Key points
- Company data cite over 300 scientific expeditions and roughly 9,000 days of research collected in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone over more than 40 years, ahead of any commercial mining.
- If every CCZ mining lease were worked, that would cover 0.4% of the abyssal plain globally, according to TMC.
- TMC says mining leases are not strip-mined but worked in a mosaic of collected and untouched patches, and untouched areas are not significantly affected by sediment plumes.
- Test mining data show foraminifera acting as pioneer species that rapidly recolonize disturbed seafloor, recovering to 30% of pre-disturbance density and 50% of diversity within 12 months.
