The Metals Company (TMC) is a pre-revenue deep-sea mining company developing polymetallic nodules — potato-sized rocks sitting on the floor of the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the eastern Pacific Ocean, at depths of roughly 4 kilometers. These nodules contain four critical metals — nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese — in a single rock, and TMC plans to collect them using seafloor collector vehicles, lift them to a surface vessel, and ship them to onshore facilities for processing and refining into nickel and cobalt sulfate, copper cathode, and manganese silicate. TMC's regulatory strategy now centers on the U.S. NOAA permitting process under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, following an Executive Order directing Commerce to expedite permitting; TMC submitted its commercial recovery application in January 2026, and management expects a permit within 12 months. TMC's business model is capital-light in the early stages — rather than building its own processing plants upfront, TMC plans to toll-treat nodules at existing facilities, initially PAMCO's smelter in Japan. Full-scale onshore U.S. refining capacity, estimated at roughly $4.2B of the ~$4.4B total onshore capex, is deferred to the 2030s. TMC targets first commercial production in Q4 2027 using the Hidden Gem, a converted drillship operated by key partner Allseas, ramping to four vessels and ~12 million tonnes per annum at steady state. TMC holds an offtake agreement with Glencore covering 50% of NORI nickel and copper production, and counts Korea Zinc as a strategic investor and potential downstream refining partner.