AI-Powered Deep Sea Mineral Exploration Consulting.
Deep Focus is a Portuguese consultancy company founded in 2023 by ISQ to contribute positively to carbon neutrality by using next-generation, low impact, AI-based technology to support the exploration of ocean resources.
We believe that deep sea exploration and the exploitation of critical and strategic raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, and rare earth elements from the oceans can play a crucial role in the global energy transition and can be done sustainably and responsibly while ensuring minimum biodiversity harm.
Mission
Efficiently support decision-making and accelerate the discovery of high-value sources of critical metals while ensuring minimum biodiversity harm.
Our Story
Deep Focus ideation started as a small proof of concept project developed by ISQ under the European Space Agency (ESA) small ARTES program framework in late 2016 and quickly evolved to a 2-year ESA demonstration project from 2020 to 2022. The demonstration was performed in close collaboration with several commercial and regulator stakeholders located across the globe to help test and validate the developed technology and products.
Today, we are building partnerships with leading players in this new industry and are committed to proactively applying our process and technology to help find the metal ore deposits required for the sustainable energy transition.
As world economies pursue new forms of clean energy to reduce carbon emissions, new sources of mineral resources are needed to drive forward world electrification and digitalization.
The latest demand projections from IEA for critical minerals show that demand growth has remained robust and that EVs consolidated their position as the largest consuming segment for minerals such as nickel and cobalt.
Today, these mineral resources are solely mined on land and according to Benchmark Source, more than 300 new mines could need to be built to meet demand. However, the massive infrastructure required, and the associated environmental and social impacts of land mining are a huge deficit to get to net zero. So, how can we accelerate sustainable and alternative sourcing of mineral resources for the clean energy transition?
