{"id":71272,"date":"2025-07-03T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=71272"},"modified":"2025-09-02T14:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T18:04:05","slug":"5-things-to-know-about-the-canadian-company-trying-to-start-deep-sea-mining-the-metals-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/71272\/5-things-to-know-about-the-canadian-company-trying-to-start-deep-sea-mining-the-metals-company\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things to know about the Canadian company trying to start deep sea mining: The Metals Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Metals Company CEO, Gerard Barron, using an image of Greenpeace\u2019s opposition to deep sea mining during a presentation in Washington DC in 2023. <\/em>\u00a9 Tim Aubry \/ Greenpeace<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

What makes Vancouver-based The Metals Company (TMC), a little-known company that isn’t even making any money<\/a>, a threat to the ocean, international conventions, transparency and the clean energy transition?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

While deep sea mining has not begun at commercial scale anywhere on Earth \u2013and we’ve built a global movement of millions of people and political support to keep it that way \u2013 the wannabe deep sea mining bros at TMC are getting desperate, using aggressive and controversial tactics like lobbying Donald Trump to let them <\/a>start their dirty business. <\/p>\n\n

Here are 5 things you need to know, so we can stop this Canadian company together. <\/p>\n\n

1. Private interests trying to carve up the Pacific <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

Headquartered in Vancouver, with a tech-bro CEO who stands to make millions and staff overwhelmingly based thousands of miles away<\/a> in the Global North, TMC wants to unleash deep sea mining in the Pacific Ocean.<\/strong> This would drive ocean destruction<\/a> in the global commons, in a region already resisting the impacts of climate breakdown and industrial fisheries. <\/p>\n\n

The company (originally called DeepGreen) has been part of a private sector push<\/a> to monopolise deep sea mining exploration in the Pacific Ocean: at one point, it held rights to a quarter of a million square kilometres of the deep ocean floor. <\/p>\n\n

Repeating the injustices of destructive exploitation<\/strong> from North America and Europe, TMC has been heavily criticised by Pacific campaigners<\/a>, communities<\/a> and even governments<\/a> for deepening neo-colonial extractivism<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n

CEO Gerrard Barron has tried to marginalise opposition from Indigenous Pasifika groups, claiming <\/a>he\u2019d met with native Hawaiian \u201celders\u201d and \u201clistened to their thoughts\u201d, but dismissed them: \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of niche groups who have a lot of thoughts, right?\u201d <\/p>\n\n

This isn\u2019t his first rodeo either: Barron had been an early investor<\/a> in a different company that tried to mine the deep ocean in Papua New Guinea, only for it to massively underestimate local opposition and go bust<\/a> before they started mining. This left the island state to pick up a bill of over US $100 million<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

2. TMC tried to set governments\u2019 agenda \u2013 it backfired!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

As TMC has no way of turning a profit until they get permission to start deep sea mining, political support for ocean protection has been their biggest barrier.<\/p>\n\n

The Canadian company lobbied hard at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the intergovernmental regulatory body established by the UN, even shamelessly using a Pacific country\u2019s seat at the table to tell governments<\/a>, \u201cpersonally, I get very uncomfortable when people describe us as deep sea miners\u201d. But when it became clear that governments were listening to public concern and scientific warnings more than corporate interests, TMC stepped things up. 

In 2021, their sponsoring state used a legal loophole<\/a> which effectively delivered an ultimatum: either finish a Mining Code allowing deep sea mining to begin within two years, or TMC will submit an application with no rules in place at all. Even by the cowboy standards of the high seas, this was a \u201cstick \u2018em up!\u201d move.  <\/p>\n\n

But despite tough talk, TMC\u2019s financial director told media<\/a> that whether governments delivered them a Mining Code or not, <\/em>\u201c<\/strong>we have the legal right to launch our permit application, meaning they\u2018d have to consider and provisionally process it.\u201d This bullying tactic actually backfired. Before TMC triggered this two-year ultimatum, no government was publicly questioning whether deep sea mining should start or not. Since TMC made this threat, over 37 governments<\/a> from around the world have called for a moratorium on the start of deep sea mining. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

3. TMC loved to greenwash \u2013 until they got called out by clean energy companies and scientists <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

If you\u2019re trying to start deep sea mining, when love for the ocean unites people around the world and governments are agreeing to a Global Ocean Treaty<\/a>, which Canada is a signatory of, to protect marine life, you\u2019re never going to win a popularity contest.<\/p>\n\n

In a bid to stop people focusing on the tank-sized excavators five kilometres below the waves<\/a> required to scrape up the bottom of the ocean, TMC launched a PR campaign<\/a> to pitch deep sea mining as the solution to climate change. Company representatives gave hundreds of interviews, creating a false dilemma, claiming that humanity had to choose between destroying rainforests and oceans to mine minerals for car batteries. They tried to fool everyone that there was no other possible way, with Barron letting the deception slip<\/a>: \u201cEveryone\u2019s a sucker for the story.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

It didn\u2019t take long for the companies actually making the batteries and electric vehicles to call this out. Sixty <\/a>companies, like Panasonic, BMW and Renault, have committed to steer clear of minerals mined from the deep sea and have called for a moratorium, due to the environmental risks. When an industry has such a bad rep before it\u2019s even started, it turns out big brands don\u2019t want to be associated with something so toxic.   <\/p>\n\n

What\u2019s more, in light of scandals of mining on land, battery manufacturers didn\u2019t turn to deep sea mining \u2013 they innovated away from the problematic minerals. In recent years, household names have committed<\/a> to phase out cobalt, and new battery chemistries are surging, which don\u2019t use three out of the four minerals TMC wants to mine from the deep sea. <\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, scientists were making more discoveries about the incredible diversity of life in deep ocean habitats that TMC wants to turn into a wasteland, learning that whales swim through these waters<\/a>, and even discovering the existence of \u201cdark oxygen\u201d<\/a>. This led to TMC following in the steps of tobacco companies and the fossil fuel industry by casting aspersions<\/a> over this science, even though they had funded some of the initial research. <\/p>\n\n

Showing their true colours, the TMC took Greenpeace to court to try to stop our peaceful protest at sea, which disrupted their mission to collect data for their mining application. But just as we don\u2019t back down when oil giants use legal intimidation<\/a> to try and quash protests, the power of the global movement against deep sea mining was undimmed by corporate efforts to try and stop people defending what\u2019s right. In a spectacular own goal for TMC, courts upheld Greenpeace\u2019s right to peaceful protest not just once<\/a>, but twice<\/a>. A judge ruled<\/a> it was \u201cunderstandable\u201d that Greenpeace International resorted to peaceful direct action in the face of the \u201cpotentially very serious consequences\u201d of the company\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n\n

4. They\u2019re struggling to make deep sea mining happen <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Despite TMC\u2019s own hype, deep sea mining has faced mounting challenges that paint a bleak picture of whether this industry has a future at all. <\/p>\n\n

Major insurers and banks are seeing deep sea mining as too risky and staying away<\/a>, while some of the big names supporting TMC at the start have fled. Danish shipping giant Maersk pulled out as a ship provider<\/a>, followed by mining company Glencore selling its equity stake.<\/p>\n\n

TMC has already received not one<\/a> but two<\/a> notices from the Nasdaq stock exchange, warning they faced delisting if their share price stayed so low and out on the water, initial tests have also been rocky. Whistleblower footage revealed<\/a> that during TMC\u2019s mining test, wastewater and debris from the ocean depths were released into surface waters of the Pacific. And that was only with a prototype machine \u2013 the Swiss-Dutch company Allseas that TMC relies on for its ships and mining machine has admitted<\/a> they haven\u2019t started funding or building full-scale mining equipment. <\/p>\n\n

5. Now they\u2019ve hitched their wagon to Donald Trump <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Despite telling the media there was only a \u201c0.1 of one percent chance\u201d<\/a> that governments would block TMC\u2019s first mining application, it took less than three months<\/a> of a scientist being overwhelmingly elected in charge of the international regulator<\/a> for TMC to leave in a huff. <\/p>\n\n

Despite swift and strong international pushback, TMC have now bypassed the international legal framework and are asking Donald Trump<\/a> to give them permission to mine in the global oceans.<\/p>\n\n

This isn\u2019t such a surprise for a CEO who has said removing the parts of the deep sea habitat that marine life depends on is like collecting \u201c<\/strong>golf balls on a driving range<\/a>\u201d<\/strong>. But it\u2019s a desperate act that marks the first application to commercially mine the seabed, as not only a grave threat to the oceans, but also an act of total disregard for international law and scientific warnings. <\/p>\n\n

TMC may have had a meltdown<\/a>, but they\u2019re now playing with fire. France\u2019s ocean minister has described this as an act of piracy<\/a>, and even the company itself admits<\/a> that this will likely be seen as a violation of international law, creating major obstacles for them to conduct business. <\/p>\n\n

Canada must speak out: the ocean is not for sale<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

The Canadian government \u2013 which has previously stated its support for a global moratorium on deep-sea mining \u2013 has remained dangerously silent<\/strong> in the face of such rogue behaviour by The Metals Company and Trump.<\/p>\n\n

As a member of the International Seabed Authority Council and home of The Metals Company headquarters, and in line with its commitment<\/a> to protect nature internationally, Canada must reaffirm its support for a global moratorium on deep-sea mining and oppose the adoption of the Mining Code<\/strong> \u2013 the rulebook being discussed at the ISA that would legitimize deep-sea mining. <\/p>\n\n

The ocean is not for sale; it is the common heritage of humankind, and Canada has a responsibility to keep the seabed out of reach for profit-driven extractive industries.
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n


<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
In the lead-up to the 30th session meetings of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), Greenpeace Canada, with the help of like-minded artists, volunteers, activists and advocates for the ocean, painted a ground mural in front of The Metals Company (TMC) headquarters in downtown Vancouver to publicly expose them as accomplices of Trump who are making moves to fast-track deep-sea mining and cause irreparable harm to ocean life. So far, as host country to The Metals Company, the Canadian federal government has not taken the opportunity to stand up to the Trump-backed The Metals Company and corporate greed that want to exploit the seabed floor for profit. However, as the ISA meetings are underway, Greenpeace Canada and its Vancouver supporters have come together to remind the federal government that the ocean is not for sale; life on Earth, including ours, depends on these commitments being upheld.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n



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