The Metals Company - stock watch
The Metals Company opens trading on a high this week following last week's surge in its share price on the Nasdaq exchange in the United States.
The stock surged 34% at close of trading last week following US president Donald Trump's executive order to permit deep sea mining.
The Metals Company, or TMC, is seen to benefit from the news as it had been aggressively lobbying the US administration to issue licences for the controversial activity, which environmentalists says could be detrimental to marine life among other negative consequences.
TMC supplies critical metals for the energy transition and has invested heavily in mining deep sea minerals.
Back from the brink
The surge in its share price last week came on the back of a difficult year for TMC, which had traded below US$1 for several weeks over the last year, prompting a warning from the technology based stock exchange that it was at risk of being delisted.
The stock, which fell to a low of US$0.72 at one point, had traded below the compliance threshold for 34 consecutive business days when it received a warning in January. It also received warnings in December 2022 and April 2023.
The company had been blaming the International Seabed authority and what it describes as a vocal, but loud minority of dissenters for the delay in deep sea mining regulations being completed by the UN body.
In its 2024 annual report the CEO Gerard Barron, who owns just over 5% of its ordinary shares, said the company "would be pursuing an alternative pathway under the existing U.S. seabed mining code and aimed to submit applications in the second quarter of 2025".
In the lead up to Trump's deep sea mining shock announcement, TMC had already regained compliant status with Nasdaq and had been visibly lobbying the administration for the order, which will see the US open bids for deep sea mining licences under regulations drawn up by its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The International Seabed Authority condemns the move, saying it is the only body authorised to issue licences for deep sea mining.
Developing.
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