Vouloir le beurre et l'argent du beurre Aspiring Canadian mining firm, The Metals Company, Inc. (TMC), through its wholly-owned subsidiaries (p. 10) Nauru Ocean Resources, Inc. (NORI), Tonga Offshore Mining, Ltd. (TOML), and The Metals Company USA, LLC (TMC USA) (together, the TMC Group), is pursuing two incompatible avenues to access and exploit polymetallic nodules…

A ‘new generation’ of sponsorship agreements for deep sea mining operations between The Metals Company (TMC) subsidiaries and their sponsoring states is evolving. On May 29th, 2025 The Republic of Nauru (Nauru) and Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI) concluded an amended version of their sponsorship agreement (Nauru-SA). Similarly, on August 4th, 2025 the Government of the Kingdom…