- The upcoming offshore campaign is the latest in The Metals Company subsidiary NORI’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) to characterise the potential impacts of proposed polymetallic nodule collection operations.
- Scientists from several leading marine research institutions will undertake an array of studies on the site of last year’s nodule collection system test to gather further environmental data on ecosystem recovery and functioning.
- Building on the rich data gathered from 20 offshore campaigns over the last 11 years, with cumulative ESIA spending of ~$150 million, this latest campaign will further support NORI’s application to the ISA for a commercial exploitation contract.
NEW YORK - Nov. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Metals Company (Nasdaq: TMC) (“TMC” or “the Company”), an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, today provides additional details on the previously announced offshore campaign to revisit the site of last year’s nodule collection system test conducted by its subsidiary, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI) with the objective to assess seafloor impacts and recovery rates twelve months after the test. The Company expects to commence the campaign in Q4 2023.
Researchers plan to return to the NORI-D area in the Clarion Clipperton Zone to collect further environmental data for NORI’s application for an exploitation contract, which it expects to submit following the July 2024 meeting of the International Seabed Authority, as well as to inform its Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan.
Specialized research teams will use an array of boxcore and multi-core samplers as well as various benthic lander systems to assess impacts to biota and ecosystem function on the seafloor in NORI-D. Engineers at the surface will control a Remotely Operated Vehicle to support high-precision placement of the sampling equipment in the area directly disturbed by the Allseas-designed pilot collector vehicle, as well as in areas adjacent to, and at various distances from, the site of last year’s integrated collection system trials.
TMC Environmental Manager Dr Michael Clarke, who is leading NORI’s ESIA, said: “As we bring together and process the wealth of data that we have gathered over the past 11 years, we’re using the additional time prior to our application submission to increase our knowledge base further. Building on observations from last year’s collector test monitoring campaign, the findings of this next campaign will greatly enhance the quality of our application and provide greater understanding for the regulator and stakeholders of how the abyssal ecosystem responds to our operations. This data will also be extremely valuable for our engineering teams as they refine the collection system to have a lighter touch.”
While on site, the engineering and science teams will also recover long-term oceanographic moorings and re-deploy two reference moorings from the NORI-D area before commencing long-term oceanographic monitoring on the TOML-F area held by TMC subsidiary Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd (TOML), which is adjacent to NORI-D.
NORI’s upcoming environmental campaign will add to the significant research that has been conducted in the deep sea. Since the late 1960s, over 300 hundred offshore campaigns have been conducted in international waters with over $2 billion invested in environmental baseline and impact studies and technology development, with most of the capital invested by private companies. To address knowledge gaps, research and investment have accelerated significantly since 2001 with governments and contractors like NORI spending over 6,000 days – the equivalent of almost 17 years – at sea, assessing the deep-sea environment.
About The Metals Company
The Metals Company is an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, on a dual mission: (1) supply metals for the global energy transition with the least possible negative impacts on planet and people and (2) trace, recover and recycle the metals we supply to help create a metals commons that can be used in perpetuity. The Company through its subsidiaries holds exploration and commercial rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed Authority and sponsored by the governments of Nauru, Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga.