Source: Deep Sea Mining Campaign and Pacific Blue Line Collective
Pacific civil society warns that prospective deep sea miner, The Metals Company (TMC) may well go down the same path as the failed Nautilus Minerals.
Formed by the merger of DeepGreen Metals and Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corp (SOAC), the company looks set for a bumpy ride. Over 90% of SOAC investors have already redeemed their shares rather than invest in TMC, and two major PIPE investors have reneged on their promised investments. To add salt to TMC’s wounds, Government and non-government officials alike overwhelmingly voted in favour of a moratorium on deep sea mining at the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress two weeks ago.
“Pacific Island states sponsoring The Metals Company (formerly DeepGreen) must be alert to history repeating itself. DeepGreen and TMC founder, Gerard Barron was central to Nautilus Minerals. That company was liquidated in 2019, leaving Papua New Guinea with a loss of AUD$157 million. Mr. Baron was smart and walked away with a sizeable personal profit before investors caught on to what a risky proposition Nautilus was. Global miner Anglo American divested and the company failed to obtain finance. It looks like investors have caught on early with TMC.”
Maureen Penjueli, Pacific Blue Line Collective
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