From the Ocean Floor to the Battery Pack

Aqua Metals and Impossible Metals link seabed nodule collection to clean electrochemical refining in a US-domestic critical minerals push

8 Apr 2026

The seabed holds an inconvenient abundance. Scattered across the Pacific floor in potato-sized clusters lie polymetallic nodules rich in nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese: precisely the metals that electric vehicles, grid storage, and defence systems require in growing quantities. America imports most of them. Two small companies now claim they can change that, starting from the bottom of the ocean.

On March 31st, Aqua Metals, a Nevada-based battery-metals refiner, disclosed in its annual report that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Impossible Metals, a deep-sea robotics firm. The arrangement sketches a vertically integrated supply chain: Impossible Metals would harvest nodules from the ocean floor using autonomous underwater vehicles equipped with robotic arms and AI-guided vision systems; Aqua Metals would then refine the raw material using its electrochemical AquaRefining platform, which its developers say avoids the toxic waste and heavy carbon output of conventional smelting.

The pitch is tidy. Whether it holds together is another matter. A memorandum of understanding is not a contract. It binds no one to anything. Both companies acknowledge that financing and regulatory approvals lie ahead, and neither has yet operated at commercial scale in this context. Aqua Metals CEO Steve Cotton described the collaboration as "a natural extension of the company's vision to create clean, scalable refining solutions for America's access to critical minerals." Impossible Metals CEO Oliver Gunasekara framed it as delivering "the secure supply chain the US needs to lead in energy transition and advanced manufacturing." These are goals, not guarantees.

Aqua Metals separately disclosed a parallel agreement with MOBY Robotics to evaluate nodule refining for rare earth element recovery, suggesting the company is hedging across several early-stage partnerships rather than committing to one.

Deep-sea mining faces its own reckoning. Environmental groups warn that even the most selective harvesting disrupts sediment plumes and benthic ecosystems in ways not yet fully understood. Regulators have been slow to issue permits. The International Seabed Authority continues to debate a framework for commercial extraction in international waters.

American policymakers are keen on domestic mineral independence. Whether the ocean floor can supply it, on time and at cost, is a question that two small-cap companies and a non-binding agreement cannot yet answer.