Greenpeace visits Allseas offices
Today, protestors from Greenpeace demonstrated at our offices in Delft and Châtel-Saint-Denis, calling attention to Allseas’ involvement in deep-sea mining. The events lasted a few hours and took place without incident.
While it’s unfortunate to see our company face criticism, we appreciate that people have their opinions and objections. However, we are a responsible family company that believes our pioneering work in nodule collection and the offshore energy industry is necessary to meet growing energy demand and facilitate the energy transition.
Like many, we see a surging need for metals such as nickel, copper, and cobalt – primarily for batteries and the energy transition in general. Based on available research analysing the environmental and socio-economic impacts as well as the CO2 footprint, we are convinced that the recovery of polymetallic nodules from the seabed is a more sustainable option than existing land extraction methods.
If this is not the case – we stop.
The preliminary results of the research performed before, during and after our November 2022 pilot mining test, which TMC has shared with us, are very encouraging (the final reporting is expected in months from now).
We see restoration of life and activity on the seabed of the abyssal plane, apart – naturally – from the microbial life on a nodule that is brought to the surface. The amount of living biomass in our nodule fields is many times smaller than in a desert on land, let alone a tropical rainforest, where nickel laterites are mined.
Apart from seeing the restoration of life on the seabed already months after our tests, it is also important to mention that 43% of the CCZ is already set aside for protection and will remain untouched indefinitely. Furthermore, we will avoid areas with more ecological activity in the license areas we work in. The CCZ accounts for only a small portion of the total global surface area containing nodules. It would take hundreds of years just to collect the allowed nodules from the CCZ alone.
Both the benthic (seafloor) and the pelagic (midwater) plumes flocculate and precipitate faster than expected. Initial in-field data shows a very localised and limited seafloor plume impact, with 92-98% of sediment staying within 2 metres of the seafloor, and a limited and very diluted midwater plume, released far deeper than fisheries.
There is also still room for improvement to reduce the impact further by refining our design. Moreover, all of this will be carefully monitored and reported to the ISA during future operational activities.
Does this mean zero impact? Unfortunately, not. Little we do as mankind is without impact to the environment.
Although recycling should play an important role in meeting future demand of critical metals, the necessary technology and capacity is currently lacking. With our efforts in this industry, we contribute to a circular value chain which makes further mining of the planet unnecessary within a few decades.