NOAA Determines TMC USA’s Seabed Mining Application is in Substantial Compliance
NOAA has determined that the consolidated application submitted by The Metals Company USA (TMC USA) for an exploration license and commercial recovery permit under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA) is in substantial compliance with the requirements of the Act and its implementing regulations.
Earlier this year, TMC USA submitted a consolidated application for an exploration license and a commercial recovery permit for polymetallic nodules in international waters of the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific Ocean. The application was filed under NOAA’s new consolidated application and review process and represents the first submission of its kind.
It covers a ~65,000 km2 exploration and commercial recovery area in the CCZ, compared to a commercial recovery area of ~25,000 km2 in TMC USA’s initial commercial recovery permit application from April 2025.
Meanwhile, TMC USA's exploration license applications (TMC USA A & TMC USA B) are advancing as expected with public comment periods now completed.
Gerard Barron, Chairman and CEO of The Metals Company, said: “NOAA’s determination reflects the depth of work our team and partners have put into understanding this resource and how it can be responsibly developed. After more than a decade of environmental research, successful offshore trials and commercial-scale metallurgical processing, we believe polymetallic nodules can provide a new and lower-impact source of critical metals for the U.S. We welcome the streamlined consolidated review process and look forward to the next stages.”
TMC USA’s application is informed by more than a decade of environmental baseline studies, scientific research and offshore engineering conducted by the company and its partners, building one of the most comprehensive datasets ever assembled on polymetallic nodules and their surrounding ecosystems.
NOAA has played a central role in advancing scientific understanding of deep seabed mining impacts since the 1970s, including conducting environmental research cruises in the CCZ, monitoring early nodule collection trials and publishing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement covering the area that included the CCZ in 1981. The agency issued implementing regulations under DSHMRA for exploration licenses in 1981 and commercial recovery permits in 1989 and has maintained an active licensing program since that time.