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TMC announced that its subsidiary NORI had begun the process of submitting data collected during 17 offshore resource definition and environmental baseline campaigns in the NORI-D exploration area to DeepData, an open database of contractor data managed by the International Seabed Authority. The submission of the initial batch of data, which includes an extensive set of biological samples and images from the seafloor, follows NORI's decade-long research efforts to define the polymetallic nodule resource and develop an environmental baseline for its NORI-D exploration area, as part of its Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the NORI-D Nodule Project. Since 2012, the Company has collaborated with leading industry experts and independent scientists from marine research institutions from around the world on its ESIA, gathering data throughout 17 offshore campaigns, representing over 470 operational research days on the NORI-D area. Collected using a suite of high-tech equipment, the dataset submitted to the ISA includes over 1,400 biological samples from extensive boxcore and multicore sampling, and over 8,000 images analysed for benthic megafauna captured by Remotely Operated Vehicles from two offshore campaigns. This first submission of benthic data will provide a significant expansion to the biological holdings contained within the ISA's 'DeepData' platform by contributing over 270,000 occurrences. The data-gathering efforts of the independent scientists involved in NORI's ESIA program have already begun to yield novel insights about biodiversity, ecosystem processes and how we observe oceanic ecosystems with various papers in peer-reviewed journals. Contributions from ROV imagery and specimens collected during NORI-D pelagic campaigns have assisted in resolving diagnostic characteristics of hydrozoans. The novel use of the Saildrone ASV to examine micronekton in the open ocean provides some of the only remote sampling of pelagic prey communities in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Such studies are essential to describing the interactions between mesoscale features and pelagic fauna to help understand how these communities will respond to a changing ocean environment that may be induced by nodule collection activities and broader climate-related shifts. Over the coming months, NORI will continue working with research teams to fully collate and categorize the hundreds of terabytes of data and thousands of biological samples that have been collected to date. The total NORI-D dataset is expected to be one of the most comprehensive datasets ever compiled in the deep sea. Given the breadth of the dataset, NORI expects numerous further papers to be published in peer-reviewed journals in the coming months and years, adding significantly to society's understanding of the deep sea.

TMC the metals company announced that lithium-ion battery supply chain research firm, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, has completed an independent third-party lifecycle assessment of the environmental impacts of the Company's planned NORI-D Polymetallic Nodule Project as it looks to bring online the planet's largest undeveloped deposit of critical battery metals. The full LCA report can be downloaded here and a summary document here. Benchmark's team of LCA practitioners set out to assess the potential impacts of mining, transport, processing and refining ('cradle-to-gate') of important battery materials including an intermediate NiCuCo matte product and final end-products nickel sulfate, cobalt sulfate and copper cathode from seafloor polymetallic nodules collected from the NORI-D area. They then compared these impacts to producing the same metals via key land-based routes, including from Indonesian nickel laterites and mixed sulfides and oxides mined in the DRC. These raw material inputs are widely used in active cathode materials for nickel-rich cathode chemistries for lithium-ion batteries and electrical wiring, enabling the rapid growth of electrified transport and energy storage. Seven environmental impact categories critical for the metal industry were analyzed-global warming potential, stratospheric ozone depletion, terrestrial acidification, freshwater and marine eutrophication, particulate matter formation, water consumption-and supplementary research into waste generation was also conducted. Nickel, cobalt and copper products derived from the NORI-D Nodule Project performed better in almost every impact category, except for global warming potential and water consumption of producing cobalt sulfate, where one land-based route performed better. With over half of nickel now being sourced from beneath biodiverse rainforests and carbon sinks in Indonesia, the study found that TMC's nickel sulfate product would outperform not just Indonesian nickel but all other key land-based production routes, lowering emissions by between 70-80% on average, including with 70% lower GWP.

TMC the metals company announced that it has entered into a non-binding MOU with Pacific Metals, PAMCO, of Japan, to evaluate the toll treatment of an initial quantity of 1.3 million tonnes of wet polymetallic nodules per year at PAMCO's Hachinohe smelting facility starting in 2025, consistent with the commencement of TMC's planned first commercial production by end of 2024. The toll treatment is intended to take place on a dedicated rotary kiln-electric arc furnace processing line and produce two products: nickel-copper-cobalt alloy - an intermediate product used as feedstock to produce Li-ion battery cathodes - and a manganese silicate product used to make silico-manganese alloy, a critical input into steel manufacturing. Gerard Barron, CEO & Chairman of The Metals Company, said: "We are excited about the prospect of working closely with PAMCO who have been smelting nickel laterite ores at their Hachinohe facility since 1965 and have considerable experience in adapting to various land-based feedstocks from the Pacific. Technically, the Hachinohe plant appears well-suited to deploy the near-zero solid waste flowsheet we developed for processing nodules with little modification. Strategically, we are aligned with PAMCO's goal to contribute materials to a sustainable and recycling-oriented society. We look forward to working with PAMCO on the upcoming study program, finalizing the agreements and ultimately processing nodules to provide the metals required for the energy transition. This MoU is part of our stated capital-light strategy to get into initial commercial production swiftly and with lower upfront capital by re-using existing production assets like our first production vessel and former drill ship, Hidden Gem, and existing smelting facilities onshore, as well as by leveraging the deep operational expertise of our partners Allseas and onshore processors like PAMCO. These partnerships and our relentless focus on the environmental and social impacts of any future operations is how we unlock the enormous battery metal resource held by TMC."