Company: TMCWW
Filing Date: 2025-05-12
Form Type: 8-K
Source: 0001104659-25-047373
Chunk: 4

Company: TMC the metals Co Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-05-12
Form: 8-K
Item: Item 8.01
Chunk 4
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Item 8.01.      Other Events.  

Business Update

In connection with the Registered Offering, the Company provided the following corporate update regarding its strategies and plans related
to pursuing the U. S. regulatory pathway under the U. S. Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (“ DSHMRA”), a U. S. domestic statute
administered by the U. S. Department of Commerce through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“ NOAA”), for
the commercial production of deep-sea polymetallic nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (“ CCZ”).

U. S. Regulatory Pathway

On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed
an Executive Order titled, “Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources”, which directs the
Commerce Secretary to implement an expedited permitting process under DSHMRA. In addition to directing the International Development Finance
Corporation, Export-Import Bank and Trade and Development Agency to identify tools to support this new industry, the Executive Order also
instructs the Departments of Defense and Energy to assess the use of the National Defense Stockpile for nodule-derived minerals and of
entering into offtake agreements for the procurement of these minerals. In addition, these departments are also directed, and to review
and revise domestic processing capabilities for seabed mineral resources.

There are currently two primary legal frameworks
governing the commercial recovery of deep-sea minerals from areas beyond national jurisdiction. The first is the DSHMRA and the second
is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“ UNCLOS”). The United States has not ratified UNCLOS, and is not a
member state of the International Seabed Authority (“ ISA”), which administers the international regime.

The Company is increasingly focused on advancing
its commercial production strategy under the U. S.-based DSHMRA regime. The Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, The Metals Company
USA, LLC (“ TMC USA”), is a “ United States citizen” under DSHMRA and, in April 2025, it submitted two exploration
license applications (covering 199,895 square kilometers in the CCZ referred to as TMC USA-A and TMC USA-B) and one commercial recovery
permit application (covering 25,160 square kilometers in the CCZ referred to as TMC USA-A_2) to NOAA. These applications include the areas
under which its subsidiaries hold exploration contracts from the ISA, which