The leader of one of the most aggressive seabed mining startups spent years invoking global warming to spark interest in extracting avocado-sized rocks rich in electric-vehicle battery metals from the bottom of the ocean.
¡°We want to help the world transition away from fossil fuels with the smallest possible climate change and environmental impact,¡± Gerard Barron, the Australian chief executive officer of a company then known as DeepGreen, told a 2019 meeting of the United Nations-affiliated International Seabed Authority, which for a decade has been debating regulations to allow the mining of untouched, biodiverse deep-sea ecosystems in global waters.
That¡¯s not Barron¡¯s pitch anymore. Climate was out and critical minerals were in during an appearance earlier this year before a congressional committee in Washington, DC. His firm, renamed as The Metals Company (TMC), would help ¡°ensure the nation¡¯s energy security and industrial competitiveness for generations,¡± Barron said. ¡°China is close behind.¡±
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