The video for the firm now known as The Metals Co. In this promotional video from DeepGreen Metals, Michael Lodge, secretary-general of International Seabed Authority, asserts support for the firm’s mission and says his organization has greenlighted a 15-year exploration contract. It raised concerns, they said, of a conflict of interest between industry, the authority and its secretariat, the 47-person administrative arm Lodge leads, at a crucial moment for the world’s oceans. Michael Lodge’s appearance in the video struck erstwhile members of his own staff - and scientists who warn of potentially catastrophic environmental fallout from the mining venture - as problematic.

A big selling point at a time the company was courting investors, though, was the man shown walking on a massive ship and speaking of the need to mine the ocean floor: the secretary-general of the International Seabed Authority, the United Nations-affiliated organization responsible for regulating ocean mining companies and preserving the deep sea. The mining company would send large robots to explore the bottom of the ocean and harvest minerals, millions of years old, that could be used to make electric car batteries.Ī promotional video showed a machine gliding over the seabed and DeepGreen Metals company executives in deep contemplation along a dramatic shoreline. The startup’s pitch was simple and cinematic:

Deep sea dredging mining