Deep-Sea Goldmine: How the Ocean Floor Could Fuel the EV Revolution (And Who’s Cashing In)
The race to power electric vehicles just took a dive—literally. Mining companies are now eyeing the ocean floor for battery metals, and one firm is positioning itself to dominate this untapped frontier.
Beneath the waves lies a treasure trove of nickel, cobalt, and manganese—critical ingredients for EV batteries. While terrestrial mines face environmental pushback and geopolitical risks, deep-sea nodules offer a tantalizing alternative. No deforestation, no child labor scandals—just cold, hard metal waiting to be scooped up.
But here’s the catch: harvesting these resources requires cutting-edge robotics and serious capital. The company leading the charge claims its tech can extract nodules with minimal ecological disruption. Skeptics, meanwhile, warn of ‘underwater strip mining’—because Wall Street never met a ecosystem it couldn’t monetize.
As EV demand skyrockets, the deep-sea mining debate is heating up faster than a lithium battery. Will this become the next clean energy breakthrough? Or just another case of ‘green capitalism’ diving headfirst into murky waters? One thing’s certain: where there’s metal, there’s money—and someone’s always willing to take the plunge.
Image source: Getty Images.
What does The Metals Company do?
TMC isn't your typical mining stock. The company's Core mission is to harvest polymetallic nodules from a remote stretch of Pacific Ocean known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ). These lumpy, fist-sized seafloor stones are loaded with nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese, all essential ingredients in everything from electric vehicle batteries to solar panels.
On land, these rare earth metals are mined and processed in carbon-heavy ways, which ironically undercut the clean-tech future many are destined to be part of. TMC wants to flip the script. Instead of digging holes in the earth, it wants to scoop metal-rich nodules from the seabed and refine them into battery-grade materials, possibly with a lighter environmental footprint.
The potential for TMC's mining operations is huge. As Henry Sanderson points out in his book Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green, the DEEP sea holds more nickel, cobalt, and possibly other rare earth metals than all the world's land-based reserves combined. The CCZ alone is believed to contain some 21 billion metric tons of nodules -- enough raw material to not only shake China's grip on battery metals but supercharge the EV revolution for decades, if the materials can be gathered and refined.
A big vision, but zero revenue
But let's not sugarcoat it: TMC is nowhere NEAR harvesting nodules at a commercial scale. The company reported zero revenue in the first quarter of 2025, paired with a net loss of about $20.6 million. That loss widened from $16.1 million in the quarter before. It turns out that building an underwater mining infrastructure from scratch isn't going to be cheap.
Or quick. As of writing, TMC still doesn't have the green light to mine commercially in the CCZ. Although it holds exploration rights across two massive patches there, it doesn't yet have permission to start harvesting the goods. That authority rests with the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a United Nations-backed body that still hasn't finalized the regulatory playbook that companies like TMC need to operate.
But there's a plot twist with the ISA: The U.S. never ratified the treaty that made the agency. While 169 nations and the European Union formally recognize the agency's authority, the U.S. isn't one of them. True, it does acknowledge parts of the treaty as international law, but technically, it's not bound by the ISA's rulebook. This means that if national interest comes into play -- say, securing domestic access to critical minerals -- the U.S. could try to go its own way. That WOULD give companies like TMC a potential fast track to start operating in the CCZ.
This is exactly the door that TMC is trying to walk through. In April 2025, the company filed a permit application under a decades-old U.S. law just days after President Donald TRUMP signed a U.S. executive order renewing interest in offshore critical minerals. If TMC's application is approved, it could mean mining under American jurisdiction in waters considered off-limits to the rest of the world. It's a long shot, legally speaking, and could breach international norms, but it would be a major breakthrough for a company with no revenue.
A long-term wager with caveats
TMC is what I'd call a moonshot (or, maybe a deep-sea Hail Mary) -- it's a big idea with big risks and potentially big payoffs. If the permits come through and the tech scales, today's price could look like a bargain. After all, a $2.65 billion market cap could look small compared to the multitrillion-dollar demand for battery metals that's expected over the next few decades. If TMC becomes even a minor supplier in that chain, its top-line growth could dwarf what investors are paying today.
But if the ISA blocks its permit, or if U.S. jurisdiction doesn't hold up to legal scrutiny, or if other things turn out in ways not the best for the company, TMC could keep burning cash with no clear path to revenue.
That's a lot of "ifs." Clearly, this isn't a stock for the risk-averse. For aggressive investors with long-term horizons, a small stake might make sense as part of a diversified portfolio. But I would wait for tangible progress, like a confirmed mining license, before scaling up exposure.
