The future of battery metals might be buried at the bottom of the ocean. And there’s a publicly traded company who is proving it for the first time ever.
What’s happening:
- The Metals Company (NASDAQ: TMC) has announced they have successfully produced the world’s first cobalt sulphate from the mining and extraction of deep sea polymetallic nodules
How it works:
- Polymetallic nodules lie at the ocean floor and contain cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese
- Polymetallic nodules can take millions of years to actually form and come from precipitating metals from seawater and sediment pore water
- These mineral concentrations contain metals that can be extracted and recovered for the purpose of producing new batteries
Why it matters:
- Polymetallic nodules may be one of the most abundant sources of battery grade metals in existence, due to their high concentrations of minerals that are essential for both new battery production and the energy transition as a whole
Going deeper:
- The Metals Company previously announced that they had recovered battery grade nickel from the ocean floor, which was verified by independent testing company SGS
The fine print:
- Deep sea mining is highly controversial, as many scientists believe the ultimate consequences of disturbing the ocean floor are unknown and may affect the natural ecosystem of the ocean permanently
