Private Companies

Key points CEO and co-founder Oliver Gunasekara tells host Eric Young that Impossible Metals designed its nodule collection system from scratch, replacing the dredging tractors and riser systems used in deep sea mining since the 1970s with autonomous, battery-powered robots. The Eureka 3…

Key points Impossible Metals and BGR announce the Eureka 3 pilot collector will not be ready for the early 2026 test as planned; the test is postponed to 2027 or 2028. Eureka 3 is a 6,000-meter-rated AUV about the size of a 20-foot shipping container, with 11 collection arms, a four-ton…

Key points SGS piloted high-pressure acid leaching on CCZ polymetallic nodules and achieved 99% nickel recovery, mid-90s recovery for cobalt and copper, while selectively rejecting manganese, iron, and aluminum into the leach residue. Three hydrometallurgical routes are under consideration…

Key points Jake Russell, CEO of Orpheus Ocean, discusses the Orpheus AUV, an autonomous underwater vehicle developed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Lab for deep-sea surveying and sampling. A fleet of five Orpheus AUVs achieves roughly three…