The Metals Company USA has initiated a process with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce to apply for exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits under existing U.S. legislation.
Following extensive legal diligence, the company believes that the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act of 1980 (DSHMRA) offers the greatest probability of securing a permit for commercial recovery of deep-sea mineral resources in a timely manner.
“Over the last decade, we’ve invested over half a billion dollars to understand and responsibly develop the nodule resource in our contract areas. We built the world’s largest environmental dataset on the CCZ, carefully designed and tested an offshore collection system that minimizes the environmental impacts and followed every step required by the International Seabed Authority,” explained The Metals Company CEO and Chairman Gerard Barron.
“But, despite collaborating in good faith with the ISA for over a decade, it has not yet adopted the Regulations on the Exploitation of Mineral Resources in the Area in breach of its express treaty obligations under UNCLOS and the 1994 Agreement.”
Barron continued, “What we need is a regulator with a robust regulatory regime, and who is willing to give our application a fair hearing. That’s why we’ve formally initiated the process of applying for licenses and permits under the existing U.S. seabed mining code.”
The Metals Company USA expects to submit applications to NOAA in the second quarter of 2025.
Source: The Metals Company