- Publication provides public notice of TMC USA’s consolidated exploration and commercial recovery application for TMC USA-A
- Submitted earlier this year, the consolidated application covers areas previously applied for in April 2025 and increases the proposed commercial recovery area from ~25,000 to ~65,000 km2, with an estimated resource of 619 million tonnes (“Mt”) of wet nodules and potential exploration upside of an additional 200 Mt
- NOAA’s updated regulatory framework allows applicants with sufficient exploration data and expertise to submit a consolidated application for both an exploration license and commercial recovery permit, supporting a more efficient permitting timeline
NEW YORK, Aug. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TMC the metals company Inc. (Nasdaq: TMC) (“TMC”, “The Metals Company” or the “Company”), a leading developer of the world’s largest resource of critical metals essential to energy, defense, manufacturing and infrastructure, today announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) published in the Federal Register the consolidated application submitted by the Company’s subsidiary, The Metals Company USA LLC (“TMC USA”), for an exploration license and commercial recovery permit for TMC USA-A under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (“DSHMRA”) and its implementing regulations.
Publication of the consolidated application in the Federal Register follows the determination of full compliance by NOAA on April 28, 2026, and provides public notice of TMC USA’s submission. NOAA’s review will continue under DSHMRA and its implementing regulations and is now expected to proceed through remaining steps, including:
- Certifying the application
- Conducting the required environmental review and providing a draft Environmental Impact Statement for public comment
- Making a final determination on whether to issue the exploration license and commercial recovery permit and associated Terms, Conditions, and Restrictions
Gerard Barron, Chairman and CEO of The Metals Company, said: “Publication of our consolidated application in the Federal Register is an important milestone on the permitting path under DSHMRA as it starts the clock on the public comment period that NOAA views as a prerequisite to certification. Every step toward a final regulatory decision brings us closer to potential commercial production and to a future in which the United States has greater mineral sovereignty in several critical minerals. Our confidence in the permitting process remains high and we continue to advance our first project toward commercial production in parallel with NOAA’s permitting process.”
Earlier this year, TMC USA submitted a consolidated application for an exploration license and a commercial recovery permit for polymetallic nodules in the TMC USA-A area in international waters of the Clarion Clipperton Zone (“CCZ”) in the Pacific Ocean. The application was filed under NOAA’s new consolidated application and review process and represents the first submission of its kind. It covers a ~65,000 km2 exploration and commercial recovery area, with an estimated resource of 619 Mt of wet nodules and potential exploration upside of an additional 200 Mt.
TMC USA’s application draws on one of the most comprehensive datasets ever assembled on polymetallic nodules and their surrounding ecosystems, informed by more than a decade of environmental baseline studies, scientific research and offshore engineering.
In addition to the USA-A consolidated application, TMC USA is also advancing an application for an exploration license over the USA-B area. On August 17, NOAA published a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the USA-B application in the Federal Register, following its earlier certification of the application on May 26, 2026. The USA-B application area covers ~122,000 km2 of seafloor containing an estimated 1.02 billion tonnes of polymetallic nodules with high grades of nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese, and several rare earth elements.
NOAA has played a central role in advancing scientific understanding of deep seabed mining impacts since the 1970s, including conducting environmental research cruises in the CCZ, monitoring early nodule collection trials, and publishing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement covering the CCZ in 1981. In the 1980s and 1990s, NOAA conducted further research into benthic plumes through its Benthic Impact Experiments program where the agency used a custom-built machine to simulate and study seafloor disturbance. The agency issued comprehensive DSHMRA implementing regulations in 1981 (for exploration licenses) and 1989 (for commercial recovery permits) and has maintained an active licensing program since that time, with multiple exploration licenses renewed on a five-year basis.
About The Metals Company
The Metals Company is a developer of lower-impact critical metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, on a dual mission: (1) supply metals for energy, defense, manufacturing and infrastructure with net positive impacts compared to conventional production routes and (2) trace, recover and recycle the metals we supply to help create a metal commons that can be used in perpetuity. The Company has conducted more than a decade of research into the environmental and social impacts of offshore nodule collection and onshore processing. More information is available at www.metals.co.