Despite the absence of formal rules, Canada’s The Metals Company (NASDAQ: TMC), one of the companies with the most advanced plans to extract key metals from nodules covering the seafloor, is expected to submit a mining license application before the end of 2024. Production, however, would start in the first quarter of 2026 at the earliest.
One of the TMC’s ISA contracts is sponsored by the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, which in 2021 triggered a provision requiring the ISA to enact mining regulations by 2023. The ISA missed that deadline, and so must start accepting license applications.
Leadership battle
How the ISA will respond to applicants is a key question for the coming weeks. Under existing rules, a mining application must be approved by the group’s Legal and Technical Commission (LTC), which then issues recommendations to the body’s ruling council. For a licence to be granted, it would need the support of…
