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Science vs. Activism

Activists attempt to disrupt scientific research... TMC held a webinar highlighting the scientific research the company is conducting in its NORI-D area of the CCZ and the data gathered by scientists that accompanied the collection vessel during last year’s collection project. TMC is currently revisiting the mined area a year later to assess the post-collection environmental impact. Climate activists, alarmed by the data, recently launched a harassment campaign aimed at the vessel collecting environmental data, including illegal boarding of the ship, in an effort to disrupt the scientific work and collection of data TMC intends to publish and use in preparation of its application for an exploitation license it intends to file next summer. …And get public rebuke. The activists’ efforts fortunately failed, as the District Court of Amsterdam in the Netherlands issued a court order requiring Greenpeace International to disembark from the research vessel, which the activists complied with. Given that the data collected last year exposed a number of erroneous presuppositions of environmental alarmists with respect to the impact of the collection plume spread and mid-level release of collection water, the activists’ efforts to disrupt the current program suggest weak scientific footing of the opposition’s stance. As the ISA reconvenes in March and July of 2024 and continues to work on delivering the seabed mining code and regulations, it is expected that the data collected by TMC will better inform the ISA’s decisions and development of environmentally responsible mining regulations. Study confirms lower environmental impact. A leading independent battery supply chain research organization, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, conducted and published its study of the impact of land-based mining of cobalt and nickel on the carbon footprint of mined areas, such as deforestation and destruction of biodomes, concluding that the inclusion of these impacts increases carbon emissions of such mines by 7-49% for nickel and 35% for cobalt mining, making the difference in the impact of seabed nodule collection and processing even more attractive from the environmental perspective than the BMI’s prior analytical comparison of the two published earlier this year. S-3 provides needed flexibility. TMC’s recently filed S-3 provides the company with the capital raise optionality required to ensure sufficient funds are available when needed to complete the ISA application process and get into commercial production with Project Zero. TMC is actively working with strategic investors on project-level financing and management remains fervent in its desire not to dilute its current shareholders.