PROFILE
A sea of sustainabilty
“ Operating in an environmentally sound way is very important to us ,” says Mike . “ Mining companies are an easy target for people who don ’ t like mining or don ’ t want mining to happen – even on land .”
“ Our focus is to get that first project up and running and show the world that this thing is virtually invisible . We work closely with the regulator – we go above what ’ s required and try to set a high bar for sea floor mining . The impacts are already less than on land , but we try to manage things to a high standard . We have a much lower carbon footprint than traditional mining as we are using less energy .” He adds .
“ We ’ re also operating at depths well below where most of the marine life is . The hydraulic oils in our machines are all vegetable oils , so they ’ re biodegradable . Our noise monitoring is high and we sit well under natural levels . The metals occur on the seafloor , so unlike land mining you don ’ t have big waste dumps next to them . The ore is sent directly to China for processing and there are no tailings .”
Mike also adds that there is no need for the damming often associated with
10 A ugust 2016