NOAA has formally certified TMC USA’s USA B exploration license application, moving the company one step deeper into the federal review process for its deep-sea mining plans.
The USA B application covers about 122,000 square kilometers of seafloor and is tied to an estimated 1.02 billion tonnes of polymetallic nodules, according to TMC’s technical report summary published in August 2025. The nodules are said to contain nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese and several rare earth elements.
The certification comes after NOAA recently found TMC USA’s separate consolidated application for the USA A area fully compliant with the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act and its regulations. That USA A filing was submitted on January 22, 2026, and cleared compliance review on April 28, 2026.
With the USA B application certified, NOAA is expected to begin work on an environmental impact statement. The process is set to move through a notice of intent, then a draft EIS and draft terms, conditions and restrictions for public comment, before finalizing the EIS and making a final decision on the license and related terms.
TMC said it and its partners have spent more than a decade building the scientific and engineering record behind the application. Independent academics have published 37 peer-reviewed studies based on the company’s dataset so far. The company said it expects hundreds more papers to follow as exploratory work in the USA B area generates additional data. Following these announcements, the company's shares moved 1.38%, and are now trading at a price of $5.7075. For more information, read the company's full 8-K submission here.
