Key points
- Impossible Metals announced plans to develop autonomous robotics for selective deep-sea nodule harvesting alongside a carbon-neutral, non-toxic metals refinery.
- The company became a founding supporter of BetterEV.org at COP26 in Glasgow on November 3, 2021, backing responsible metals sourcing for electric vehicles.
- CEO Oliver Gunasekara said the technology uses computer vision and AI to selectively harvest nodules while preserving seafloor habitat.
- Deep-sea ecologist Dr. Sandra Brooke, a signatory of the seabed mining science statement, endorsed the company’s approach to habitat preservation.
News Highlights:
- Impossible Metals is developing the technology to mine the seabed without causing serious harm, using the guidance of the Seabed Mining Science Statement
- Impossible Metals Inc is a public benefits corporation based in Silicon Valley that has secured funding to develop prototypes of an autonomous robotics collection system and a carbon neutral, non-toxic, metals refinery system
- Impossible Metals is a founding supporter of BetterEV.org, the statement for sustainable and responsible electric vehicles (EVs)
COP26, Glasgow, November 3, 2021 – Impossible Metals announces it is a founding supporter of BetterEV.org, the Statement for a Future of Sustainable and Responsible Electric Vehicles. The goal of the Statement is to promote innovation, investment, and collaboration from industry to deliver Responsible Metals to the EV market.
Impossible Metals Inc is a public benefits corporation that will deliver battery metals to the EV market by developing an autonomous robotics collection system for responsible deep sea mining and a carbon neutral, non-toxic, metals refinery system.
“Impossible Metals is planning to use 21st century technology, robotics, computer vision, autonomy and artificial intelligence to selectively harvest polymetallic nodules from the deep-sea floor, in a way that preserves the seafloor habitat and does not cause widespread impacts or habitat destruction” said Oliver Gunasekara, CEO and Co-Founder of Impossible Metals.“
Impossible Metals is using the concerns of the 617 marine science and policy experts who have signed the seabed mining science statement to guide its engineering and technology development, to ensure it will deliver Responsible Metals to the EV market. Dr Sandra Brooke, a signatory to that statement, supports a change in approach to this fledgling industry: “I am a deep sea ecologist, and I am appalled by the current concepts of deep sea mining, which use the archaic approach of wholesale ecosystem destruction. I fully support the development of innovative technologies that can facilitate sustainable mineral harvesting. It is not only good stewardship to do so, but ultimately a matter of survival.”
“The deep-sea mining industry should not be granted leave to mirror the impacts of terrestrial mining”, said Renee Grogan, Chief Sustainability Officer and Co-founder of Impossible Metals. “For an industry that has not yet begun, the bar should be set higher. Rather than banning deep-sea mining, let’s challenge the industry: Go back to the drawing board – design it in a way that doesn’t cause serious harm. That’s what Impossible Metals is aiming to achieve.”
