The Metals Company provides business update, reaffirms capital outlook

The Metals Company reaffirmed its development and capital outlook and provided a business update. TMC reaffirmed its development and capital plan through the third quarter of 2023, when it expects to submit its application to the International Seabed Authority for an Exploitation Contract for its NORI-D contract area in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean over 1,000 miles off the US western seaboard. As of September 30, 2021, TMC held cash and cash equivalents of approximately $113 million, which it believes will enable it to achieve four key milestones by the end of the third quarter of 2023. These include: Completion of a pilot plant program to process and refine polymetallic nodules into critical metals including nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese which are essential to the transition to clean energy and electric vehicles; Construction and deployment of the pilot collection system to lift nodules to the surface and transport them to shore where they can be processed with near-zero solid waste, no tailings or deforestation, and with careful attention to limit harm to the integrity of the deep-ocean ecosystem; Completion and submission of the Environmental Impact Assessment, a key part of one of the most comprehensive deep-sea research programs to date; and Submission of an application to the ISA for an exploitation contract for its NORI-D area of the CCZ, which is estimated to contain 356 million metric tonnes of wet nodules containing high-grade nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese mineral resources. Following the completion of the business combination between DeepGreen Metals Inc. and Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corp. on September 9, 2021, there have been a number of developments related to the advancement of TMC's business and strategy, including: The 228-meter-long former drill ship renamed the Hidden Gem arrived in Rotterdam on September 21, 2021, to begin its conversion into what is expected to be the first ship classified as a sub-sea mining vessel by the American Bureau of Shipping. TMC and its partner Allseas expect the vessel to be operational for pilot nodule collection tests in 2022. TMC completed the pilot smelting phase of its pyrometallurgical campaign, deriving an alloy comprised of high-grade battery metals. The smelting work was conducted in Canada in partnership with Expert Process Solutions with support from Hatch and Optimize Group. The Company launched its fourth environmental campaign this year, Expedition 5C, advancing its multi-year deep-sea research program intended to establish a rigorous environmental baseline and characterize the potential impacts of its proposed nodule collection operations, with researchers from the University of Hawaii at Mnoa, University of Maryland, Texas A&M and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. The International Seabed Authority continues to work against a two-year deadline to finalize regulations regarding deep sea mining by July 9, 2023, pursuant to the Republic of Nauru exercising its sovereign rights under Section 1, paragraph 15 of the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This notice has obliged the ISA to complete the adoption of exploitation regulations within two years of the request made by the member state. If the ISA has not completed the adoption of such regulations within the prescribed time and an application for approval of a plan of work for exploitation, as TMC's subsidiary NORI intends to submit, is pending before the ISA, the ISA shall nonetheless consider and provisionally approve such plan of work. An in-person ISA Council & Assembly meeting in Kingston, Jamaica has been scheduled for December 6 - 15, 2021.