US Congress Directs Pentagon to Assess Domestic Processing of Polymetallic Nodules under National Defense Authorization Act

• The report [see p.59] noted that “to counter China’s growing hold on the global supply chain, it is essential that the United States secures its own innovative supply of critical and strategic minerals and materials, including polymetallic nodules, to decrease reliance on sources from foreign adversaries.”
• The House Armed Services Committee directed the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy “to assess processing of seabed resources of polymetallic nodules domestically.”
• The news comes as American and allied auto and battery makers struggle to secure supplies of critical battery metals that comply with guidelines for incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act.
  

NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TMC the metals company Inc. (Nasdaq: TMC) (“TMC” or the “Company”), an explorer of the world’s largest estimated undeveloped source of critical battery metals, today welcomed the inclusion of polymetallic nodules in a report requested by the House Armed Services Committee to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy under the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”).

Entitled “H.R. 2670 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024; and H.R. 1282 – Major Richard Star Act” and submitted June 21 (published yesterday), the House Armed Services request under the NDAA includes a “roadmap recommending how the United States can have the ability to source and/or process critical minerals in innovative arenas, such as deep-sea mining, to decrease reliance on sources from foreign adversaries and bolster domestic competencies.”

TMC Chairman and CEO, Gerard Barron, said, “Given the known deficit of domestic supply and processing of critical lithium-ion battery cathode materials including cobalt, nickel, and manganese, the House request for the U.S. Department of Defense to explore the possibility to process polymetallic nodules in the U.S. is timely. By onshoring primary processing and refining of nodules, the U.S. could secure supply and achieve mineral independence in four important battery metals, support domestic companies and jobs, and drastically reduce the environmental and social impacts that currently plague geopolitically-complex battery material supply chains.”