In her 16-year career in the mining industry, Renee Grogan has battled hostile environments, arduous work conditions, and the perception that women don’t belong at a mine site—let alone in a mining-company boardroom. Her biggest challenge is yet to come: getting climate-conscious car purchasers to care as much as possible about the way that the metals used in their new electric-vehicle batteries are mined. “Consumers don’t generally know what their metal footprint looks like,” says Grogan, the co-founder and chief sustainability officer of California-based Impossible Mining, a battery-metal mining startup. “But if you are driving an electric car because you think you are doing good for the world, wouldn’t you want to make sure your car battery isn’t actually making things worse?”
As demand for EVs rises, so too does the need for the metals that go into their batteries—nickel, cobalt, copper, and lithium, among others. Land-based mines are at their peak production and are being accused of human-rights and environmental abuses. Mining companies are now looking to Pacific Ocean, where billions of nuggets containing nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese can be found scattered across the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Once the International Seabed Authority (ISA), starts granting licenses, mining in the region could begin as soon as next year. According to companies that invest in seabed metals mining, the polymetallic nudules could be cleaned up with minimal environmental impacts. Marine biologists disagree, arguing that there hasn’t been enough research on the complex undersea environment to understand the potential impact. A statement signed by more than 600 policy experts and marine scientists calling for an end to undersea miner’s activities until more research is done. Similar moratoriums have been supported, among others, by Google, Samsung and Volkswagen.
The Impossible research group working in the laboratory
Courtesy Impossible Mining
Grogan begins from a different location. She claims that a ban on seabed mining will only shift the environmental burden towards land-based metal mining. This destroys ecosystems and leaves a toxic legacy of tailings pools (water facilities designed to store leftover materials from mining processes) as well as pollution runoff from refineries. Grogan suggests that there is a better solution: establish a new standard of responsible battery-mineral extraction wherever it occurs. Grogan launched an initiative to promote a new standard body for responsible mining. This would require companies to prevent habitat destruction at sea or on land, eliminate toxic waste and preserve biodiversity, preserve communities, protect freshwater sources, and remain carbon neutral. Her BetterEV label, she says, could eventually become as recognizable as “organic” and “fair trade” are for food and consumer goods. It is, she admits to being a massive undertaking. Mining companies might be encouraged to experiment if there is enough consumer pressure. “There are thousands of innovations waiting in the wings. We just need a push,” says Grogan.
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Grogan’s own startup is developing marine robots that would hover above the ocean floor to pluck individual metal nodules from the seabed, rather than vacuuming them up along with biodiversity-rich sediment as other mining companies do. The AI-equipped robots can recognize and preserve sea life, such as sponges and worms that live on individual nodules. Impossible Mining has also begun to scale up new technologies in metal refinery. These use specially engineered bacteria that breaks down nodules into its component elements without the use of harmful acids or energy-intensive heat. Grogan expects that both prototypes for the two technologies will be fully operational next year. “If we are the first company that shows those standards can be met, then the others have no choice but to follow. They will compete, they will innovate, and then the industry as a whole is doing better for the planet.”
Renee Grogan is the Co-founder and Chief Sustainability Officer of Impossible Mining.
Tori Packer
A consumer-facing standards label would add welcome pressure on mining companies to do better, says Andrew Friedman, the project lead on seabed mining at the Pew Charitable Trust’s campaign for ocean conservation. But voluntary label accreditation does not replace strong regulation. “Even if a segment of the consumer base is engaged with thinking about their supply chain, it’s ultimately the regulatory standards which will have the most influence on industry behavior,” he says.
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Metals Company, a Canadian startup, argues that a public label is unnecessary since the ISA is already working to establish an undersea mining code. This code will include robust environmental, reporting and oversight requirements. Grogan claims that it was a subpar application to ISA from the Metals Company, and Nauru, to obtain a permit to test the polymetallic-nodule collection system, which prompted her idea. She claims that the environmental impact statement was disingenuous, incomplete, and this sentiment is shared by scientists, conservationists, as well as other national governments. Friedman says Nauru’s initial assessment “included virtually no biological baseline data. An environmental impact statement that doesn’t describe the marine life in the environment is not an environmental impact statement.” After several ISA parties raised concerns, Nauru submitted a revised statement with some biological data, but did not allow for further comments from stakeholders. “I was so angry that a mining company could be so disrespectful of the approach to assessing environmental impact,” says Grogan. “That’s when I realized that market forces—consumer sentiment—might actually be the stronger voice, if we could get the message out.”
Grogan is used being the only woman in a male-dominated industry and not being heard. She can’t count the number of times she’s been asked to go fetch tea or coffee, or been directed to the back of the room, even though she is co-founder of a mining company. “I literally have to fight for a seat at the table,” she says. She loves the challenge. “When the dinosaurs say it can’t be done, I can’t help but smile. In three years’ time, I will remind them that they didn’t want to be part of this change. It’s exhausting and it’s excruciating, but … this is my chance to change the industry that I grew up in.”
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