Money and geopolitics: all the moves of The Metals Company for the extraction of metals from the oceans
The Metals Company would like to receive public funds from the US government for the refining of metals taken from the seabed. The company presents its project as an alternative to China, but mining from the oceans is still at a standstill. All the details
The Metals Company, a Canadian company specializing in ocean-floor mining, is seeking access to US federal funds to finance its activities.
CEO Gerard Barron told Axios that the company has requested Washington's assistance in building a processing plant for raw material that it will take from the seabed: these are nodules (about the size of potatoes) containing nickel , cobalt, manganese and copper, all metals used in batteries or cables for transmitting electricity.
MONEY AND GEOPOLITICS
“America doesn't have any of those plants that could process our nodules,” Barron told Axios , explaining that he wants to “unlock” some of the “millions and billions of dollars of incentives” that Joe Biden's administration has allocated “to encourage the establishment of [critical minerals] refining processes within the United States.”
The director of The Metals Company was careful to present his request for financing from a geopolitical perspective, presenting the investment as an alternative to China. In fact, not only is Beijing the dominant country in the refining of nickel, cobalt, manganese and other critical metals for clean energy, but it is also investing in deep sea mining technologies. The United States considers the dependence on China on raw materials for the energy transition a risk for their economic security and has therefore developed programs to strengthen national supply chains.
Specifically, The Metals Company's request for funding refers to the Defense Department's Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law that Biden invoked in 2022 to spur the production of critical minerals in the United States.
WHAT DOES MINING FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR CONSIST OF
The Metals Company is trying to present ocean mining as an alternative with less impact on the environment compared to traditional processes, given that the richness and biological diversity in the deep seabed – which however is largely unknown – is lower than on the land.
The extraction processes of The Metals Company do not involve actual drilling of the ocean depths, but rather the suction of nodules positioned on the seabed to the surface. However, the movement of the company's robots and the dispersion of rocky sediments could cause the death of organisms living in these areas and the disruption of ecosystems.
The Metals Company would like to proceed with the exploitation of the Clarion-Clipperton area, a vast area of the Pacific Ocean between central Mexico and Hawaii which should contain enormous quantities of nickel, manganese, cobalt and copper.
THE AUTHORIZATION QUESTION
At the moment, however, The Metals Company and other companies in the sector are at a standstill. Mining from the ocean floor is not permitted until the International Seabed Authority, an intergovernmental body, has assessed the environmental impact of this activity and given its opinion.
The United States cannot directly participate in the Authority's vote because it has not ratified an international treaty on maritime activities, but it can still influence the body's decisions thanks to the good diplomatic relations it has with some member countries (starting with Canada, one close ally).
THE METALS COMPANY MOVES FORWARD
Meanwhile, The Metals Company moves forward. For example, it has entered into an agreement with PAMCO, a Japanese company, for the refining of metals taken from the seabed: the metals extracted from the nodules will also be able to access the tax credits for electric vehicles provided by the United States.
The Metals Company has also already agreed with the important automotive union United Automobile Workers (UAW) for neutrality on the possible unionization of its workers and is spending large sums on lobbying in Washington: at least 500,000 dollars from 2021, as reported by Axios .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/the-metals-company-estrazione-mineraria-oceani/ on Wed, 08 Nov 2023 12:38:34 +0000.