Key points
- DeepFocus, a Portuguese startup founded in 2023, uses machine learning workflows to generate predictive maps for polymetallic nodules, crusts and seafloor massive sulfides, presented by CEO Joao Carvalho.
- In a 300,000 square kilometer Clarion-Clipperton Zone assessment, the company’s nodule abundance model shows an error of about 5 kilograms per square meter and accuracy above 70 percent.
- Excluding contracted and protected areas, DeepFocus’s analysis of a 1.8 million square kilometer CCZ area finds at least 33 percent with nodule abundance above 8 kilograms per square meter and nickel-plus-copper grades above 2.2 percent.
- A study of a 250,000 square kilometer area on the northern equatorial Mid-Atlantic Ridge (7 to 16 degrees north) found only 50 percent of the zone permissive for seafloor massive sulfides, identifying four target areas with copper grades between 4 and 12 percent.
