The Metals Company Provides Third Quarter 2021 Corporate Update

Q3 2021 Financial Highlights

• Raised gross proceeds of $137.6 million in cash prior to transaction fees
• Total cash and cash equivalents of approximately $112.6 million , atSeptember 30, 2021
• Existing cash balance expected to be sufficient to fund TMC’s operations through the third quarter of 2023 when the Company intends to submit its application to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for an exploitation contract for its NORI-D area
• Net loss of $36.7 million and loss per share of$0.18 for the quarter endedSeptember 30, 2021 , with a large component thereof attributable to accrued expenses related to the amended Pilot Mining Test System (PMTS) agreement withAllseas Group S.A. (Allseas) and higher cost of increased offshore campaign activity during the quarter.

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Q3 2021 Operational Highlights

• As part of the pilot plant program, TMC has successfully processed nodules into manganese silicate product and a nickel-copper-cobalt intermediate at XPS Solutions facilities inCanada and announced the commencement of the final phase of the program to refine nickel-copper-cobalt intermediate into copper cathode, nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate at SGS facilities inCanada .
• TMC successfully concluded Environmental Expedition 5C, the latest work package in its $75 million multi-year deep-sea research program to establish a rigorous environmental baseline and to characterize the potential impacts of its proposed nodule collection operations. In collaboration with Maersk Supply Service and researchers from theUniversity of Hawaii ,Texas A&M University and theJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), TMC achieved a world first by successfully sampling pelagic biota at depths of 4,000 meters, marking what we believe to be the first deep MOCNESS net tow in theEastern Tropical Pacific Ocean . This is the fourth offshore expedition this year, bringing the total number of days at sea to 148 days.
• TMC co-hosted an event with our strategic partner and shareholder Allseas in Rotterdam, Netherlands entitled “Engineering the Future with Allseas”. At the event, stakeholders were given the opportunity to preview TMC’s polymetallic nodule collection vessel, theHidden Gem, currently undergoing conversion inRotterdam and expected to become the world’s first ship classified as a subsea mining vessel by theAmerican Bureau of Shipping . Stakeholders also visited the fabrication facility in Hejningen where a pilot nodule collector robot is being assembled ahead of the wet test in theNorth Sea and full pilot collection system test in NORI-D in thePacific Ocean next year. The Environmental Impact Statement for the pilot test in NORI-D was submitted to the ISA in July.
• TMC appointed Amelia Kinahoi Siamomua, a Tongan national, to its Board of Directors as an independent Director, bringing female representation on the Board to 38% of its members.

Industry Update

• The International Seabed Authority (ISA) continues to work to a two-year timeline to complete regulations for the exploitation of seabed minerals by- July 9, 2023 , pursuant to the- Republic of Nauru exercising its sovereign rights under Section 1, paragraph 15 of the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”). This notice by the- Republic of Nauru obliges the ISA to complete the adoption of exploitation regulations within two years of the request made by the member state. An in-person- ISA Council & Assembly meeting in- Kingston, Jamaica has been scheduled for- December 6 – 15, 2021.
• The International Energy Agency released a new report in- May 2021 warning of a ‘looming mismatch’ between increased climate ambition and the availability of critical minerals needed to realize these ambitions. In particular, the report highlighted that up to a sixfold increase in mineral production is needed through 2040 to meet climate ambitions.
• In June 2021 , theBiden Administration published the findings of its 100-day review ofU.S. supply chain vulnerabilities, in which it elevated nickel to critical status singling it out as one of three battery metals deemed ‘most critical’ to US interests — alongside cobalt and lithium — and flagged the establishment of domestic nickel refining capacity as the administration’s number one priority.
• An Executive Order signed by President Biden inAugust 2021 set an ambitious target of making half of all new vehicles sold in theU.S. zero emissions vehicles by 2030 and was followed by several industry announcements to build new gigafactories in the US, bringing planned battery cell manufacturing capacity to 650GWh by 2030. The Executive Order follows increasingly near-term bans on the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in theUnited Kingdom ,China ,Norway ,California and elsewhere.
• A declaration at the COP26 climate conference inGlasgow seeks to phase out all sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 and no later than 2035 in “leading markets.” The signatories included General Motors, Ford, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz. According to industry analyst Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, if all cars and vans sold in 2040 were electric, it would represent almost 8,400 GWh of lithium-ion battery demand and would require over 5 million tons of nickel sulfate, 19 times more than nickel sulfate production in 2021.
• Commodity prices for battery metals like lithium, nickel and copper have reached multi-year highs. As a result, after many years of consistent reduction, battery cell prices per KWh are rising for the first time since the beginning of the gigafactory era, according to industry analyst Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
• In October 2021 , a keyU.S. non-partisan policy forum, TheWilson Center released ‘The Mosaic Approach: A Multidimensional Strategy for Strengthening America’s Critical Mineral Supply Chains’.The report acknowledges the significant domestic opportunity to onshore supplies of nickel, cobalt and manganese from polymetallic nodules in theClarion Clipperton Zone .
• As part of the ‘France 2030’ reindustrialization strategy, French President Macron recently committed €2 billion in research funding for seafloor and space exploration and acknowledged that resources like polymetallic nodules can strengthen domestic critical mineral supply chains and are key to mineral independence.

Financial Results Overview

TMC reported a net loss for the third quarter of 2021 of

The increase in exploration expenses was mainly due to

The increase in general and administrative expenses were a result of increased stock-based compensation expense of

Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements

The results in this earnings release encompass the impacts of restatements of previously issued quarterly financial statements as of and for the three-month period ended

Liquidity, Capital Allocation and Key Milestones

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• Completion of a pilot plant program to process and refine polymetallic nodules into nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese–metals that are critical to the transition to clean energy and electric vehicles;
• Construction and pilot trial in NORI-D of the pilot nodule collection system to lift nodules to the surface and transport them to shore, with our strategic partner Allseas;
• Completion of the Environmental Impact Assessment of future nodule collection operations in NORI-D, one of the most comprehensive deep-sea research programsto date, and development of the Environmental Impact Statement, a key part of the application for the ISA exploitation contract for NORI-D; and
• Submission of an application to the ISA for an exploitation contract for NORI-D area of the Clarion Clipperton Zone of thePacific Ocean (“CCZ”), which is estimated to contain 356 million metric tonnes of wet nodules containing high-grades of nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese.

Conference Call

TMC will hold a conference call today at

Date:

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Virtual Webcast: Register Here

Toll-free dial-in number: (844) 200-6205

International dial-in number: (929) 526-1599

Conference ID: 688797

Please call the conference telephone number 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact Gateway Investor Relations at 1-949-574-3860.

The conference call will have virtual webcast and will be available for replay on the Company-Investors portion of TMC’s website under Media > Events and Presentations.

A replay of the conference call will also be available after

Toll-free replay number: (866) 813-9403

International replay number: (226) 828-7578

Replay ID: 146384

About The Metals Company

More information is available at www.metals.co.