The Metals Company (TMC 1.57%) stock is up a massive 520% year to date as of this writing, making it one of the top three best-performing mining stocks of the year.
TMC is a deep-sea mining company. It is diving into the Clarion Clipperton Zone area of the Pacific Ocean to explore and extract polymetallic nodules containing cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese from the sea floor. TMC then plans to process and convert these modules into battery-grade base metals that go into applications like electric vehicle batteries, power generation, and transmission. It's an ambitious business model, especially since the batteries built from nodules can be recycled and redeployed.
However, TMC is still in the exploration phase and yet to generate a revenue.
Forget revenue. TMC doesn't have exploitation contracts from the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to commercially collect nodules, or any environmental or other permit to build nodule processing plants. In fact, the ISA itself hasn't finalized a mining code in years, leaving exploration companies like TMC in limbo.
TMC stock has still soared more than 500% in 2025, thanks to a lifeline from President Donald Trump.
TMC stock's big move
In April 2025, Trump signed an executive order to expedite permissions for deep-sea mining in domestic and international waters through the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA). This gives TMC a chance to pivot from the ISA. Its U.S. subsidiary has already applied for two exploration licenses and one commercial recovery permit under the DSHMRA.
NASDAQ: TMC
Key Data Points
Permits will be a major breakthrough for TMC, but there are a lot of "ifs" involved. The ISA, for instance, has raised concerns over the applicability of Trump's order to areas beyond the U.S. jurisdiction.
Above all, deep-sea mining is still a highly speculative and risky business with no proven technology to collect nodules. TMC will also need to secure billions of dollars in funding to develop and commercialize its operations, if it gets there. As of June 30, TMC had only $116 million in cash. For now, there's little to justify TMC stock's market cap of $3.6 billion.
