Scott Vincent 
At least nine tailings dam failures have occurred in the first few months of the year at mining sites across three continents. These failures have threatened the health of millions of people, contaminated food and fresh water supplies, killed workers, and left toxic residue behind that will never go away. Seabed nodule harvesting offers an … Read more
A recent Nature study titled “Biomass carbon emissions from nickel mining have significant implications for climate action” reveals that current research and database metrics vastly underestimate the environmental impact of nickel mining. Specifically, the study found that the land use associated with nickel mining has been understated by a factor of 4 to 500. This … Read more
A recent study published in Nature demonstrated that after 44 years, a nodule harvesting site in the CCZ showed mixed recovery signals. The physical impacts from the vehicle tracks and from the missing nodules were still clearly evident. Yet, many of the environmental signals pointed to varying degrees of recovery. Densities for the smaller and … Read more
A yet-to-be peer-reviewed paper claims that the production of oxygen by polymetallic nodules through hydrolysis is not possible based on laws of physics. Specifically, the Dark Oxygen hypothesis requires that the 2nd law of thermodynamics be broken for hydrolysis to occur. The preprint version of that paper is located here (Link) (To be fair to … Read more
We were recently made aware that WWF’s support for the terrestrial mining industry extends much deeper than we reported in “Is WWF’s Campaign Against Deep Sea Mineral Extraction Corrupt?” It turns out that the group has invested in terrestrial mining companies – an odd strategy for a group that is supposedly dedicated to protecting biodiversity. … Read more
Is WWF protecting corporations at the expense of indigenous peoples & the environment? Summary The Ugly Truth Toward the end of the year, a number of news stories broke reminding us how car and technology companies, through their mineral purchases, may be fueling the death and illness of indigenous peoples, the theft of local mineral … Read more
EU Central Bank President, Mario Draghi, issued a report in September entitled, “The Future of European Competitiveness.” The need for the report was driven chiefly by the fact that the EU has lagged behind the United States and China when it comes to growth and investment – and is especially trailing in innovation. One of … Read more
A study by Andrew Sweetman and his team of researchers from Heriot-Watt University published on July 22, 2024, in Nature Geoscience citing evidence that polymetallic nodules produce oxygen – what Sweetman terms “dark oxygen.” Analysis of this report under “news and commentary” on COMRC ihttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01480-8nk
Andrew Sweetman and his team of researchers from Heriot-Watt University published an article on July 22, 2024, in Nature Geoscience, citing evidence that polymetallic nodules produce oxygen – what Sweetman terms “dark oxygen” – through electrolysis on the seafloor. Sweetman cites the fact that nodules possess high enough voltage potentials to explain this hypothesized electrolysis … Read more
Don’t blame a clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus. Dan Nielsen John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight show aired an anti-deep sea mining segment in early June, and the industry was understandably upset with its lopsided and misinformed content. The Metals Company tweeted that they had provided … Read more