Guided by The Nature Conservancy’s “Development by Design” principles, Smart Qarbon Products constantly strive for lower-impact ways of doing business with the end goal of setting best practice examples for leaving the smallest possible footprint.

Smart Qarbon Products support local low-impact, small underground mine producers that do not destroy the environment as large strip mining methods do.

Our producers utilize “Mine Portals” to enter the hills’ sides at the targeted minerals’ elevation. Mine Portals are typically smaller than a home garage opening and enter the earth above water tables, minimizing any land disturbance and the stored soil carbon, which is destroyed by large strip mining methods.

Once the minerals have been extracted, the mine portal is backfilled, and the hillside is re-terraced and landscaped back to its original state.

Rehabilitated properly, previous mining activity isn’t visible, and the landscape is restored within weeks of ceasing operations.

Using small local teams means we can positively influence operating practices while driving the stable employment of small local teams and supporting the local community’s economy.

Charcoal is the only alternative supply of raw material for making specialty carbon. We estimate Smart Qarbon products save >13 million trees that would otherwise be harvested each year and partially burned to produce charcoal. Deforestation permanently alters ecosystems while destroying biodiversity, while plantation-sourced charcoal indirectly incentivises habitat and biodiversity destruction.

In comparison, we rely on small underground low-impact mining methods that keep the surface environment intact.

Carbon is one of the basic building blocks of life and industry as we know it. Carbon’s most commonly understood uses include producing bulk steel products (metallurgical coal) and electricity (thermal coal). In addition to these common uses, carbon is used extensively in various industries for manufacturing specialty products and materials.

In the Earth’s crust, elemental carbon is a minor component. However, carbon compounds (i.e. carbonates of magnesium and calcium) form common minerals like magnesite, dolomite, marble and limestone. Coral and the shells of oysters and clams are primarily calcium carbonate. Carbon is widely distributed as coal and in the organic compounds that form petroleum, natural gas, and all plant and animal tissue.

A natural sequence of chemical reactions called the carbon cycle involves the conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide to carbohydrates by photosynthesis in plants and the consumption of these carbohydrates by animals, and the oxidation through metabolism to produce carbon dioxide and other products, and the return of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This cycle is one of the most important of all biological processes.

Within the carbon cycle, it is the excessive return of CO2 which is harmful to the environment. As there is no combustion of coal in the making of Smart Qarbon, the return of CO2 to the atmosphere is very low, whereas, with the alternative of charcoal, the return of CO2 is very high. Further, many applications for Smart Qarbon remove CO2 from, or delay its return to the carbon cycle.