Canada-based DeepGreen Metals is defending its plan to mine battery metals from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in a public letter to BMW, Volvo, Google and Samsung SDI. It suggested that the four companies might change their minds after reviewing the scientific evidence, Kallanish reports.

Those four firms have signed a petition by the World Wildlife Fund calling for a ban on such mining or the collection of polymetallic nodules on the ocean floor. That news emerged last week. The unattached nodules are rich in nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese.

DeepGreen Metals says its mining from a depth of 4,000 metres would have less impacts than mining on land would have on wildlife and the environment. There is far less life at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean than elsewhere on the globe, especially Indonesia and the Phillipines where undeveloped nickel deposits exist, it says. The company with headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, says it is approaching such drilling cautiously and with scientific planning. Carbon emissions would also be far less if the project is commissioned, it says.

“DeepGreen shares the goal of BMW, Volvo, Google, WWF and others for achieving a net-zero-emissions future while protecting the oceans and other ecosystems from climate change. Reducing emissions from the transportation sector and energy storage are key to protecting these ecosystems,” the company says.

Carmakers like BMW and Volvo that are pledging to go all-electric “should focus sourcing decisions on actual indicators of impact once they see the full data, they will most likely reconsider,” it says. Recycling may be unable to provide enough battery metals in the future and greenfield mining will still be required, it says.

The issues raised including overall environmental impacts “are important and warrant rich discussion and debate,” DeepGreen says. A life cycle sustainability analysis on battery metals supports the company’s deep-sea mining plans. “Finally, the science that WWF is calling for is the same science we are doing. No extraction of ocean nodules can take place until rigorous, multi-year environmental impact studies are conducted, vetted, reviewed and approved.”

Such mining can be blocked after the scientific review by the International Seabed Authority, not the WWF, DeepGreen says. It says it is willing to meet with officials of the four companies to discuss the matter.

“You will need to own the impacts of your growing battery supply chain and we can walk you through the ESG data that define the trade-offs before us as we decarbonise the economy,” it says,

DeepGreen says it plans to begin producing EV batteries in 2024. Critics say the plan is untested and the environmental impacts are unknown.