment and testing of the fully integrated nodule collection system. They will also undertake post-collection surveys to compare the status of the environment before and after the test. The data collected, together with many terabytes of existing baseline data collected by NORI throughout 16 offshore campaigns, will form the basis of NORI’s application to the International Seabed Authority for an exploitation contract, which the Company expects to submit in the second half of 2023.
About The Metals Company
The Metals Company is an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, on a dual mission: (1) supply metals for the clean energy transition with the least possible negative environmental and social impact and (2) accelerate the transition to a circular metal economy. The Company through its subsidiaries holds exploration and commercial rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed Authority and sponsored by the governments of Nauru, Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga.
HALFDAN CARSTENS
