* 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.
Contacts
Media | media@metals.co
Investors | investors@metals.co
Forward Looking Statements
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.
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