Biodiversity Data from NORI-D Exploration Area Now Available on UNESCO’s Ocean Biodiversity Information System, Increases Biodiversity Records for the Clarion-Clipperton Zone by About 150%

• Following the publication of biodiversity data collected from the NORI-D exploration area on UNESCO’s Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) on 22 June 2023, The Metals Company’s subsidiary NORI becomes the single largest contributor of biological occurrence data to the OBIS ISA-node, increasing biodiversity records available for the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) by about 150%.
• NORI data now available on the OBIS ISA-node represents less than half of the total dataset collected to date, with the remaining baseline biological data currently being collated and further submissions expected in the coming months to ISA DeepData and the OBIS ISA-node.
• The ISA-node provides access to a wealth of information on the deep-sea and biological resources in the global commons for all society to use. In a week since the publication on OBIS, the NORI-D biodiversity records have been downloaded 67 times, and the total number of occurrence records downloaded exceeds 4.4 million.
• The complete NORI-D dataset is expected to be one of the most comprehensive datasets ever gathered in the deep-sea and will form the basis of NORI’s Environmental Impact Statement, an integral part of the application to the International Seabed Authority for an exploitation contract in NORI-D area.

NEW YORK, July 03, 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 announced that data submitted by its subsidiary NORI to the International Seabed Authority’s ‘DeepData’ platform in March 2023 has now been made available to the public via UNESCO’s Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), increasing the biodiversity occurrence records contained within the OBIS ISA node for the Clarion Clipperton Zone by about 150%.

As the first UN body to become a member of the OBIS network, the ISA publishes biodiversity data collected by contractors and submitted to its DeepData platform to the OBIS ISA-node. The publication of this initial batch of data to the OBIS ISA node follows NORI’s decade-long research efforts to define the polymetallic nodule resource and develop an environmental baseline for its NORI-D exploration area, as part of its Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the NORI-D Nodule Project. Since 2012, the Company has collaborated with leading industry experts and independent scientists from marine research institutions from around the world on its ESIA, gathering data throughout 17 offshore campaigns, representing over 470 operational research days on the NORI-D area.