TMC has made history with the first-ever application for two exploration licenses and a commercial recovery permit.
Canada’s The Metals Company has taken a major step in its pursuit of deep-sea mining, announcing it hasThe company’s US subsidiary, TMC USA, filed the applications under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act and regulations set by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , which collectively form the US seabed mining code.
TMC’s two exploration licence applications cover a combined 199,895 square kilometres, while the commercial recovery permit covers 25,160 square kilometres within the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a resource-rich swath of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico. These areas include the company’s indicated and measured polymetallic nodule resources. According to TMC, the zones hold 1.63 billion wet metric tonnes of SEC SK 1300-compliant nodules, with an estimated exploration upside of 500 million tonnes. The resource is projected to contain 15.5 million tonnes of nickel, 12.8 million tonnes of copper, 2 million tonnes of cobalt, and 345 million tonnes of manganese — metals critical for batteries, clean energy, infrastructure and defence applications. “This marks a major step forward — not just for TMC USA, but for America’s mineral independence and industrial resurgence,” chairman and CEO Gerard Barron said. “We’re offering the US a shovel-ready path to new and abundant supplies of critical metals.” The Trump administration views deep-sea mining as a strategic route to reduce dependence on foreign mineral supply chains. A White House official suggested the industry could generate up to 100,000 jobs and add hundreds of billions to the economy over the next decade.predicts the need for copper and rare earth elements TMC has pledged to mitigate environmental damage by leaving at least 30% of its contract areas untouched. The company also claims its modern nodule collector disturbs only the top three centimetres of seabed sediment, far less than earlier technologies. Still, TMC’s application could reignite tensions at the international level. The company has been operating in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone for years under exploration contracts backed by the UN-affiliated International Seabed Authority , which governs mining in international waters. But the US is not a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and TMC’s move to seek approval under US law may be seen as sidestepping international consensus.aimed at finalizing global regulations for seabed mining, potentially setting a precedent for other countries or companies to bypass multilateral frameworks.Alkane to acquire Mandalay Resources in $358M dealThe Department of the Interior issued its approval for Dateline Resources to continue its development of the Colosseum rare earths project.CHARTS: Rare earth export restrictions, price spikes and the risks of demand destruction Prices were initially indifferent when China halted exports to Japan in 2010 but three months later embarked on an upswing that remains unmatched.
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