- Expeditions 5D and 4E are part of a multi-year, $75 million
deep-sea research program to establish an environmental baseline
and analyze the potential impacts of DeepGreen’s proposed
operations to source critical battery minerals from seafloor
polymetallic nodules.
- DeepGreen shares its bathymetric survey data with the global
community as part of the International Seabed Authority’s plans to
develop a definitive map of the world’s seabed by 2030.
- The expeditions are ahead of DeepGreen’s plans to merge with
Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: SOAC) and
its expected public listing on NASDAQ as The Metals Company.
DeepGreen Metals Inc., which is expected to merge with
Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: SOAC) and
be renamed ‘TMC the metals company Inc.’ (The Metals Company),
today announced the mobilization of its next research campaign,
Environmental Expedition 4E, which comes on the heels of the
successful completion of Environmental Expedition 5D, which
continued research on deep-sea food chains, biodiversity,
geochemistry, and nutrient cycles within the NORI-D contract area
of the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific Ocean.
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The two expeditions are the latest work packages in the
multi-year deep-sea research program intended to establish a
rigorous environmental baseline and characterize the potential
impacts of The Metals Company’s proposed operations to source
critical battery minerals from deep-sea polymetallic nodules.
Dr. Andrew Sweetman, professor and leading researcher of
deep-sea ecology and biogeochemistry at Heriot-Watt University in
Edinburgh, was a lead researcher onboard Expedition 5D, alongside a
team of independent scientists from the Natural History Museum, the
University of Leeds, Florida State University and the University of
South Florida.
Using three different lander systems—similar in design to Mars
landers used by NASA—the 60-strong crew on the Maersk Launcher
collected data on the biodiversity and nutrients available on the
seafloor, as well as the oxygen and carbon cycling in the abyssal
environment. This data is being used to build a model of CCZ
ecosystem functions and to aid in the development of equipment and
systems which minimize disruption to the deep-sea environment from
proposed nodule collection operations.
“My team and I undertook lander operations to gather the best
environmental data that we could,” said Sweetman. All of the data
collected by Sweetman and the other scientists involved in the
company’s deep-sea research efforts will inform its environmental
and social impact assessment (ESIA) and will enable informed
decision-making and regulatory development in advance of the
commencement of a new resource industry which has the potential to
provide a secure supply of the critical battery metals required for
society’s transition to clean energy.
The next research campaign, Environmental Expedition 4E, will be
led by CSA Ocean Sciences Inc. (CSA), which specializes in
multidisciplinary environmental impact assessments. This will be
the fourth of seven research campaigns to the CCZ that The Metals
Company will conduct over a 14-month period. The mission of 4E is
to retrieve, recalibrate and redeploy three mooring installations
in the CCZ. The data collected from the instruments installed on
the moorings provide insights as to the physical characteristics of
the water column and inform a model developed to predict how
deep-sea sediments disturbed by nodule collection operations will
disperse and settle.
“These research expeditions continue to increase our
understanding of our operating environment and will help us to
model, predict and design mitigation strategies and technologies to
minimize the potential impacts that collecting nodules will have on
the abyssal CCZ,” said Gerard Barron, The Metals Company Chairman
and CEO. “It’s our mission to put forward a rigorous, peer-reviewed
environmental impact statement to the International Seabed
Authority and to set a high bar for this new industry.”
In addition to developing a comprehensive understanding of its
potential impacts, The Metals Company will help advance society’s
understanding of the deep ocean by sharing its bathymetric survey
data with the global community as part of the International Seabed
Authority’s ‘Seabed 2030’ initiative, which aims to develop a
definitive map of the world’s seabed by 2030.
About The Metals Company
In March, DeepGreen Metals Inc. announced that it had entered
into a business combination agreement with Sustainable
Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (SOAC) to accelerate project
development, and is expected to list on NASDAQ as The Metals
Company under the ticker ‘TMC’. The Metals Company is a Canadian
explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic
nodules on a mission to build a carefully managed metal commons
that will be used, recovered and reused—for generations to come.
The company’s subsidiaries hold exploration rights to three
polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone
of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed
Authority and sponsored by the Republic of Nauru, the Republic of
Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga. For more information, visit
https://metals.co/.
About Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition
Corporation
Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: SOAC)
is a special purpose acquisition company with a dedicated ESG focus
and deep operational and capital market capabilities in the energy
and resource sectors. While investing in ESG covers a broad range
of themes, the Company focused on evaluating suitable targets with
existing environmental sustainability practices or that could
benefit, both operationally and economically, from the founders’
and management team’s commitment and expertise in executing such
practices. In March, SOAC announced that it would merge with
DeepGreen Metals Inc. to form TMC the metals company Inc. For more
information, visit greenspac.com.
Important Information About the Proposed Business Combination
and Where to Find It
This communication is being made in respect of a proposed
business combination transaction contemplated by the business
combination agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”), dated
as of March 4, 2021, by and among SOAC, 1291924 B.C. Unlimited
Liability Company, an unlimited liability company existing under
the laws of British Columbia, Canada, and DeepGreen and other
concurrent agreements related thereto (together, the “Business
Combination”). In connection with the proposed Business
Combination, SOAC has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission’s (“SEC”) a Registration Statement on Form S-4,
including a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus. SOAC’s
shareholders and other interested persons are advised to read the
preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and, when available, any
amendments thereto and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus as
well as other documents filed with the SEC in connection with the
proposed Business Combination, as these materials will contain
important information about DeepGreen, SOAC, and the proposed
Business Combination. When available, the definitive proxy
statement/prospectus and other relevant materials for the proposed
Business Combination will be mailed to shareholders of SOAC as of a
record date to be established for voting on the proposed Business
Combination. Shareholders will also be able to obtain copies of the
preliminary proxy statement/prospectus, the definitive proxy
statement/prospectus, and other documents filed with the SEC that
will be incorporated by reference therein, without charge, once
available, at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a
request to: Investors@soa-corp.com.
Participants in the Solicitation
SOAC and its directors and executive officers may be deemed
participants in the solicitation of proxies from SOAC’s
shareholders with respect to the Business Combination. A list
of the names of those directors and executive officers and a
description of their interests in SOAC will be included in the
proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed Business Combination
and be available at www.sec.gov. Additional information regarding
the interests of such participants will be contained in the
definitive proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed Business
Combination when available.
DeepGreen and its directors and executive officers may also
be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from
the shareholders of SOAC in connection with the proposed Business
Combination. A list of the names of such directors and
executive officers and information regarding their interests in the
proposed Business Combination will be included in the definitive
proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed Business
Combination.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements made herein are not historical facts but are
forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor
provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words
such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,”
“anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,”
“predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook” and
similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or
trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These
forward-looking statements include, without limitation, SOAC and
DeepGreen’s expectations with respect to future performance,
development of its estimated resources of battery metals, potential
regulatory approvals, and anticipated financial impacts and other
effects of the proposed Business Combination, the satisfaction of
the closing conditions to the proposed Business Combination, the
timing of the completion of the proposed Business Combination, and
the size and potential growth of current or future markets for the
combined company’s supply of battery metals. These forward-looking
statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could
cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed
in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are
outside SOAC’s and DeepGreen’s control and are difficult to
predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are
not limited to: the occurrence of any event, change, or other
circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the
Business Combination Agreement; the outcome of any legal
proceedings that may be instituted against SOAC and DeepGreen
following the announcement of the Business Combination Agreement
and the transactions contemplated therein; the inability to
complete the proposed Business Combination, including due to
failure to obtain approval of the shareholders of SOAC and
DeepGreen, certain regulatory approvals, or satisfy other
conditions to closing in the Business Combination Agreement; the
occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could
give rise to the termination of the Business Combination Agreement
or could otherwise cause the transaction to fail to close; the
impact of COVID-19 on DeepGreen’s business and/or the ability of
the parties to complete the proposed Business Combination; the
inability to obtain or maintain the listing of the combined
company’s shares on NYSE or Nasdaq following the proposed Business
Combination; the risk that the proposed Business Combination
disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the
announcement and consummation of the proposed Business Combination;
the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed
Business Combination, which may be affected by, among other things,
the commercial and technical feasibility of seafloor polymetallic
nodule mining and processing; the supply and demand for battery
metals; the future prices of battery metals; the timing and content
of ISA’s exploitation regulations that will create the legal and
technical framework for exploitation of polymetallic nodules in the
Clarion Clipperton Zone; government regulation of deep seabed
mining operations and changes in mining laws and regulations;
environmental risks; the timing and amount of estimated future
production, costs of production, capital expenditures and
requirements for additional capital; cash flow provided by
operating activities; unanticipated reclamation expenses; claims
and limitations on insurance coverage; the uncertainty in mineral
resource estimates; the uncertainty in geological, hydrological,
metallurgical and geotechnical studies and opinions; infrastructure
risks; and dependence on key management personnel and executive
officers; and other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to
time in the final prospectus of SOAC for its initial public
offering and the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the
proposed Business Combination, including those under “Risk Factors”
therein, and in SOAC’s other filings with the SEC. SOAC and
DeepGreen caution that the foregoing list of factors is not
exclusive. SOAC and DeepGreen caution readers not to place undue
reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date made. SOAC and DeepGreen do not undertake or accept any
obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or
revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change
in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or
circumstances on which any such statement is based.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210708005578/en/
Media Rory Usher | The Metals Company | rory@metals.co Chelsea
Lauber | Antenna Group | tmc@antennagroup.com Investors |
investors@metals.co
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