Why turn to mining for carbon sequestration - CO2Lock's Cooper Quinn

Near permanence and verification are the chief advantages to using reactive rocks for carbon sequestration, said CO2Lock's CEO Cooper Quinn.

On Friday Quinn recorded Kitco Roundtable with mining audiences manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris.

CO2Lock is commercializing carbon capture and storage (CCS) using rocks that react and trap carbon dioxide. CO2Lock was formed this spring. It is a subsidiary of FPX Nickel (TSXV: FPX).

The minerals the company are using are brucite-rich serpentinized peridotite. CO2Lock claims the rocks have a high rate of reaction with CO2. The company is advancing in-situ and ex-situ methods for CCS.

The advantages to using rocks instead of other methods, such as planting trees or injecting CO2 into empty wells, is near permanence and verification. Quinn said CO2 capture using rocks means that the amount of carbon captured is highly verifiable. It also has near permanence. The carbon dioxide is bound within the mineralization.