The Metals Company  is a deep-sea minerals business working to collect, process and refine polymetallic nodules from the floor of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean. These nodules are rich in nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese, metals widely used in batteries, electrification and defence supply chains. The company is listed on the Nasdaq in the US under the ticker TMC, with a market value of about US$1.6bn.

Here are five key reasons why TMC represents an interesting investment case:

1. A large, high-value resource. The company holds rights to a large resource of around 1.6bn tonnes of polymetallic nodules. Edison reports a combined estimated value of US$23.6bn across the company’s two studies, made up of US$5.5bn for the higher-confidence pre-feasibility study and US$18.1bn for the wider initial assessment. This points to the scale of the opportunity if the project reaches production. The company also has an additional 300Mt resource potential that is not included in the two studies.

2. A clear and steadily de-risking path to production. The company is moving through the steps needed to begin commercial recovery, including two important milestones in May 2026. First, the US regulator NOAA confirmed that its seabed mining application for an exploration licence and a commercial recovery permit covering ~65,000km² was in full compliance. Second, the NOAA certified the exploration licence covering ~122,000 km². This paves the way for the NOAA to develop and publish an environmental impact statement – a future important milestone. TMC expects its commercial recovery permit to be granted by the end of the first quarter of 2027 and expects production to commence in Q427 with a ramp up to c 1Mtpa in 2028 and c 11Mtpa by 2031.

3. A supportive backdrop in the US. The company is pursuing US regulatory approval from the NOAA to operate, helped by an executive order from President Trump encouraging the development of deep-sea minerals. All four of the metals it aims to produce have been designated by the US as critical for national security, and in March 2026 TMC joined the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC), which sits within the US Department of War. The DIBC aims to expand the US defence industrial base. TMC’s resource contains key metals found in both defence and maritime supply chains and is therefore aligned with the DIBC’s objectives supporting US efforts to reduce its dependence on others for these metals.

4. Strong partners and a funded near-term plan. The company has signed a commercial agreement with its offshore partner Allseas, which will fund a significant share of development costs, to be repaid from future production. It has also added partners such as Korea Zinc and the Hess family. TMC ended the first quarter of 2026 with liquidity of around US$164m, which management believes is sufficient for at least the 12 months from May 2026.

5. A wide gap between the share price and estimated value. Edison observes that the shares trade at a significant discount to TMC’s estimated value of the resource provided by TMC at its August 2025 capital markets day and reiterated in May 2026 with the Q126 results. TMC points to healthy project returns, with internal rates of return of 27% for the pre-feasibility study and 36% for the wider initial assessment. If it continues to hit its milestones, there is scope for this gap to narrow.

TMC offers exposure to a very large deep-sea resource of metals that are increasingly seen as strategically important. With key regulatory and commercial milestones falling into place, a funded near-term plan and a share price well below the estimated value of its resource, it stands out as a differentiated way to invest in the future supply of critical metals with a likely higher risk-reward profile than on-shore mining peers.

Published 5 August 2026