Using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), researchers were able to obtain over 12,000 images of the seafloor resulting in the identification of over 30,000 megafauna.
Deepest ever MOCNESS net deployments
The submission includes extensive biological samples gathered from world-first deployments of a Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS) at depths exceeding 4,000 meters.
TMC's subsidiary, NORI, has submitted comprehensive data to the International Seabed Authority, detailing findings from environmental baseline campaigns from the NORI-D exploration area up to January 2022.
The data encompasses 32,617 benthic and 42,036 pelagic biological occurrences, over 12,000 seafloor images, and extensive time-series data from three years of monitoring via oceanographic moorings.
NORI’s latest submission is part of a broader dataset of hundreds of terabytes of data collected by leading independent scientists and expert industry partners during 22 offshore environmental baseline and resource definition campaigns conducted over more than a decade.
The complete NORI-D dataset will be the most comprehensive dataset ever gathered in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) and will form the basis of NORI’s Environmental Impact Assessment, an integral part of the application to the International Seabed Authority for an exploitation contract in NORI-D area.
NEW YORK, May 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TMC the metals company Inc. (Nasdaq: TMC) (“TMC” or the “Company”), an explorer of the world’s largest estimated undeveloped source of critical battery metals, today announced that its subsidiary NORI has made a second submission of key environmental data from all prior environmental baseline campaigns conducted in the NORI-D exploration area up to January 2022 to DeepData, an open database of contractor data managed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
The submission of this massive batch of data, which includes analysis of an extensive set of geochemical and biological samples from across the water column, 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 (ESIA) 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 22 offshore campaigns.
Dr Michael Clarke, Environmental Manager at The Metals Company, said: “This accumulation of baseline data over the last decade represents the most comprehensive dataset ever collected in the CCZ. When combined and compared with the wealth of data gathered during our 2022 test mining and post-disturbance monitoring campaigns, we believe preliminary analysis is demonstrating that much of the conjecture around environmental impacts of nodule collection is not supported by the science. We are looking forward to submitting the Environmental Impact Statement to the ISA and publishing the dozens of academic papers that will result from this work. When this information becomes available, I am confident that objective stakeholders will clearly see that deep-sea nodule collection is a far less impactful way to source critical metals than mining on land.”
This year's ISA data submission highlights include:
Over 12,000 seafloor images from Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) operations, leading to:
Annotation and identification of over 30,000 megafauna and xenophyophores occurrences by the UK National Oceanography Centre.
More than 2,000 gelatinous nekton identified by JAMSTEC from high-definition ROV video transects conducted from surface to seafloor.
Data from over 50 deployments of MOCNESS nets, yielding:
Almost 3,000 samples of pelagic biota (micronekton).
World-first samples from depths exceeding 4,000 meters.
Extensive zooplankton samples from 1,500 meters to characterize zooplankton communities.
Three-year data collection from oceanographic moorings providing insights into particulate organic carbon flux in the Eastern CCZ.
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. 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.
Since the late 1960s, over 300 hundred offshore campaigns have been conducted in international waters, with over $2 billion invested in environmental baseline and impact studies and technology development, with most of the capital invested by private companies. To address knowledge gaps, governments and contractors like NORI have spent over 9,000 days – the equivalent of almost 25 years – at sea, assessing the deep-sea environment, research and investment which has accelerated significantly since the establishment of the ISA’s exploration regime.
About The Metals Company The Metals Company is an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, on a dual mission: (1) supply metals for the global energy transition with the least possible negative impacts on planet and people and (2) trace, recover and recycle the metals we supply to help create a metals commons that can be used in perpetuity. The Company through its subsidiaries holds exploration and commercial rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed Authority and sponsored by the governments of Nauru, Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga. More information is available at www.metals.co.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements and information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as “aims,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “may,” “plans,” “possible,” “potential,” “will” and variations of these words or similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the potential impact of the Company’s potential commercial operations, the Company’s expectations with respect to its submission of environmental data, its ESIA, its Environmental Impact Statement, its continued work to collate and categorize its environmental data and future publications and papers. The Company may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, among other things: the Company’s strategies and future financial performance; the ISA's ability to timely adopt the Mining Code and/or willingness to review and/or approve a plan of work for exploitation under the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS); the Company’s ability to obtain exploitation contracts or approved plans of work for exploitation for its areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone; regulatory uncertainties and the impact of government regulation and political instability on the Company’s resource activities; changes to any of the laws, rules, regulations or policies to which the Company is subject, including the terms of the final Mining Code, if any, adopted by ISA and the potential timing thereof; the impact of extensive and costly environmental requirements on the Company’s operations; environmental liabilities; the impact of polymetallic nodule collection on biodiversity in the Clarion Clipperton Zone and recovery rates of impacted ecosystems; the Company’s ability to develop minerals in sufficient grade or quantities to justify commercial operations; the lack of development of seafloor polymetallic nodule deposit; the Company’s ability to successfully enter into binding agreements with Allseas Group S.A. and other parties in which it is in discussions, if any, including Pacific Metals Company of Japan; uncertainty in the estimates for mineral resource calculations from certain contract areas and for the grade and quality of polymetallic nodule deposits; risks associated with natural hazards; uncertainty with respect to the specialized treatment and processing of polymetallic nodules that the Company may recover; risks associated with collective, development and processing operations, including with respect to the development of onshore processing capabilities and capacity and Allseas Group S.A.’s expected development efforts with respect to the Project Zero offshore system; the Company’s dependence on Allseas Group S.A.; fluctuations in transportation costs; fluctuations in metals prices; testing and manufacturing of equipment; risks associated with the Company’s limited operating history, limited cash resources and need for additional financing and risk that such financing may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all; risks associated with the Company’s intellectual property; Low Carbon Royalties’ limited operating history and other risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause the Company’s actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, that are described in greater detail in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the SEC on March 25, 2024, as amended. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether because of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.
