The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has determined The Metals Company’s application for deep sea mining permits meets all requirements under federal law, marking a significant step toward potential commercial seafloor operations in the Pacific Ocean.
TMC announced NOAA found the consolidated application submitted by subsidiary The Metals Company USA LLC fully compliant with the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act and its implementing regulations. The application seeks both an exploration license and commercial recovery permit for polymetallic nodules in international waters.
NOAA previously determined the application achieved substantial compliance in March. The latest determination moves the review process into its certification stage, where officials will post the application to the Federal Register.
Streamlined process covers expanded area
TMC USA filed the consolidated application earlier this year under NOAA’s new combined review process, representing the first submission of its kind. The application covers approximately 65,000 sq. km for exploration and commercial recovery in the Clarion Clipperton zone, compared to roughly 25,000 sq. km in the company’s initial commercial recovery permit application from April 2025.
The consolidated approach allows exploration-phase environmental, geological and engineering data to feed directly into the commercial recovery review process, creating a more efficient regulatory timeline. Following certification, NOAA will publish a draft Environmental Impact Statement for public comment before finalizing the EIS and making a final determination on whether to issue the permits.
TMC USA expects the entire process to conclude before the end of the first quarter of 2027.
“This determination marks an important step forward in NOAA’s transparent, rules-based process, and brings us ever closer to providing the U.S. with a new, abundant and lower-impact source of critical metals,” Gerard Barron, chairman and CEO of The Metals Company, said. “It reflects the sheer scale of scientific, environmental and engineering effort and expertise that have been brought to bear on this project over the last 15 years, which provides us with sufficient information to move efficiently and responsibly into commercial operations under NOAA’s oversight.”
Decades of research support application
TMC USA built its application on more than a decade of environmental baseline studies, scientific research and offshore engineering conducted by the company and its partners. This work has assembled one of the most comprehensive datasets ever compiled on polymetallic nodules and their surrounding ecosystems.
The company positions itself as a developer of lower-impact critical metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, pursuing a dual mission to supply metals for energy, defense, manufacturing and infrastructure while creating systems to trace, recover and recycle those materials for perpetual use.
NOAA has maintained involvement in deep seabed mining research since the 1970s, conducting environmental research cruises in the Clarion Clipperton Zone, monitoring early nodule collection trials and publishing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement covering the area in 1981. The agency established implementing regulations for exploration licenses in 1981 and commercial recovery permits in 1989, maintaining an active licensing program since that time.
The determination comes as demand grows for critical metals needed in electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and defense applications. Supporters argue seafloor mining could provide these materials with less environmental impact than traditional terrestrial mining, while critics raise concerns about potential damage to deep-sea ecosystems that remain poorly understood.