Latest news with #EurekaII
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
In Canada lake, robot learns to mine without disrupting marine life
A close-up view of the robotic arm of the Eureka II, a robotic underwater vehicle of Impossible Metals in Collingwood, Ontario, on May 1. PHOTO: AFP In Canada lake, robot learns to mine without disrupting marine life COLLINGWOOD, Canada - Three robotic arms extended under the water in a Canadian lake, delicately selecting pebbles from the bed, before storing them back inside the machine. The exercise was part of a series of tests the robot was undergoing before planned deployment in the ocean, where its operators hope the machine can transform the search for the world's most sought-after metals. The robot was made by Impossible Metals, a company founded in California in 2020, which says it is trying to develop technology that allows the seabed to be harvested with limited ecological disruption. Conventional underwater harvesting involves scooping up huge amounts of material in search of potato-sized things called poly-metallic nodules. These nodules contain nickel, copper, cobalt, or other metals needed for electric vehicle batteries, among other key products. Impossible Metals' co-founder Jason Gillham told AFP his company's robot looks for the nodules 'in a selective way.' The prototype, being tested in the province of Ontario, remains stationary in the water, hovering over the lake bottom. In a lab, company staff monitor the yellow robot on screens, using what looks like a video game console to direct its movements. Using lights, cameras and artificial intelligence, the robot tries to identify the sought-after nodules while leaving aquatic life – such as octopuses' eggs, coral, or sponges – undisturbed. 'A bit like bulldozers' In a first for the nascent sector, Impossible Metals has requested a permit from US President Donald Trump to use its robot in American waters around Samoa, in the Pacific. The company is hoping that its promise of limited ecological disruption will give it added appeal. Competitors, like The Metals Company, use giant machines that roll along the seabed and suck up the nodules, a highly controversial technique. Dr Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told AFP this method scoops up ocean floor using collectors or excavators, 'a bit like bulldozers', he explained. Everything is then brought up to ships, where the nodules are separated from waste, which is tossed back into the ocean. This creates large plumes of sediment and toxins with a multitude of potential impacts, he said. A less invasive approach, like that advocated by Impossible Metals, would reduce the risk of environmental damage, Dr McCauley explained. But he noted lighter-touch harvesting is not without risk. The nodules themselves also harbor living organisms, and removing them even with a selective technique, involves destroying the habitat, he said. Impossible Metals admits its technology cannot detect microscopic life, but the company claims to have a policy of leaving 60 per cent of the nodules untouched. Dr McCauley is unconvinced, explaining 'ecosystems in the deep ocean are especially fragile and sensitive.' 'Life down there moves very slowly, so they reproduce very slowly, they grow very slowly.' Mr Duncan Currie of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition said it was impossible to assess the impact of any deep sea harvesting. 'We don't know enough yet either in terms of the biodiversity and the ecosystem down there,' he told AFP. According to the international scientific initiative Ocean Census, only 250,000 species are known, out of the two million that are estimated to populate the oceans. High demand Mining is 'always going to have some impact,' said Impossible Metals chief executive and co-founder Oliver Gunasekara, who has spent most of his career in the semiconductor field. But, he added, 'we need a lot more critical minerals, as we want to electrify everything.' Illustrating the global rush toward underwater mining, Impossible Metals has raised US$15 million ($19.3 million) from investors to build and test a first series of its Eureka 3 robot in 2026. The commercial version will be the size of a shipping container and will expand from three to 16 arms, and its battery will grow from 14 to nearly 200 kilowatt-hours. The robot will be fully autonomous and self-propel, without cables or tethers to the surface, and be equipped with sensors. While awaiting the US green light, the company hopes to finalise its technology within two to three years, conduct ocean tests, build a fleet, and operate through partnerships elsewhere in the world. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CTV News
28-05-2025
- Science
- CTV News
Next generation of deep-sea mining machines developed in Collingwood
The next generation of deep-sea mining machines are being developed and tested in Georgian Bay waters in Collingwood Ont., by the company: Impossible Metals on May 28, 2025. (CTV News/Luke Simard) The next generation of deep-sea mining machines are being developed and tested in Collingwood. Impossible Metals has been designing machines to mine critical minerals with an emphasis on the environment. This is a key contributing factor to Eureka II which is being tested in Georgian Bay waters. Jason Gillham, chief technical officer and co-founder of Impossible Metals said Collingwood is a great test site for the machine. 'The bay becomes a good test site for us because of its similarity to the deep ocean,' said Gillham. 'The deep ocean has very clear water and so to train our vision systems, to use our vision systems, we need that clear water, and the bay provides a fantastic test bed for that.' Deep-sea mining machines The next generation of deep-sea mining machines are being developed and tested in Georgian Bay waters in Collingwood Ont., by the company: Impossible Metals on May 28, 2025. (CTV News/Luke Simard) Eureka II has been testing the waters of Georgian Bay collecting data and test nodules in preparation for the next model. 'Our deep-water prototype, autonomous underwater vehicle,' said Gilliam. 'We're really looking forward to demonstrating this system and then moving on to our Eureka III, which is our production sized autonomous underwater system for collecting these polymetallic nodules.' Historically, dredge-based mining is not environmentally friendly, tearing up the ocean floor in the process. Impossible Metals has developed brand new technology and mitigated environmental concerns that the public has addressed. 'So, our vehicle isn't a dredging vehicle, it doesn't have a riser system, and it's not vacuuming up the nodules from the seabed floor,' said Oliver Gunasekara CEO and co-founder of Impossible Metals. 'What we are doing is hovering and using selective harvest to pick up the nodules the ones that we don't have any visible life on them.' Deep-sea mining machines The next generation of deep-sea mining machines are being developed and tested in Georgian Bay waters in Collingwood Ont., by the company: Impossible Metals on May 28, 2025. (CTV News/Luke Simard) The company is currently testing their second prototype with an end goal of launching a fleet into international waters. 'The end goal would really be to get to production with Eureka III, which is our full-size system but a fleet of them,' said Gunasekara. 'Ultimately we want to be a big mining operation but doing it in the most sustainable way.' The company adding Impossible Metals has taken the extra steps to ensure they keep the environment in mind. Impossible Metals The next generation of deep-sea mining machines are being developed and tested in Georgian Bay waters in Collingwood Ont., by the company: Impossible Metals on May 28, 2025. (CTV News/Luke Simard) 'There's a lot of pushback against mining, but we believe we can do mining in the most sustainable way,' said Gunasekara. 'We're going to a location that has orders of magnitude less life. We don't have human impacts and you compare that to a rainforest in Indonesia where there's a huge amount of life that's being impacted.' Tim Fryer, deputy mayor of Collingwood, said the town is happy that the company chose to test and develop their prototype in the town. 'We couldn't be more thrilled for them at this stage of their development,' said Fryer. 'We are really pleased and thankful for them choosing Collingwood as their location to work from.' Impossible Metals said it plans to develop Eureka III throughout 2026 with the goal of having Eureka III mining in international waters sometime the following year.
