TMC went from $0.90 to $7.72 in 12 months. Deep-sea mining stocks exploded while the world realizes: there aren't enough metals on land for the EV transition. The ocean floor contains more nickel, cobalt, and manganese than all land reserves combined. The 756% return wasn't speculation. It was supply chain math.
Why Can't Land Mines Supply the EV Transition?
The EV transition requires 6x more minerals per vehicle than internal combustion. By 2030, we'll need 4x current cobalt production and 6x current lithium production. Land-based mines can't scale fast enough. New mines take 15 years to permit and build. Existing deposits face declining ore grades, deeper excavation, and increasing environmental restrictions. The math doesn't work.
What Is the Hidden Cost of Green Energy?
Green energy narratives ignore an inconvenient truth: clean cars need dirty mining. Congo produces 70% of the world's cobalt, much of it through child labor. Lithium extraction drains aquifers in South America. Nickel mining devastates Indonesian rainforests. The EV supply chain has a moral and physical bottleneck that onshore mining cannot solve. The minerals exist. The ethical extraction doesn't.
What Does the Ocean Floor Hold?
The ocean floor contains more nickel, cobalt, and manganese than all known land reserves combined. Polymetallic nodules sit on the seabed at concentrations 6x higher than land ore. They require no blasting, no deforestation, no displacement of communities. TMC holds exploration licenses covering 2.6 million acres of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, one of the richest mineral deposits on Earth.
How Do You Invest in Resource Bottlenecks?
When demand outstrips supply, investors who identify the bottleneck capture the premium. Deep-sea mining isn't science fiction. TMC completed its first collection test in 2022. The International Seabed Authority is finalizing regulations. The companies solving the mineral constraint will enable the transition everyone else is betting on. TMC's 756% return reflected this recognition spreading.
The transition economy needs new supply chains. For decades, we mined the easy deposits and ignored the harder ones. Now necessity drives innovation. The ocean floor holds enough minerals to electrify global transportation without the ethical compromises of land-based extraction. It points to a cleaner energy future where tomorrow's infrastructure is built on ethics as well as efficiency. Where powering one nation doesn't mean harming another. When ethical supply chains fuel progress, the transition to a better future isn't just possible. It's worth investing in.