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Oliver Gunasekara
About
Oliver Gunasekara, CEO of Impossible Metals and an early employee at ARM, is building autonomous underwater robots that pick up potato-sized nodules rich in nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese from the deep seabed. He explains the economics, the technology, the regulatory path, and why hard tech can hold higher margins than software, with production targeted for 2028. In this episode: • What does Impossible Metals do? • How are the seabed nodules formed? • How does Impossible Metals reduce envi
Best quotes
My most recent company that I started about four years ago is focused on deep sea mining with autonomous underwater robots.
Well, what's what's valuable is that they're the planet's biggest source of critical battery metals. So, nickel and cobalt. There's also copper and manganese.
We took a blank sheet of paper and said could we do it better? Less environmental impact, less cost, no single points of failure.
We think we are the SpaceX for mining, right?
FAQ
What does Impossible Metals do?
Impossible Metals focuses on deep sea mining using autonomous underwater robots to collect potato-sized mineral rocks from the seabed floor.
What metals are found in the ocean floor rocks?
The rocks contain critical battery metals including nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese.
How deep do the company's mining robots go?
The mining robots go up to four miles deep into the ocean to pick up the mineral rocks.
What recent regulatory progress has the company made with the US government?
The US Department of the Interior accepted the company's request to start the leasing process around American Samoa.
When does Impossible Metals plan to start production?
The company targets the start of production around 2028.
Episode
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