The Metals Company has enough cash to complete the “important work” needed to secure a permit to mine deep in the Pacific Ocean, according to its executive chair, despite an investor’s failure to hand it an agreed $200m in funding.
Gerard Barron said the deep-sea miner could finance its operations until the third quarter of 2023, when it expects to apply for a licence to collect so-called nodules, or rocks, containing energy transition metals such as nickel and copper from the seabed.
Rules to allow deep-sea mining in international waters have yet to be agreed by the UN-backed International Seabed Authority, although a regulatory framework to allow permit applications is expected in July 2023.
“On the financing side, do I wish I had another $200m in the bank? Of course. But I’m not overly concerned about it because . . . I’ve got enough money to complete the important work,” he told the Financial Times.
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