TMC the metals company Inc (TMC) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to The Metals Company third-quarter 2024 corporate update conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Craig Shesky, CFO. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 The Metals Company 2024 年第三季企業更新電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，財務長 Craig Shesky。請繼續。

Thanks, everybody, and please accept our apologies for a bit of a delay here. We appreciate you joining for our third-quarter 2024 corporate update conference call.

謝謝大家，對於延遲了一點，請接受我們的歉意。我們感謝您參加我們的 2024 年第三季企業更新電話會議。

Please note that during this call, certain statements made by the company will be forward-looking based on management's beliefs and assumptions from information available at this time. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond our control.

請注意，在本次電話會議中，公司根據管理層對目前可用資訊的信念和假設做出的某些陳述將具有前瞻性。這些陳述受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，其中許多可能超出我們的控制範圍。

Additionally, please note that the company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. And except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

此外，請注意，公司的實際結果可能與預期有重大差異。除法律要求外，我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

Our remarks today may also include non-GAAP financial measures, including with respect to free cash flow. And additional details regarding these non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, can be found in our slide deck being used with this call.

我們今天的言論也可能包括非公認會計原則財務指標，包括自由現金流的指標。有關這些非 GAAP 財務指標的更多詳細信息，包括與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的調節，可以在本次電話會議使用的幻燈片中找到。

And you're welcome to follow along with our slide deck or, joining by phone, you can access it at any time at investors.metals.co. And I will now turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Gerard Barron.

歡迎您觀看我們的投影片，或透過電話加入，您可以隨時造訪 Investors.metals.co。我現在將把電話轉給我們的董事長兼執行長 Gerard Barron。

Thanks, Craig, and thanks to all of you for joining our third-quarter conference call. Typically, in these calls, we remind everyone about our value proposition and provide incremental project updates. But if you're listening, you likely already know that this is a world-class high-grade resource that is significantly undervalued based on any reasonable metric.

謝謝克雷格，也謝謝大家參加我們的第三季電話會議。通常，在這些電話中，我們會提醒每個人我們的價值主張並提供增量項目更新。但如果您有在聽，您可能已經知道這是一種世界級的高級資源，根據任何合理的指標，它的價值都被嚴重低估。

You may even be sick of us reminding you of that. All of that information is still readily available and included in the appendix.

您甚至可能厭倦了我們提醒您這一點。所有這些資訊仍然可以隨時取得並包含在附錄中。

What we'd really like to talk about is our strategy to start unlocking that significant value now, rather than waiting for first production. And over the last two weeks, we've seen some events that we believe are going to be watershed moments in TMC's journey.

我們真正想談論的是我們現在就開始釋放這一重要價值的策略，而不是等待首次生產。在過去的兩周里，我們看到了一些事件，我們相信這些事件將成為 TMC 旅程的分水嶺。

Last week, we saw a US election where Republicans will see themselves take the White House and both houses of Congress. We have allies on both sides of the aisle and have been talking with the Biden administration for years. But since people ask us all the time if this was a good outcome for TMC, the answer is an emphatic yes. But more on that shortly.

上週，我們看到了美國大選，共和黨將入主白宮和國會參眾兩院。我們在兩黨都有盟友，多年來一直與拜登政府進行談判。但由於人們總是問我們這對 TMC 來說是否是一個好的結果，所以答案是肯定的。但很快就會有更多內容。

Earlier this week, we issued a press release, which confirms our plans to submit NORI's application for an exploitation contract on June 27, 2025, along with our strategy and detailed rationale for the selection of this date. And just a few minutes ago, we announced a registered direct offering led by our largest non-affiliated institutional shareholder to help ensure that we will have the financial resiliency to see this work through.

本週早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿，確認我們計劃於 2025 年 6 月 27 日提交 NORI 的開發合約申請，以及我們選擇這一日期的戰略和詳細理由。就在幾分鐘前，我們宣布了由我們最大的非附屬機構股東牽頭的註冊直接發行，以幫助確保我們擁有財務彈性來完成這項工作。

As you have heard from me many times before, protecting the equity is something that I care deeply about. And this is also a key consideration for our two largest shareholders, Allseas and our Director, Andrei Karkar. And it's why the three of us have provided over $60 million in credit facility capacity for the company following an upsizing of mine and Andrei's facility this month.

正如您之前多次聽到我說的那樣，保護權益是我非常關心的事情。這也是我們的兩個最大股東 Allseas 和我們的董事 Andrei Karkar 的關鍵考慮因素。這就是為什麼在本月擴大礦場和 Andrei 的設施規模後，我們三人為該公司提供了超過 6,000 萬美元的信貸設施能力。

At the same time, we've also heard from some in the market that they just don't like seeing such a low cash balance, nor are they comfortable with a rising debt balance during a period of regulatory uncertainty. As such, we are pleased to announce that we've taken some money and terms which, by no means, are up to my expectations for where we should be valued but are above market terms for a normal course public transaction like this.

同時，我們也從市場上的一些人那裡得知，他們只是不喜歡看到如此低的現金餘額，也不願意在監管不確定的時期看到不斷上升的債務餘額。因此，我們很高興地宣布，我們已經採取了一些資金和條款，這些資金和條款絕不符合我對我們的估值的期望，但高於像這樣的正常公開交易的市場條款。

And this deal was anchored by a major institutional shareholder that we've gotten to know closely over the last years. And I'm delighted to deepen that relationship. It was also supported by various existing shareholders for good measure. It is certainly reassuring to see this kind of support from the market to augment the continued strong support from Allseas and ERAS Capital, and to keep our team's eyes on the critical work ahead.

這筆交易是由我們在過去幾年中密切了解的主要機構股東發起的。我很高興能夠加深這種關係。它也得到了各個現有股東的大力支持。看到市場的這種支持，增強了 Allseas 和 ERAS Capital 的持續強勁支持，並使我們的團隊繼續專注於未來的關鍵工作，這當然令人放心。

On that point, we issued a press release, which confirms our plan to submit NORI's application for an exploitation contract to the ISA on June 27 of next year. This decision was made in consultation with our sponsoring state of Nauru, who have formally requested in a letter that the ISA clarify the submission and review process at the March 2025 meetings before NORI submits the application. And this will allow council to agree on the process prior to NORI's application submission date of June 27, 2025, providing certainty to NORI, the company, and the ISA; and allow for the review of the application to begin immediately after it is submitted under an agreed upon process.

關於這一點，我們發布了一份新聞稿，確認我們計劃於明年 6 月 27 日向 ISA 提交 NORI 的開發合約申請。這項決定是在與我們的贊助國諾魯協商後做出的，諾魯已在一封信中正式要求 ISA 在 NORI 提交申請之前的 2025 年 3 月會議上澄清提交和審查流程。這將使理事會能夠在 NORI 的申請提交日期（2025 年 6 月 27 日）之前就該流程達成一致，為 NORI、公司和 ISA 提供確定性；並允許在根據商定的流程提交申請後立即開始審查申請。

But TMC's value proposition extends beyond a narrow focus on mining code and the NORI application. We are now in a strong position to leverage our investment of over $0.5 billion and capabilities developed over the last decade plus as the eyes of the world's largest economies turn to the seafloor to produce the metals needed for the energy transition, defense infrastructure, and the needs of a growing world population.

但 TMC 的價值主張超出了對挖掘程式碼和 NORI 應用程式的狹隘關注。隨著世界最大經濟體的目光轉向海底，生產能源轉型、國防基礎設施和國防所需的金屬，我們現在處於有利地位，可以利用我們超過 5 億美元的投資和過去十年發展的能力。的世界人口的需求。

To that end, we are pleased to announce this week that we are developing a new services business for seafloor resource development. We are already in discussion with several parties on services contracts to provide our expertise in the areas of new exploration plans of work, resource definition, environmental impact assessments, data management, and offshore campaign execution.

為此，我們本週很高興地宣布，我們正在開發一項新的海底資源開發服務業務。我們已經與多方就服務合約進行討論，以提供我們在新勘探工作計劃、資源定義、環境影響評估、資料管理和海上活動執行等領域的專業知識。

We also intend to optimize and diversify our resource portfolio with the Clarion Clipperton zone and in national jurisdictions. To help explain some of these new initiatives, we intend to announce a Strategy Day to occur before the end of the year so we can spend more time walking stakeholders through our plans. I'm personally very excited to share what our team has been working on (added by company after the call).

我們還打算透過 Clarion Clipperton 地區和國家管轄區優化我們的資源組合併使其多樣化。為了幫助解釋其中一些新舉措，我們打算宣佈在年底前舉辦戰略日，以便我們可以花更多時間引導利害關係人了解我們的計劃。我個人很高興能分享我們團隊一直在做的事情（由公司在通話後添加）。

And while our new services business may assist on the revenue side, we're also taking a sharp look at the cost side of the business. First of all, we are going to cut spending with a target of less than $5 million in operating expenses per quarter. Further, we do not expect to raise funds for capital expenditures related to the preparation of the Hidden Gem vessel, until such time as the final regulations are adopted, the application is approved based on the draft regulations or until other potential non-dilutive strategic financing is in place.

雖然我們的新服務業務可能在收入方面有所幫助，但我們也在密切關注業務的成本方面。首先，我們將削減支出，目標是每季營運支出低於 500 萬美元。此外，在最終法規通過、根據法規草案批准申請或其他潛在的非稀釋性策略融資之前，我們預計不會為與隱藏寶石船的準備相關的資本支出籌集資金已就位。

So how did we come to the decision of delaying the production capital spending and reducing operating costs post-application? Well, the answer is through input from our key stakeholders after taking a hard and honest look at what has been holding our share price back since going public.

那麼，我們是如何做出推遲生產資本支出並降低申請後的營運成本的決定呢？好吧，答案是我們的主要利害關係人在認真、誠實地審視自上市以來阻礙我們股價上漲的因素後提出的意見。

A year before going public, we were raising money at $3 per share. Just before proceeding with our public listing, we were raising money at $10 per share. But today, the price is around $1. And if you look at the capital we have raised and invested in what we certainly believe were value-creating project development milestones, you are forced to confront a stark reality and that is that the TMC market cap is below the total capital raised.

上市前一年，我們以每股 3 美元的價格籌集資金。就在我們公開上市之前，我們以每股 10 美元的價格籌集資金。但今天，價格約為 1 美元。如果你看看我們籌集並投資於我們確信是創造價值的專案開發里程碑的資金，你就會被迫面對一個嚴峻的現實，那就是 TMC 的市值低於籌集的總資金。

Considering what we've accomplished since 2021 alone, it's frustrating for us, and I'm sure for many of you, to see our market cap sitting at about 60% of the nearly $0.5 billion we've spent since inception de-risking these projects, never mind what may be tens of billions of underlying asset value based on the resource itself. We clearly think these historic milestones achieved have inherently created value. And this coiled spring has just kept getting tighter. Has all of this work been worth it? And why doesn't the market seem to agree currently?

考慮到我們自 2021 年以來所取得的成就，看到我們的市值僅占我們自成立以來為降低這些風險而花費的近 5 億美元的約 60%，我相信你們中的許多人都感到沮喪。項目，不要介意基於資源本身可能有數百億的基礎資產價值。我們顯然認為所實現的這些歷史性里程碑本質上創造了價值。這個螺旋彈簧變得越來越緊。所有這些工作都值得嗎？為什麼市場目前似乎不同意呢？

Our resource is more than just nickel. But focusing on nickel developers for a public company comp, it's quite obvious that we're valued at a small fraction of our peers, many of which face their own regulatory and permitting hurdles, in addition to higher CapEx requirements inherent in land-based capital-heavy mining.

我們的資源不僅僅是鎳。但專注於上市公司的鎳開發商，很明顯，我們的估值只佔同行的一小部分，其中許多面臨著自己的監管和許可障礙，此外還有陸基資本固有的更高資本支出要求-重度採礦。

But the share price is the share price. And rather than complain and second guess what the market thinks, we reached out to our institutional investors and analysts with an informal survey. We asked them to rank five factors by importance for any potential rerating of the TMC stock. Adoption of the ISA Mining Code emerged as the single most important factor that is likely depressing the TMC stock.

但股價就是股價。我們沒有抱怨和猜測市場的想法，而是透過非正式調查聯繫了我們的機構投資者和分析師。我們要求他們對 TMC 股票的任何潛在重新評級的重要性排列五個因素。ISA 採礦法規的採用成為可能壓低 TMC 股票的最重要因素。

Through this lens of shareholder value maximization, we believe it is wiser to get the application over the line and then resume project development after the ISA adopts the mining code or grants our application based on the existing draft rules. I'll now turn it over to Craig to discuss some of these capital considerations further.

從股東價值最大化的角度來看，我們認為，更明智的做法是先透過申請，然後在 ISA 採用挖礦法規或根據現有規則草案批准我們的申請後，再恢復專案開發。現在我將把它交給克雷格進一步討論其中一些資本考慮因素。

Thanks, Gerard. And I believe the slides are working on our webcast. I believe they were frozen a moment, but they are available on our website as well.

謝謝，傑拉德。我相信這些幻燈片正在我們的網路廣播中發揮作用。我相信它們被凍結了一會兒，但它們也可以在我們的網站上找到。

When TMC listed on the Nasdaq, we published an SEC standard compliant initial assessment of the NORI-D project, or in more familiar terms, a PEA. The purpose of the PEA is to offer an early-stage conceptual assessment of the potential economic viability of mineral resources in NORI-D.

當 TMC 在納斯達克上市時，我們發布了符合 SEC 標準的 NORI-D 項目初步評估，或更熟悉的術語，PEA。PEA 的目的是對 NORI-D 礦產資源的潛在經濟可行性提供早期概念評估。

That PEA showed how much development capital would be needed to get NORI-D to produce 12 million wet tonnes of nodules per year. And importantly, it was based on a 100% new build scenario. It assumed that we would build all the production assets like the nodule collection vehicles, and nodule processing and refinery plants, and do all of that ourselves.

該 PEA 顯示了 NORI-D 每年生產 1200 萬濕噸結核需要多少開發資金。重要的是，它基於 100% 全新構建場景。假設我們將建造所有生產資產，如結核收集車輛、結核加工和精煉廠，並自己完成所有這些工作。

I think as everybody is now aware, it's not our plan to do that. We've obviously shown that we don't have to do that, with our partner, Allseas, providing our first production vessel and our partner, PAMCO, providing a turnkey solution for processing. And we're pleased to announce that we have now completed a pre-feasibility study, or PFS, for this capital-light strategy. Now, we're finalizing approvals and sign-offs on this SEC compliant document, and we look forward to providing more information, including summary project economic data in our upcoming Strategy Day in December.

我認為現在每個人都知道，我們不打算這樣做。我們已經清楚地表明，我們不必這樣做，我們的合作夥伴 Allseas 提供了我們的第一艘生產船，我們的合作夥伴 PAMCO 提供了交鑰匙加工解決方案。我們很高興地宣布，我們現在已經完成了這項輕資本策略的預可行性研究（PFS）。現在，我們正在完成這份符合 SEC 規定的文件的批准和簽署，我們期待在即將到來的 12 月戰略日中提供更多信息，包括項目經濟數據摘要。

Fortunately, as I said, TMC doesn't have to be spending anything on pre-production CapEx for the onshore component of our operations, thanks to the availability of existing processing facilities, likely the one owned by our partner PAMCO in Japan. A world's first commercial-scale nodule processing trial on a 2,000-tonne sample of nodules has been underway at PAMCO's Hachinohe facility since April.

幸運的是，正如我所說，TMC 不必在我們營運的陸上部分的預生產資本支出上花費任何費用，這要歸功於現有加工設施的可用性，很可能是我們在日本的合作夥伴PAMCO 擁有的設施。自 4 月以來，PAMCO 的八戶工廠一直在對 2,000 噸結核樣品進行世界首次商業規模的結核處理試驗。

During the first phase of the trial, PAMCO successfully produced around 500 tonnes of high-temperature material known as calcine. And Phase 2 has now commenced, and we expect these commercial trials to be finalized in early 2025.

在試驗的第一階段，PAMCO 成功生產了約 500 噸被稱為煅燒的高溫材料。第二階段現已開始，我們預計這些商業試驗將於 2025 年初完成。

With the US election now behind us, many of the elements that, frankly, have been in a holding pattern over the course of this year are now expected to land in 2025. We've been spending quite a bit of time in D.C., including Gerard's testimony recently to the House Select Committee on China. Our sources in D.C. tell us that the long-awaited Pentagon report is nearly finished, and we're optimistic on what it's going to say before the year is out.

隨著美國大選的結束，坦白說，今年以來一直處於停滯狀態的許多因素現在預計將在 2025 年出現。我們在華盛頓待了相當長的時間，包括傑拉德最近在眾議院中國問題特別委員會的證詞。我們在華盛頓的消息來源告訴我們，期待已久的五角大廈報告即將完成，我們對今年年底前報告的內容感到樂觀。

Importantly, the National Defense Authorization Act, which is the Department of Defense Annual spending bill, is expected to be signed in December and is also expected to call for the delivery of a feasibility study on nodules during 2025. We are also eagerly awaiting the Pentagon's response to our pending application for a $9 million grant on building a refinery down the road in the United States to refine nodule derived intermediates. We do hope to have more to say on that in the coming quarters.

重要的是，國防授權法案，即國防部年度支出法案，預計12月簽署，預計還將要求在2025年期間交付結核可行性研究。我們也熱切地等待五角大廈對我們正在申請的 900 萬美元撥款申請作出回應，該申請將在美國建造一座煉油廠，以提煉結核衍生中間體。我們確實希望在未來幾季對此有更多的發言權。

The US interest in this space is not new, having been a priority for both President-elect Trump and Biden. Seabed mapping and technology innovation was elevated to 'national priority' status is 2020 by Trump, (added by company after the call) and last year, President Biden announced the demarcation of an additional 1 million square kilometers of seafloor to the US continental shelf.

美國對這一領域的興趣並不新鮮，這一直是當選總統川普和拜登的優先事項。川普將 2020 年海底測繪和技術創新提升為「國家優先事項」（公司在通話後補充道），去年拜登總統宣布將另外 100 萬平方公里的海底劃界到美國大陸架。

Over the past year, influential figures from across the political spectrum and the defense and intelligence communities have repeated calls for the US to sign UNCLOS, amid growing concern that adversaries are taking advantage of America's absence to undermine its economic and national security interests. And in March, the Republican-led Responsible use of Seafloor Resources Act was introduced in Congress. Sponsored by seven representatives, various committees and endorsed by the National Ocean Industries Association and other key industry players, the bill requests financial and other support for nodule collection, processing and refining to close defense and clean energy supply chain vulnerabilities.

在過去的一年裡，來自各個政治領域以及國防和情報界的有影響力的人物一再呼籲美國簽署《聯合國海洋法公約》，人們越來越擔心對手正在利用美國的缺席來破壞其經濟和國家安全利益。今年三月，共和黨主導的《海底資源負責任使用法案》在國會提出。該法案由七名代表、各委員會發起，並由國家海洋工業協會和其他主要行業參與者的認可，要求為結核收集、加工和精煉提供財政和其他支持，以彌補國防和清潔能源供應鏈的漏洞。

Now, specifically looking at the ISA, the two most influential entities on the ISA file for the United States are arguably the UN delegation and the State Department. Trump's nominations for the UN Ambassador and Secretary of State are already vocal public supporters of polymetallic nodules. Trump nominated representative Elise Stefanik, one of our biggest champions and a staunch supporter of nodules as a source of US critical materials, to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations. Through our contribution to the congressional knowledge base on deep sea mining, we've had the pleasure of meeting with representatives Stefanik on multiple occasions and is actually one of the co-leaders of the letter, along with Representative Rob Wittman, sent to the Pentagon trying to prioritize seafloor nodules.

現在，具體來看 ISA，ISA 文件中對美國最有影響力的兩個實體可以說是聯合國代表團和國務院。川普對聯合國大使和國務卿的提名已經是多金屬結核的公開支持者。川普提名眾議員埃莉斯·斯特凡尼克（Elise Stefanik）擔任美國駐聯合國大使，她是我們最大的支持者之一，也是結核病作為美國關鍵材料來源的堅定支持者。透過我們對國會深海採礦知識庫的貢獻，我們很高興在多個場合與代表 Stefanik 會面，他實際上是這封信的共同領導者之一，與代表 Rob Wittman 一起發送給五角大樓試圖優先考慮海底結核。

The President-elect has also nominated Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, according to media reports. Senator Rubio, in 2022, called out Volkswagen for its ESG hypocrisy in valuing deep sea sentiment over human rights and human life. Overall, it's great to see nodule supporters being tapped through their leadership on these pivotal issues as the US enters the second Trump administration.

據媒體報道，當選總統也提名馬可·盧比歐擔任國務卿。2022 年，盧比歐參議員批評大眾汽車在 ESG 方面虛偽，將深海情感置於人權和人類生命之上。總體而言，隨著美國進入川普第二屆政府，很高興看到結核病支持者在這些關鍵議題上發揮領導作用。

Now, for those of you who joined our last earnings call, you'll remember we highlighted the increased focus on deep sea minerals from among the world's largest economies and industrialized nations with multiple technology trials scheduled for 2025. During the last quarter, we saw more notable news items.

現在，對於那些參加我們上次財報電話會議的人來說，您會記得我們強調了世界上最大的經濟體和工業化國家對深海礦物的日益關注，併計劃於 2025 年進行多項技術試驗。在上個季度，我們看到了更多值得注意的新聞。

In India, the world's most populous nation and a major consumer of base metals, scientists and engineers of the National Institute of Ocean Technology recently conducted a pilot nodule collection tech trial in the Andaman Sea, which falls under India's Exclusive Economic Zone. Meanwhile, in Norway, which announced its intention to open up parts of its territorial waters for deep sea mining earlier this year, the government allocated a further $14 million to gather essential resource and environmental data, initiatives which are crucial for the responsible development of seafloor resources.

印度是世界上人口最多的國家，也是賤金屬的主要消費國，國家海洋技術研究所的科學家和工程師最近在印度專屬經濟區的安達曼海進行了結核收集技術試點。同時，挪威今年稍早宣布打算開放部分領海用於深海採礦，政府又撥款 1,400 萬美元用於收集必要的資源和環境數據，這些措施對於海底負責任的開發至關重要。

Just a few weeks ago, a new report by the Federation of German Industries, also known as BDI, noted that Germany cannot afford to be left behind on deep sea mineral exploration. The report stated that Germany cannot escape this trend and, I quote, it's not a question of whether but how, unquote, deep mineral extraction will take place. The Voice of German Industry, the BDI represents 39 industrial sector associations, including the German association of the automotive industry.

就在幾週前，德國工業聯合會（BDI）的一份新報告指出，德國不能在深海礦產勘探方面落後。報告指出，德國無法擺脫這一趨勢，而且，我引用的話，這不是一個是否會發生深部礦物開採的問題，而是如何（不引述）發生的問題。BDI 是德國工業之聲，代表 39 個工業部門協會，其中包括德國汽車工業協會。

Now, back to the key remaining deliverable on the NORI-D project, our environmental impact assessment, which, with this registered direct offering, is the key next remaining element for finalization of TMC's application now with that pre-feasibility study finished. With petabytes of data, millions of still and video images, and tens of thousands of biological samples, NORI's data set represents one of the largest deep sea data sets ever compiled.

現在，回到 NORI-D 專案剩餘的關鍵可交付成果，即我們的環境影響評估，透過此註冊的直接報價，它是 TMC 申請最終確定的下一個剩餘要素，目前預可行性研究已經完成。NORI 的資料集擁有 PB​​ 級的資料、數百萬張靜態和視訊影像以及數萬個生物樣本，是有史以來最大的深海資料集之一。

The EIS is tightly focused on assessing the potential impacts of our operations on marine biodiversity and overall ecosystem function. And as time goes on, we're addressing these concerns and continue to demonstrate that activist and media speculation about potential impacts is overblown.

EIS 重點在於評估我們的營運對海洋生物多樣性和整體生態系統功能的潛在影響。隨著時間的推移，我們正在解決這些擔憂，並繼續證明活動人士和媒體對潛在影響的猜測被誇大了。

We now know that sediment plumes generated at the seafloor stay low and settle fast with 92% to 98% of sediments staying within two meters in seafloor. And while activists continue to warn that organisms living in and around areas impacted by the plume will not recover, post-disturbance monitoring conducted earlier this year has shown this to be yet another tactic to mislead. We now have visual evidence that organisms we identified two weeks after our 2022 trials in areas where sedimentation was heaviest are still present and alive over a year later. And nodules that were once covered in sediment are now sitting and visible.

我們現在知道，海底產生的沉積物羽流保持較低且快速沉降，92% 至 98% 的沉積物停留在海底兩公尺以內。儘管活動人士繼續警告說，生活在受羽流影響的地區及其周圍的生物體將無法恢復，但今年早些時候進行的擾動後監測表明，這是另一種誤導策略。我們現在有視覺證據表明，我們在 2022 年試驗兩週後在沉積最嚴重的地區發現的生物體在一年多後仍然存在並存活。曾經被沉積物覆蓋的結核現在已經可見。

So with our team continuously analyzing the expanding data set over the years, they've become adept at identifying claims that aren't supported by the data, or claims that appear implausible, and a good example of this would be the media frenzy over the so-called dark oxygen production on the sea floor of the abyssal plain. And we think that bubble is beginning to burst. The media were quick to jump on some pretty crazy conclusions about how this fundamentally altered our understanding of life on earth, while NGOs happily pointed to the paper to advance their calls for moratorium.

因此，隨著我們的團隊多年來不斷分析不斷擴大的數據集，他們已經變得善於識別沒有數據支持的主張，或看似難以置信的主張，一個很好的例子就是媒體對這一問題的狂熱報道。我們認為泡沫正在開始破裂。媒體很快就得出了一些相當瘋狂的結論，認為這從根本上改變了我們對地球生命的理解，而非政府組織則高興地指出這篇論文，以推進他們對暫停的呼籲。

However, we and some of the media didn't buy the hype. Back in August, a journalist at Science Magazine reached out to our team to let us know that they have not covered the paper because they felt the findings were deeply questionable.

然而，我們和一些媒體並不相信這種炒作。早在八月，《科學》雜誌的記者聯繫我們的團隊，告訴我們他們沒有報導這篇論文，因為他們認為研究結果非常值得懷疑。

As one of the leading academics interviewed for the piece warned, 'there's a high probability that the paper is wrong'. Since then, multiple rebuttals have been submitted, including our own, warning of serious methodological and ethical flaws, lack of data to support the paper's claims, and calling for the paper to be retracted.

正如一位接受這篇文章採訪的頂尖學者所警告的那樣，「這篇論文很可能是錯的」。從那時起，已經提交了多次反駁，包括我們自己的反駁，警告該論文存在嚴重的方法論和道德缺陷，缺乏數據來支持論文的主張，並呼籲撤回該論文。

We'd like to point out comments made by the researchers at the University of Gothenburg, arguably the foremost experts on the type of seafloor lander experiments that Andrew Sweetman's team conducted, who cited, quote, poor quality lander incubation experiments leading to faulty oxygen flux measurements, end quote. Meanwhile, we were recently contacted by Andrew Sweetman's former employer, Heriot-Watt University, who had warned Nature Geoscience that the Andrew Sweetman data had not been in a campaign report submitted to TMC because of serious concerns with its validity. And that they have not authorized Andrew Sweetman to publish this data in his research as a result.

我們想指出哥德堡大學研究人員的評論，他們可以說是安德魯·斯威特曼團隊進行的海底著陸器實驗類型的最重要的專家，他們引用了質量差的著陸器孵化實驗導致錯誤的氧通量測量，結束報價。與此同時，安德魯·斯威特曼的前雇主赫瑞瓦特大學最近聯繫了我們，該大學警告《自然地球科學》，安德魯·斯威特曼的數據並未出現在提交給TMC 的競選報告中，因為對其有效性有嚴重擔憂。因此，他們沒有授權安德魯·斯威特曼在他的研究中發表這些數據。

So this, of course, is in direct violation of Nature's own policies, which state that an author must obtain authorization to use any data from that data's owners. So arguably, that alone should have been cause for retraction, but we think the weight of criticism levied at the paper will lead to that outcome.

因此，這當然直接違反了《自然》雜誌自己的政策，該政策規定作者必須獲得資料所有者的授權才能使用任何資料。因此可以說，僅憑這一點就應該是撤稿的原因，但我們認為對該論文的批評將導致這一結果。

On to the regulatory update, the publication of the consolidated regulatory text at the ISA earlier this year was a key milestone in the regulatory process and marked the transition to the final phase of negotiations. The Council completed its first reading at the July session, moving us one large step closer to bringing the process to a close.

關於監管更新，今年稍早 ISA 發布的綜合監管文本是監管過程中的一個重要里程碑，標誌著談判已過渡到最後階段。理事會在 7 月的會議上完成了一讀，使我們離結束這一進程又近了一大步。

Based on feedback from the first meeting, a revised version of the text will be circulated to all ISA members this month. And after multiple draft regulatory texts, dozens of technical studies, and thousands of hours of in-person meetings, we have a very good idea of what that final mining code will look like.

根據第一次會議的回饋，文本的修訂版將於本月分發給所有 ISA 成員。經過多份監管文本草案、數十項技術研究和數千小時的現場會議，我們非常清楚最終的挖礦代碼會是什麼樣子。

Also last quarter, we congratulated the newly elected Secretary General, Brazil's Leticia Carvalho, and our team had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Carvalho at the UN General Assembly meetings in New York. Now, while the Secretary General will play a major role in ensuring the ISA's decision-making organs can fulfill their mandate, it's important to remember that, ultimately, it's the ISA council that is the main driver of negotiations over the mining code. To that end, the council, led by its Norwegian President, has already set out a thorough agenda of eight intersessional working groups, which will meet over the coming months to address outstanding issues ahead of its publication of an updated consolidated text this November.

同樣在上個季度，我們祝賀新當選的秘書長巴西的萊蒂西亞·卡瓦略，我們的團隊很高興在紐約聯合國大會會議上見到了卡瓦略女士。現在，雖然秘書長將在確保 ISA 決策機構履行其職責方面發揮重要作用，但重要的是要記住，最終，ISA 理事會才是採礦法規談判的主要推動者。為此，由挪威主席領導的理事會已經制定了由八個閉會期間工作小組組成的全面議程，這些工作小組將在未來幾個月內舉行會議，以在今年11 月發布更新後的綜合文本之前解決懸而未決的問題。

Now let's turn to what will happen once NORI submits that exploitation application. Under the current draft rules, following NORI's submission, on June 27, 2025, the ISA Secretariat would then undertake a brief review of the document to assess it for completeness before handing it over to the 41 experts that comprise the organization's main technical body, the Legal & Technical Commission.

現在讓我們看看 NORI 提交漏洞申請後會發生什麼。根據目前的規則草案，在 NORI 於 2025 年 6 月 27 日提交後，ISA 秘書處將對文件進行簡短審查，評估其完整性，然後將其移交給組成該組織主要技術機構的 41 名專家。和技術委員會。

The LTC will then review the application in its entirety, including the wealth of environmental baseline data and impact data that we've compiled, before making a decision on whether to approve our project either by consensus or a simple majority vote. With approval from the LTC, it would then take a two-thirds majority from within the ISA Council and a simple majority of each of the council subgroups to overturn a positive LTC recommendation. And that's why we're so confident that the LTC's conclusion is very important.

然後，LTC 將全面審查該申請，包括我們編制的大量環境基線數據和影響數據，然後決定是否以協商一致或簡單多數票批准我們的項目。經 LTC 批准後，需要 ISA 理事會內三分之二多數票以及理事會各小組的簡單多數票才能推翻 LTC 的積極建議。這就是為什麼我們如此確信 LTC 的結論非常重要。

So on to the financial results, TMC reported a net loss of approximately $20.5 million or $0.06 per share in the third quarter of 2024 compared to a net loss of $12.5 million or $0.04 per share for the same period in 2023. Exploration and evaluation expenses during the third quarter of 2024 were $11.8 million compared to $7.9 million for the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to an increase in share-based comp due to the amortization of the fair value of restricted stock units and options granted to directors and officers in the second quarter of 2024, increase in mining, technology and process development, resulting from increased engineering work by Allseas and higher personnel costs.

就財務表現而言，TMC 報告 2024 年第三季淨虧損約為 2,050 萬美元，即每股 0.06 美元，而 2023 年同期淨虧損為 1,250 萬美元，即每股 0.04 美元。2024 年第三季的勘探和評估費用為 1,180 萬美元，而 2023 年同期為 790 萬美元。這一增長主要是由於2024 年第二季度授予董事和高級管理人員的限制性股票單位和期權的公允價值攤銷導致以股份為基礎的補償增加，以及採礦、技術和工藝開發的增加，這是由於Allseas 增加了工程工作並提高了人員成本。

General and administrative expenses were $8.2 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, compared to $4.6 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. The increase was mainly due to an increase in share-based comp due to the amortization of the fair value of RSUs and options granted to directors and officers in the second quarter of 2024, including the compensation package for their Chairman and CEO, which would not vest until share price is far higher than where we are today, along with an increase in legal and consulting costs and higher personnel costs.

截至2024年9月30日的季度的一般和管理費用為820萬美元，而截至2023年9月30日的季度的一般和管理費用為460萬美元。這一增長主要是由於2024 年第二季度授予董事和高級管理人員的受限股份單位和期權的公允價值攤銷，包括其董事長和首席執行官的薪酬方案，導致以股份為基礎的補償增加。

The third-quarter 2024 results also included a gain of $1.1 million for the change in fair value of warrant liability and charges of $0.9 million for foreign exchange losses and $0.6 million of fees and interest on our credit facilities. In the comparative quarter of 2023, again, due to the change in fair value of warrant liability, was $0.1 million and charges for fees and interest on our credit facilities were $0.3 million.

2024 年第三季業績還包括認股權證負債公允價值變動帶來的 110 萬美元收益、90 萬美元的外匯損失費用以及 60 萬美元的信貸安排費用和利息。同樣，在 2023 年的比較季度，由於認股權證負債的公允價值變化，我們的信貸額度費用和利息費用為 10 萬美元，費用和利息為 30 萬美元。

In the third quarter of 2024, the net cash used in operating activities amounted to $5.7 million compared to $12.5 million for the third quarter of 2023. The reduction in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the prior period in 2023 is mainly due to change in working capital, reflecting the increase in accounts payable and accrued liabilities, and a reduction in receivables and pre-payments.

2024 年第三季度，經營活動使用的現金淨額為 570 萬美元，而 2023 年第三季為 1,250 萬美元。2024年第三季較2023年上期減少主要是由於營運資金變化，反映應付帳款和應計負債增加，以及應收帳款和預付款項減少。

The free cash flow for the third quarter of 2024 was negative $5.8 million compared to negative $12.6 million in the third quarter of 2023. Free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure and we point you to the non-GAAP reconciliation table included in this slide deck. We believe that our cash on hand, along with the funds just raised through a registered direct offering, and the undrawn $33.8 million unsecured credit capacity on the facility from Gerard Barron and Andrei Karkar, will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next 12 months from today.

2024 年第三季的自由現金流為負 580 萬美元，而 2023 年第三季為負 1,260 萬美元。自由現金流為非 GAAP 衡量標準，我們向您介紹本投影片中所包含的非 GAAP 調整表。我們相信，我們手頭上的現金，加上剛剛透過註冊直接發行籌集的資金，以及 Gerard Barron 和 Andrei Karkar 未提取的 3,380 萬美元無擔保信貸能力，將足以滿足我們的營運資本和資本支出需求從今天起至少未來12 個月。

During the third quarter of 2024, the company drew $3.3 million from the credit facilities and short-term debt. The company also raised $2.3 million under the ATM facility in the third quarter by issuing 1.6 million shares at an average price of $1.45 per share, after raising $2.6 million in the second quarter at an average price of $1.61. There has been no ATM usage in the fourth quarter. With that, we will turn it over to the operator to take us into Q&A.

2024 年第三季度，該公司從信貸融資和短期債務中提取了 330 萬美元。該公司第三季還透過 ATM 融資籌集了 230 萬美元，發行了 160 萬股，平均價格為每股 1.45 美元，而第二季則以平均價格 1.61 美元籌集了 260 萬美元。第四季沒有使用 ATM。這樣，我們將把它交給操作員，讓我們進入問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Matthew O'Keefe, Cantor Fitzgerald.

（操作員說明）馬修·奧基夫、坎托·菲茨傑拉德。

Thanks, operator. Good evening, good evening. Yeah, just, I'm very interested in the services business potential. I mean, as you pointed out in your presentation, we've seen a lot of interest from -- in deep ocean from governments like China, India -- you mentioned Norway. I guess, Japan as well. What kind of -- with respect to the services business, how big will this be? What's the revenue model going to look like? And is it a big stretch to step it up? Are there a lot of costs to set up this business?

謝謝，接線生。晚上好，晚上好。是的，只是，我對服務業務的潛力非常感興趣。我的意思是，正如您在演講中指出的那樣，我們看到了中國、印度等政府對深海的濃厚興趣，您提到了挪威。我想，日本也一樣。就服務業務而言，這將有多大？收入模式會是什麼樣子？加大力度是不是很困難？創辦這項業務需要花費很多成本嗎？

Yeah, thanks, Matt. Look, we're super excited about this part of our go-forward strategy because we have this amazing expertise that we've gathered over the last decade. And when we look at how we operate our offshore campaigns, and resource definition, and the success of those campaigns that is now going to be all demonstrated in our application to the regulator, we realized that we've got something very special.

是的，謝謝，馬特。看，我們對前進策略的這一部分感到非常興奮，因為我們擁有過去十年積累的驚人專業知識。當我們審視我們如何運作離岸活動、資源定義以及這些活動的成功（這些活動現在將在我們向監管機構提交的申請中得到證明）時，我們意識到我們有一些非常特別的東西。

And we know that other contractors spend about $100 million a year at the moment. But we -- there are forecasts in the market that estimate that could increase 10x once the mining code is in place. And that's just in the international waters. If you add to that territorial waters, then that number could be much higher.

我們知道其他承包商目前每年花費約 1 億美元。但我們——市場上有預測稱，一旦挖礦代碼到位，挖礦數量可能會增加 10 倍。這還只是在國際水域。如果算上領海，這個數字可能會更高。

So we see a great opportunity of being able to keep that talent that we've mustered over the last decade and make it available to other operators. And there's no real investment. It's really about looking at that talent that is going to start becoming more available once our application is lodged and how we can help other contractors increase that spend.

因此，我們看到了一個很好的機會，可以保留我們在過去十年中聚集的人才，並將其提供給其他營運商。而且沒有真正的投資。實際上，我們要關注的是，一旦我們提出申請，人才將開始變得更加可用，以及我們如何幫助其他承包商增加支出。

Because there are some contractors who aren't spending as much money as they should because they're waiting on the mining code to be adopted. That's their excuse. But with the advent of the mining code, then all of that excuse goes away and contract holders will be obliged to move their blocks forwards towards permitting. Now, we know how to do that better than anyone else.

因為有些承包商沒有花應有的錢，因為他們正在等待採礦規範被採用。這是他們的藉口。但隨著採礦法規的出現，所有這些藉口都消失了，合約持有者將不得不將他們的區塊向前推進以獲得許可。現在，我們比其他人知道如何更好地做到這一點。

And so we've already been talking to many contractors. I don't think the Chinese contractors are likely to use that service, but I am confident many others will, particularly because we can offer a similar service to several contractors at once, particularly when it comes to offshore deployments, and there are tremendous economic advantages for all of those contractors if they collaborate on some of that work.

因此，我們已經與許多承包商進行了交談。我不認為中國承包商可能會使用該服務，但我相信許多其他承包商會使用該服務，特別是因為我們可以同時向多個承包商提供類似的服務，特別是在海上部署方面，並且存在巨大的經濟價值如果他們在其中一些工作上合作，那麼所有這些承包商都會受益。

And is this -- would this just be focused around Clarion Clipperton, or do you see not just -- not areas for nodules in other parts of the ocean and also other types of deep-sea mining, or would you really just focus in your quote, unquote, backyard?

這是否只是集中在 Clarion Clipperton 周圍，或者您是否不僅僅看到了海洋其他地區的結核區域以及其他類型的深海採礦，或者您真的只是集中在您的引用，取消引用，後院？

Look, our backyard is certainly the CCZ for sure, but the services apply beyond into regional waters as well. And we have had conversations already with regards to territorial waters.

看，我們的後院肯定是 CCZ，但這些服務也適用於區域水域以外的地區。我們已經就領海問題進行了對話。

We would also note, Matt, in terms of the potential elsewhere from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, all of the strategy is incorporated within the capital-light approach. So this is not something where we say, hey, let's get some shifts to help do this. The services business is really built on expertise that our team has gathered in environmental impact assessments and resource definition. Other technical matters that, frankly, our team of roughly 50 people are some of the best in the world. But it's not something where you can expect that TMC is going to get out over our skis with respect to additional capital.

馬特，我們也要指出，就克拉里昂-克利珀頓區其他地區的潛力而言，所有策略都納入了輕資本方法中。所以這不是我們說的，嘿，讓我們輪班來幫助做到這一點。服務業務確實建立在我們團隊在環境影響評估和資源定義方面所累積的專業知識的基礎上。其他技術問題，坦白說，我們大約 50 人的團隊是世界上最好的團隊之一。但你不能指望 TMC 會在額外資本方面超越我們的滑雪板。

We certainly would love the opportunity, not only in the services business, thinking about future revenue, but thinking about increasing the size of the resource portfolio. So you can think of us as being very nimble, and very good stewards of capital, and evaluating every opportunity based on the return on equity and the IRR, and thinking of shareholders every step of the way.

我們當然會喜歡這個機會，不僅是在服務業務中，考慮未來的收入，而且考慮增加資源組合的規模。因此，您可以認為我們非常靈活，非常優秀的資本管理者，根據股本回報率和內部收益率評估每一個機會，並在每一步中為股東著想。

Okay, thanks. Well, that sounds good. I'll look forward to more updates on that. That will do it for me. Thanks very much.

好的，謝謝。嗯，聽起來不錯。我將期待更多相關更新。那對我來說就可以了。非常感謝。

While we're waiting, I see a question from Ryan Boley. Elon Musk guaranteed cobalt without child labor used in production. How can this be a reality sooner rather than later?

當我們等待時，我看到 Ryan Boley 提出了一個問題。馬斯克 (Elon Musk) 保證鈷的生產過程中不使用童工。這怎麼可能早點成為現實呢？

Well, look, I think in terms, Ryan, of thinking where the mix of metals within batteries is ending up, there is always a changing equation between how much nickel, how much cobalt, maybe LFP or other forms. I think what we've seen certainly over the past few quarters is that, while we do focus on electric vehicles and that source of demand is going to be very big, for TMC, thinking about some of the metals we produce, such as industrial metals for manganese and nickel used in stainless steel, there are scenarios we could talk about over half of revenue down the road, perhaps coming from some of those sources outside of batteries. It all depends on what the nature of some of our future contracts look like.

好吧，瑞安，我認為，在考慮電池內金屬混合物最終的去向時，在有多少鎳、多少鈷、也許是磷酸鐵鋰或其他形式之間總是存在一個不斷變化的方程式。我認為過去幾季我們確實看到的是，雖然我們確實專注於電動車，而且需求來源將會非常大，但對於 TMC 來說，考慮我們生產的一些金屬，例如工業金屬不銹鋼中使用的錳和鎳金屬，在某些情況下，我們可以談論未來一半以上的收入，也許來自電池以外的一些來源。這完全取決於我們未來的一些合約的性質。

But the underlying demand for these metals is not only driven by EV batteries. And I think that's one of the reasons, too, when you talk about cobalt or you talk about nickel, it's evolving past the situation of the EV industry struggling with these difficult decisions. And that's why it was so important to see Marco Rubio, the incoming Secretary of State, if he's confirmed, calling out Volkswagen and other brands for their hypocrisy and what some of their sourcing methods are.

但對這些金屬的潛在需求不僅是由電動車電池驅動的。我認為這也是原因之一，當你談論鈷或鎳時，它正在超越電動車產業在這些艱難決策中掙扎的情況。這就是為什麼看到即將上任的國務卿馬可·魯比奧(Marco Rubio)如此重要，如果他得到任命，他會譴責大眾汽車和其他品牌的虛偽以及他們的一些採購方法。

But I think we can expect over the course of the next year, to see this pivoting away from an EV industry equation and something where NGOs versus contractors and really taking the form of the West versus China. And TMC certainly was in a Washington Post article on this topic late last year, as well as a few pieces in 60 Minutes. So it is definitely evolving into national security. And certainly, with the Republican administration coming in and the majority in both houses of Congress, that sets us up very well. And I think we're positioned better than anybody to take advantage of that.

但我認為我們可以預期，在明年的過程中，這種情況將不再是電動車產業的方程式，而是非政府組織與承包商的對抗，並真正採取西方與中國的對抗形式。去年年底，《華盛頓郵報》就這個主題發表了一篇文章，TMC 也曾在《60 分鐘》中發表過幾篇文章。所以它肯定會演變成國家安全。當然，隨著共和黨政府的上台以及國會兩院的多數席位，這為我們奠定了良好的基礎。我認為我們比任何人都更有能力利用這一點。

Dmitry Silversteyn, Water Tower Research.

德米特里·西爾弗斯坦，水塔研究中心。

Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for taking my questions. I just wanted to follow up on your service business potential. Are you -- I think, Gerard, you mentioned that you're talking to some contractors now. Are you in discussions that are a little bit more serious than talking at this point or is this something that's still in the very early stages?

下午好，先生們。感謝您回答我的問題。我只是想跟進您的服務業務潛力。我想，傑拉德，你提到你現在正在與一些承包商交談。您目前正在進行的討論是否比談話更嚴肅一些，或者這仍處於早期階段？

No, it's quite advanced. Hi, Dmitry, thanks for the question. And no, it's quite advanced. We have RFPs out of the market and we are certainly hoping by the time we have our next conference call that we'll have contracts under our belt.

不，它已經很先進了。嗨，德米特里，謝謝你的提問。不，它相當先進。我們已經向市場發出了徵求建議書，我們當然希望在下次電話會議時我們能拿到合約。

Wonderful. Did I understand you correctly that you would be able to really sort of dedicate your energy and attention to this business once you're done submitting the application to the ISA? So mid-2025 is when we should think about as the timing of the -- underway?

精彩的。我是否正確理解您的意思：一旦您向 ISA 提交了申請，您就能夠真正將精力和注意力投入到這項業務上？那麼 2025 年中期是我們該考慮的時機呢？

Well, there is a bit of a lead time, and I would think of it as 2025 calendar year. There'll certainly be more of our team available after that application is lodged. And of course, for us, we see it as an economic opportunity, but we also see it as a great way of keeping the gang together because our team applied are approached regularly, to go and join other operators.

嗯，有一點提前期，我認為是 2025 年。提交申請後，我們的團隊肯定會有更多的人員可用。當然，對我們來說，我們認為這是一個經濟機會，但我們也認為這是讓團體團結在一起的好方法，因為我們的團隊會定期聯繫申請者，加入其他業者。

But everyone likes working as part of a coherent team, and we've really amassed some talent. And for us, it's about how do we -- how can we economically keep that team together? And the easiest way is to make them available and sell those services into other operators.

但每個人都喜歡在團結的團隊中工作，而我們確實累積了一些人才。對我們來說，問題在於我們如何——如何在經濟上讓這個團隊團結在一起？最簡單的方法是提供這些服務並將這些服務出售給其他業者。

And there's tremendous synergies if we can encourage other contractors to work together, but someone needs to bring it together. And of course, it's worth reminding that we have conducted 22 successful offshore campaigns over the last decade. We've had no wipe-outs, and that's really unusual. Look at the amazing collector trial that we ran in 2022 with our partner Allseas. It was amazingly successful.

如果我們能夠鼓勵其他承包商一起工作，就會產生巨大的協同效應，但需要有人將其整合在一起。當然，值得提醒的是，在過去十年中，我們已經開展了 22 次成功的離岸活動。我們沒有發生過全軍覆沒的情況，這確實很不尋常。看看我們在 2022 年與合作夥伴 Allseas 進行的令人驚嘆的收藏家試驗。它取得了驚人的成功。

And that's -- we didn't lose a single day of operation through COVID, yet we ran nine offshore campaigns. And so, we've had some amazing successes in this area. And so our credentials are very strong, and that provides a good basis to go and build a business around, particularly because it doesn't require any investment.

也就是說，我們沒有因為新冠疫情而損失任何一天的運營，但我們開展了九次離岸活動。因此，我們在這一領域取得了一些驚人的成功。因此，我們的資歷非常強大，這為開展業務提供了良好的基礎，特別是因為它不需要任何投資。

Sounds good. Gerard. Thank you for that. And then one final question, and I think it was just -- I lost connection on my end. But when you're talking about the deep dive date that you're planning to hold, is that -- can you repeat the dates for that?

聽起來不錯。傑拉德.謝謝你。最後一個問題，我認為只是──我這邊失去了聯繫。但是，當您談論您計劃舉行的深度潛水日期時，您可以重複日期嗎？

Yeah, we haven't announced the date, but it will be before the end of the year. And we can't wait.

是的，我們還沒有宣布日期，但會在今年年底之前。我們等不及了。

Got you. Okay, all right. Thank you very much. That's all the questions I had.

明白你了。好吧，好吧。非常感謝。這就是我的所有問題。

Jake Sekelsky, Alliance Global Partners.

Jake Sekelsky，聯盟全球合作夥伴。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Just a quick one here, are you able to provide any additional color on that $9 million in government funding that Craig had mentioned earlier related to domestic refining capacity? Domestic supply chains are obviously becoming very topical after the election. I'm just curious how advanced you are in that process and have you identified any potential sites at this point?

嘿，夥計們。感謝您回答我的問題。在此簡單介紹一下，您能否對克雷格之前提到的與國內煉油能力相關的 900 萬美元政府資金提供任何補充說明？大選後，國內供應鏈顯然變得非常熱門。我只是好奇你在這個過程中的進展如何，你現在是否已經確定了任何潛在的地點？

Yeah, definitely. Appreciate that, Jake, always good to speak with you. And the answer is yes, we have identified potential sites. The quality of our application, I think, is underpinned by the fact that we have been thinking and planning on this for a very long time in consultation with our project team as well as our business development team.

是的，絕對是。很高興，傑克，很高興與你交談。答案是肯定的，我們已經確定了潛在的地點。我認為，我們的應用程式的品質是基於這樣一個事實：我們與我們的專案團隊以及業務開發團隊協商了很長時間，對此進行了思考和規劃。

So I think, because we are so far along and because we do feel we have growing support, and that's only going to multiply exponentially when you see some of the people who are getting into positions of influence within the incoming White House, we feel it's in a very good place.

所以我認為，因為我們已經取得瞭如此大的進展，而且我們確實感到我們的支持越來越多，而且當你看到一些人在即將上任的白宮中擔任有影響力的職位時，這種支持只會呈指數級增長，我們覺得這是在一個非常好的地方。

Now, look these applications do take time. We think, on average, they've taken over a year for most applicants. And there's always a question of, at any point of time, what funding is available from the Department of Defense's Defense Production Act Title III grant program? But it's now been close to nine months since we launched that application. So it's conceivable in the next couple of quarters that we will know more on that information going forward.

現在，看看這些應用程式確實需要時間。我們認為，平均而言，大多數申請者需要花費一年以上的時間。始終存在這樣一個問題：國防部的《國防生產法》第三章撥款計劃在任何時候都可以提供哪些資金？但自從我們推出該應用程式以來已經接近九個月了。因此，可以想像，在接下來的幾個季度中，我們將了解更多有關這些資訊的資訊。

Now, in the context of this project and the context of this resource, $9 million may not sound like a lot. We would say it's more about that explicit support from the government that's going to be very helpful. Not just with eventually building out some capacity in the United States, but that's the type of thing that really does give confidence and cover for other people to kind of put their head above the parapet and not be so afraid of the NGO noise.

現在，在這個計畫和這個資源的背景下，900 萬美元聽起來可能不是很多。我們會說，更多的是政府的明確支持，這將是非常有幫助的。不僅是最終在美國建立了一些能力，而且這種事情確實給了其他人信心和掩護，讓他們把頭伸出胸牆，而不是那麼害怕非政府組織的噪音。

Because a lot of people get it. A lot of people understand that this resource is transformational. And one extra push where you have explicit support from the US is the type of thing that can make it easier for investors of all shapes and sizes to come on board. So we're going to view that as a very key moment. But at the same time, it's certainly not a must-have. We view this as being very opportunistic and I think what you've seen in the cadence of news on nodules over the last year shows that this has been an investment well spent and time well spent on our team.

因為很多人都明白。很多人都知道這種資源具有變革性。在獲得美國明確支持的情況下，另一項額外推動措施是可以讓各種類型和規模的投資者更容易加入。因此，我們將把這視為一個非常關鍵的時刻。但同時，它當然不是必須具備的。我們認為這是非常機會主義的，我認為你在去年關於結核的新聞節奏中看到的情況表明，這是一項值得的投資，我們團隊也投入了值得的時間。

Makes sense. Okay, thanks again.

有道理。好的，再次感謝。

I do see a question in the online queue from Tyler McNeil. Can we ensure investors the application date is not going to be pushed back beyond June 2025? And then something on the side of potential services contracts.

我確實在線上隊列中看到泰勒·麥克尼爾提出的問題。我們能否向投資人保證申請日期不會延後到 2025 年 6 月之後？然後是潛在服務合約方面的事情。

Well, Gerard did mention on the services business the addressable market in terms of other contractor spending in a ballpark of $100 million per year. Now, we do expect that's a number that will increase substantially as the mining code is getting closer. And there will be requirements from contractors to effectively play catch up on work that perhaps hadn't been pushed forward in the past. Beyond that, again, the addressable markets beyond just what we're looking at narrowly within the area of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone or high seas, but a lot of other areas in national jurisdictions that we'll see quite a bit of increased spending.

嗯，傑拉德確實提到了服務業務的潛在市場，即其他承包商每年的支出約為 1 億美元。現在，我們確實預計隨著挖礦代碼的臨近，這個數字將會大幅增加。承包商將要求有效地趕上過去可能沒有推進的工作。除此之外，我們所關注的市場不僅限於克拉里昂-克利珀頓區或公海區域，而且在國家管轄範圍內的許多其他區域，我們將看到支出大幅增加。

In terms of the application date not being pushed back, look, we are full bore on this, and we have our cadence and our schedule lined up, and the team is all in agreement on what needs to be delivered. There is a rationale, too, to say getting that over the line on that June date, we didn't just pick it out of a hat. That's a date that allows us to put forth the best application. But importantly, to ensure that in the March 2025 ISA session, we get additional clarity from the ISA on what the application review process looks like very specifically. Such that, once the application is in towards the end of June, they can start dealing with it at their July session. So there's a natural reason why we picked that date and certainly, every incentive in the world to ensure that there is no delay beyond that. Gerard, I'm not sure if you have any other comments on that.

就申請日期不被推遲而言，看，我們對此全力以赴，我們已經安排好了節奏和時間表，並且團隊就需要交付的內容達成了一致。說在六月的那個日期越線，我們並不是憑空捏造出來的，這也是有理由的。這是一個讓我們能夠提出最佳申請的日期。但重要的是，為了確保在 2025 年 3 月的 ISA 會議上，我們能夠從 ISA 獲得有關申請審核流程的具體資訊。這樣，一旦申請在六月底提交，他們就可以在七月的會議上開始處理。因此，我們選擇這個日期是有自然原因的，當然，世界上也有各種激勵措施來確保在此之後不會出現任何延誤。傑拉德，我不確定您對此是否還有其他評論。

No other than we -- it's, all roads lead to that date. And as we alluded to, there were many stakeholders we consulted on that. We also are aware the UN Ocean Council is meeting, which we'll be attending in June of next year as well. We wanted to give that some clean air. I would say that the amount of dialogue between sponsoring states is certainly on the increase or between member states of the International Seabed Authority. And we're very encouraged by that dialogue, and we think it all leads to adoption of the mining code in the very near future.

不是別人，正是我們──是的，所有的道路都通往那個日期。正如我們所提到的，我們就此諮詢了許多利害關係人。我們也知道聯合國海洋理事會正在召開會議，我們也將於明年六月參加。我們想給它一些乾淨的空氣。我想說，贊助國之間或國際海底管理局成員國之間的對話數量肯定在增加。我們對這種對話感到非常鼓舞，我們認為這一切都會導致挖礦程式碼在不久的將來被採用。

Thank you. This concludes the question-and-answer session from the phone line. I would now like to turn it back to Craig Shesky.

謝謝。電話問答環節就此結束。我現在想把它轉回給克雷格謝斯基。

Hey, thank you very much. Thanks to everybody for attending this call. Usually, we say we look forward to seeing you on our next quarterly update call, but hopefully, we can see many of you even before that when we announce news and the date for our Strategy Day before year-end. So stay tuned on that and thank you all very much.

嘿，非常感謝你。感謝大家參加這次電話會議。通常，我們會說我們期待在下一個季度更新電話會議上見到您，但希望我們能在那之前看到你們中的許多人，當時我們在年底前宣布新聞和戰略日的日期。請繼續關注，非常感謝大家。

Thank you, everyone.

謝謝大家。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。