The Metals Company Completes Latest Deep-Sea Research Sampling Campaign
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The Metals Company has completed its latest offshore research campaign, Environmental Expedition 5E, a targeted sampling campaign of both benthic and pelagic fauna with wider investigations to characterize ecosystem function on the abyssal seafloor.
The completion of the six-week expedition — the company’s fifth environmental campaign in the last twelve months — marks the latest offshore campaign required to develop an environmental baseline of the company’s proposed operating environment in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the Pacific Ocean and characterize the potential impacts of its proposed nodule collection operations to source critical battery metals from deep-sea polymetallic nodules. In 2022, the company will conduct an initial prototype collector vehicle manoeuvrability test in the Atlantic Ocean, followed by pilot collection system trials in the CCZ later in the year.
“With five research campaigns under our belts in the last twelve months, the all-star research teams we’ve brought together are helping build a high-resolution picture of the potential impacts of collecting nodules. This data will enable our engineering and project teams to optimize our activities for low impact and ensure that we lift the nodules to the surface with the lightest possible touch,” said Gerard Barron, CEO and chairman of The Metals Company.
Aboard the Maersk Launcher were researchers from some of the world’s leading marine science institutions including the UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Marine Technology (JAMSTEC), Natural History Museum (London), Heriot-Watt University, and the University of Gothenburg, who deployed a range of cutting-edge technologies including a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and an array of seafloor landers.
Over the course of more than 390 ROV operational hours, researchers from the UK National Oceanography Centre conducted visual observations of over 30-square-kilometers of seafloor, capturing more than 35,000 high-resolution images and extensive video data which will be used to identify megafauna at depths of 4,000 meters. Whereas prior campaigns utilized randomized boxcore sampling to obtain macrofaunal samples, the technologies used for Expedition 5E allowed the team to conduct highly targeted sampling of benthic macro and megafauna and to focus on species of particular scientific interest.
To explore the gelatinous communities that occupy the midwater column , the pelagic team led by JAMSTEC supplemented traditional sampling methods such as nets with ROV mounted video to conduct 130 video transects at various depths, and used specialized D-samplers and the ROV’s suction sampler to collect specimens.
A team led by Heriot-Watt University used an array of seafloor landers, including seabed respirometers and baited traps and cameras, to collect a wide range of data to assess ecosystem function on the abyssal seafloor. In total, just under 1,200 tissue and specimen samples were collected throughout the campaign, contributing to a variety of baseline studies including DNA and morphological taxonomy, population genetics, ecotoxicology and ecosystem function.
About The Metals Company
TMC the metals company Inc. (The Metals Company) is an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, on a dual mission: (1) supply metals for the clean energy transition with the least possible negative environmental and social impact and (2) accelerate the transition to a circular metal economy. The company through its subsidiaries holds exploration rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed Authority and sponsored by the governments of Nauru, Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga.
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