The Metals Company says it intends to seek approval in the third quarter of 2023 from the United Nations’ International Seabed Authority to mine polymetallic nodules from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, Kallanish reports.

The Canada-based company says it will seek an exploration contract for its NORI-D contract area held by subsidiary Nauru Ocean Resources in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone about 1,609 kilometres off the US West Coast in order to mine the unattached nodules containing nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese for electric vehicle batteries. That area may hold up to 356 million tonnes of wet nodules worth $6.8 billion, it says.

The UN agency is aiming to complete first-ever regulations on ocean-floor mining by 9 July, 2023.

The company is also planning by Q3 2023 to complete a pilot plant programme to process and refine the nodules into critical metals, to construct and deploy a pilot collection system to lift the nodules from the ocean floor to surface and into a collection vessel and to prepare an environmental impact statement for the project. The company has about $113m in held cash and cash equivalents that should enable the company to meet those four key Q3 2023 goals, it said in releasing its development and capital plan for the next two years.

The NORI-D project “is only the beginning,” says chairman and ceo Gerard Barron. “Across our full NORI and TOMI contract areas, we have identified a sufficient estimated amount of nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese in situ to support the electrification of 280m EVs or approximately the entire US passenger vehicle fleet.”

The company has three Pacific contract areas.

The company also reports that it has completed the pilot smelting phase of the pyrometallurgical campaign in Canada, deriving an alloy of high-grade battery metals from the nodules. The smelting work was conducted with Expert Process Solutions and Hatch and Optimize Group.

The Metals Company, with headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, is retrofitting a former deep-water drill ship in the Dutch port of Rotterdam where it will be converted into a deep-sea mining vessel. The Hidden Gem is expected to begin test collections in mid-2022. The company has also launched its fourth scientific cruise to the Pacific to gather scientific data. The Pacific collections could begin in 2024. Critics say the plan is untested and the environmental impacts are unknown.