Arca and Giga Metals sign agreement to explore 220 million-tonne carbon removal project at B.C. nickel mine

The world has a tough equation to crack: mountains of waste on the ground, gigatonnes of CO₂ in the sky.

What if two wrongs could make a right?

In this paper, we dive into Industrial Mineralization, a carbon dioxide removal pathway which repurposes alkaline industrial waste such as mine tailings and steel slag to remove atmospheric CO₂. It is a pathway to safe, durable, gigatonne-scale carbon removal, transforming liabilities into assets, and waste into repair.

Vancouver, 29 October 2025 – Arca, an Industrial Mineralization company, today announced an offtake agreement with Microsoft to deliver nearly 300,000 tonnes of durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) over 10 years.

This agreement is a significant development for Arca’s solution in Industrial Mineralization – a carbon removal pathway that leverages existing industrial infrastructure and repurposes alkaline waste streams to capture and permanently store atmospheric CO₂ as stable carbonate minerals.

Vancouver and London, 24 June 2025 – Arca, a leading Industrial Mineralization company, has announced the successful validation by DNV, a global leader in quality and risk assurance, of its innovative methodology for permanent carbon removal. This validation marks a significant milestone in the emerging Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) industry, as it is the first time a mineralization methodology focusing on enhanced air capture and surficial mineralization within ultramafic mine tailings has received such recognition

Vancouver, BC, 17 June 2025 – The Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) has awarded Arca $315,000 to advance Mineral Activation, a game changing technology that uses microwaves to increase the CO₂ reactivity of mine waste by more than 1000x.
 
MICA is funded by the Canadian government and supports innovations that make mining more productive and sustainable, demonstrating Arca’s growing traction in the mining industry.

Authored by Arca, nonprofit consultancy The Climate Agency, and former Financial Times Natural Resources Correspondent Will MacNamara, the white paper outlines how mine waste consisting of mafic and ultramafic rock can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale—representing one of the great untapped resources for a low-carbon economy.
 
In this white paper, we examine the geological potential, technical innovations, commercial pathways, public incentives and sustainability benefits of this multibillion-dollar opportunity.

Perth, Australia, 17 February 2025 – Today Arca announced a range of strategic partnerships – with mining companies, civil society groups, and investors. This announcement shows growing awareness, commitment and momentum toward realizing carbon removal using mine waste in Australia.
 
“At this moment of great global climate peril, it is encouraging to know that there are practical solutions, plentiful immediate feedstocks and widespread positive support for implementation of these technologies across industry, government and communities,” said Arca Australia’s General Manager Tamsin Senders.
 
“This is a great example of Canadian and Australian cooperation that involves the exchange of technical, business and social expertise,” said The Honourable Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development.

Vancouver, BC, 8 May, 2024 – Arca, a leader in carbon mineralization technology, today proudly announced its recognition as a top 20 finalist in the prestigious XPRIZE Carbon Removal Competition.
 
“More than just a new technology, our approach is a new pathway to stabilize our climate,” says Paul Needham, CEO of Arca. “Being named a top 20 finalist in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition is not only an honor but a validation of our vision and the pioneering work of our rockstar team.”

InBC has invested in Arca. InBC is a provincial Crown corporation that invests in growing companies that benefit the people of B.C., with a triple bottom line mandate to value people, planet and profit.

CICE has provided us with a $1.25M grant to capture atmospheric CO₂ and transform it into rock. The funding will be used to support a pilot project that begins today for air-to-rock carbon mineralization using the mine tailings in BHP’s Mt Keith Nickel West Mine in Australia.

MaRS Discovery District, Canada’s largest urban innovation hub, announced the purchase of carbon removal credits from Arca through its Mission from MaRS program.

We’re now working on three continents with companies like Vale, Talon Metals, Poseidon Nickel, NickelSearch, and Blackstone Minerals to capture and permanently store CO₂ in mine tailings.

The award sets out to highlight “Canada’s most investable cleantech ventures who are driving the transition to net zero.” Arca has been named to this list for 3 straight years, from 2022 to 2024.

The B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy, known for supporting cleantech innovators in the province with early-stage funding, has invested in Arca.

Foresight, Canada’s cleantech accelerator, named Arca as Startup of the Year at the fifth annual BC Cleantech Awards. The BC Cleantech Awards showcases individuals and organizations that are driving the development and adoption of critical climate solutions across British Columbia.

The B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy honoured innovators across battery technology and energy storage, carbon management, low carbon hydrogen, and low carbon fuels for the high impact decarbonization potential of their clean energy and climate solutions.

The award sets out to highlight “Canada’s most investable cleantech ventures who are driving the transition to net zero.”

Arca has been named on Cleantech Group’s 2023 Cleantech 50 to Watch, an annual list of top global private companies working on sustainable innovation.

Frontier announced that it has facilitated $11M of carbon removal purchases, its largest round to date, from seven companies, including Arca (previously Carbin Minerals), on behalf of Stripe and Shopify.

Carbin Minerals has unveiled a new brand identity and name – “Arca”. The update reflects the evolution of the company from its academic roots at the University of British Columbia to becoming the market leader in carbon mineralization.

The XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition was launched to encourage carbon removal innovators to work on tackling the biggest threat facing humanity: fighting climate change and rebalancing Earth’s carbon cycle.

Carbin Minerals is listed to the Foresight 50, a group of cleantech ventures who are solving the most pressing global climate issues with made-in-Canada solutions.

Shopify announced new partnerships with nine entrepreneurial, climate-forward trailblazers through its Sustainability Fund, bringing their total carbon removal purchase commitment to $32 million. One of the newly added partners is Vancouver’s own Carbin Minerals.