The best place to store a gigaton of carbon might be right where you left a gigaton of waste. Arca takes the alkaline mine tailings and industrial waste piles that mining companies spend millions to manage and turns them into a permanent sink for atmospheric CO₂. It is a business model built on a geological handshake: miners get a new revenue line and a cleaner legacy, while the world gets durable carbon storage without a fresh footprint.
A process validated by rock, not slides
Arca’s core science is not new. The natural carbon mineralization of certain alkaline rocks is a well-studied process. Arca’s proprietary intervention, developed over two decades of research by co-founder and chief scientist Dr. Greg Dipple at the University of British Columbia, accelerates that reaction. Its process is ISO-certified for carbon removal and, according to the XPRIZE Foundation, is already deployed and removing CO₂ today [XPRIZE Foundation, c. 2023-2024].
The team: from pay-as-you-go solar to petrology
The founding trio brings together the necessary worlds of deep science, scaled operations, and storytelling. Dr. Greg Dipple provides the foundational petrology and academic credibility. CEO Paul Needham, who previously co-founded and sold Simpa Networks to ENGIE, knows how to build and finance distributed infrastructure [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2024]. COO Lydia Firth rounds out the operational core.
| Founder | Role | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Greg Dipple | Co-founder, Chief Scientist | Professor of Geology, UBC; 20+ years researching carbon mineralization in mine tailings. |
| Paul Needham | Co-founder, CEO | Former CEO/Co-founder of Simpa Networks (acquired by ENGIE); ex-CBS News producer. |
| Lydia Firth | Co-founder, COO | Operational lead; background in scaling climate tech ventures. |
Traction through partnership, not possession
Arca’s commercial strategy is its most distinct feature. It partners with existing mining companies, providing the technology and expertise to transform a liability into an asset. The company is working with Talon Metals, which is in a joint venture with Rio Tinto, on a nickel project [cpecn.com, retrieved 2026]. More significantly, Arca has secured a landmark offtake agreement with Microsoft to deliver nearly 300,000 tonnes of durable carbon removal over the next decade [cantechletter.com, retrieved 2026].
Where the wheels could come off
- Commodity exposure: Arca’s potential host sites are active mines. If nickel prices crash, a mine may curtail operations or close.
- Logistical complexity: Every mine site is unique. Tailings chemistry, physical layout, water access, and local climate all vary.
- The permanence debate: Arca’s ISO validation is a strong start, but the company must continually prove additionality to maintain credit integrity.
The next twelve months
Arca is reportedly preparing a Series A fundraise [Axios Pro, Oct 2025]. The key metric to watch will be the number of signed partnership agreements with mining majors. Each new partner represents a scalable pipeline of future removal capacity. To reach gigaton scale, Arca must out-compete the incumbent cost of doing nothing: the mining industry’s traditional approach to waste management.