The USA B application area covers ~122,000 km2 of seafloor and hosts an estimated 1.02 billion tonnes of polymetallic nodules based upon TMC’s Technical Report Summary for the Initial Assessment published in August 2025. In addition to the USA B exploration license application, TMC USA is also advancing a consolidated application for an exploration license and commercial recovery permit for the USA A area, which was submitted to NOAA on January 22, 2026, and later determined to be fully compliant on April 28, 2026.
Gerard Barron, CEO and Chairman of The Metals Company, commented: “Today’s certification of our USA B exploration license application marks another important milestone in NOAA’s transparent, rules-based process, and we look forward to the development and publication of an EIS. Exploration is a critical step to unlocking the transformative potential of the untapped nodule resource for the United States.”
Certification represents a key step in a steady cadence of expected regulatory milestones:
- NOAA is expected to soon publish a Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, followed by the development and then publication for public comment of a draft EIS and draft Terms, Conditions, and Restrictions (TCRs) for TMC USA’s proposed exploration activities on the USA B area
- Following the public comment period, the EIS will be finalized, and NOAA will make a final determination on the issuance of the license and its associated TCRs
The Company and its partners have conducted over a decade of scientific research, environmental data collection, and offshore engineering, building one of the most comprehensive datasets ever assembled on polymetallic nodules and their surrounding ecosystems. To date, independent academics have published 37 peer-reviewed studies based upon the Company’s dataset. Earlier this year, the Company began sharing key findings from its Environmental Impact Assessment publicly as part of two new video series, highlighting how its dataset addresses environmental concerns and how innovation has reduced its environmental footprint. The exploratory activities outlined as part of TMC USA’s USA B exploration license application are expected to generate significant new data and, with all academics involved free to publish, the Company anticipates that hundreds more papers will be published over the coming months and years.
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 CCZ in 1981. The agency issued comprehensive DSHMRA implementing regulations in 1981 (exploration licenses) and 1989 (commercial recovery permits) and has maintained an active licensing program since that time, with multiple exploration licenses renewed on a five-year basis.