The Metals Company (Nasdaq: TMC) has reached another milestone in its US permitting process after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published its subsidiary TMC USA’s consolidated application for an exploration licence and commercial recovery permit in the Federal Register.
The publication provides formal public notice of TMC USA’s application for the USA-A contract area in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the Pacific Ocean and marks the start of the public review process under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA).
The application was submitted under NOAA’s new consolidated review framework, which allows companies with sufficient exploration data and technical expertise to seek both exploration and mining approvals through a single process. TMC noted that its submission is the first application made under the updated system.
The USA-A application covers approximately 65,000km² of seafloor, significantly larger than the roughly 25,000km² area included in the company’s original April 2025 filing. The project area hosts an estimated resource of 619Mt of wet polymetallic nodules, with an additional exploration upside of around 200Mt.
NOAA previously determined the application was complete in April 2026. The agency will now continue its review process, which includes certifying the application, conducting environmental assessments, releasing a draft Environmental Impact Statement for public comment, and ultimately deciding whether to issue the exploration licence and commercial recovery permit.
Gerard Barron, Chairman and CEO of The Metals Company, commented, “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.”
The application is supported by more than a decade of environmental baseline studies, scientific research, and offshore engineering work, creating one of the largest datasets assembled for polymetallic nodule development and associated ecosystems.
The company is also advancing a separate exploration licence application for its USA-B area. NOAA recently published a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for that project following certification of the application in May 2026. The USA-B area spans approximately 122,000km² and is estimated to contain 1.02Bt of polymetallic nodules rich in nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, and rare earth elements.
TMC believes progress on both applications positions the company closer to commercial production of critical minerals needed for energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and defense supply chains.