Welcome to Impossible Metals

Mining for critical minerals is an essential part of the transition to a green economy. A growing population, continued urbanization, emerging market economies and the transition to carbon neutral energies will continue to demand critical metals in volumes we will not be able to deliver through recycling alone for several decades yet.

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Watch a 3D animation of our robotic collection system.

Land-based Mining has Three Huge Problems:

  • Land ore grades have significantly decreased due to high grade deposits being exhausted. Given the demand in EVs its is expected we will have a deficit in battery metal supply by 2025.
  • Land based mining has increasingly unacceptable ESG impacts. Deforestation in Indonesian rainforests, child labour in parts of Africa, the increasing trend in failure of toxic tailings dams, forced displacement of communities, water scarcity, widespread habitat destruction – these issues are causing increased impacts associated with metals sourced from land, and a decrease in the likelihood that new land-based mines will be permitted.
  • Critical battery minerals are often found in locations that have historically brought trade risk, and insecurity of supply (such as China and Russia). Without secure and consistent supplies, nations such as the USA will not be able to transition to a green economy, and will face increasing national security issues associated with lack of critical mineral supplies.

Impossible Metals (YC W22) has a mission to deliver responsible seabed mining and refining of critical battery metals, enabling the world’s transition to sustainable energy. We are building underwater robotics vehicles which collect critical battery metals from the seabed while protecting the seafloor ecosystem. We have $500M+ in off-take LoI’s and have signed a partnership with a global offshore logistics company which, as a member of a consortium, holds a seabed mining exploration permit. We are excited to be delivering Stage 1 Proof of Concept outcomes on both robotics and bioextraction in early 2023.

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