The Metals Company (TMC), a publicly-traded company on the NASDAQ, has released a Pre-Feasibility Study prepared by AMC Consultants Pty Ltd (2025) for the mining of deep-sea nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the northeast Pacific Ocean. TMC is seeking an exploitation permit from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), rather than from the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which has not yet developed the regulatory framework for issuing exploitation permits. The objective of this report is to assess the implications of the Pre-Feasibility Study for TMC and any investors.
This report points out some significant gaps in TMC's pre-feasibility study. Among concerns identified: the TMC Pre-Feasibility Study includes zero plan for mine waste management because it does not regard the sediment-laden return water as mine waste; the economic assumptions are a collection of best-case and near-best-case scenarios; the existence of the smelting and refining facilities necessary for processing of the deepsea nodules is highly speculative; the study does not take into account any consideration of the known radioactivity of deep-sea nodules; among other issues.
The recommendation of this report is that The Metals Company should abandon the proposal to mine and process deep-sea nodules and should close the project in a financially responsible manner.