Key points
- TMC says up to 98% of sediment stirred up during nodule collection settles back to the seafloor, with more than 95% of entrained sediment resettling within 1-2 kilometers of the collector vehicle.
- The company’s environmental manager, Dr. Michael Clarke, says biodiversity impacts are confined to the directly mined area, with no significant change detected in plume-affected zones.
- Foraminifera populations recovered to 30% of pre-disturbance density and 50% of diversity within 12 months of test mining, according to TMC’s monitoring data.
- Nearly half of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is already protected, and TMC describes its mining footprint as a mosaic of nodule-collected and untouched areas rather than habitat destruction.
