TMC Stock Jumps on U.S.-Japan Deep-Sea Mining Push
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- TMC shares rose 5.95% intraday, with StockTwits sentiment among retail traders flipping from bearish to bullish on March 30 after CEO comments about a U.S.-Japan deep-sea mining partnership.
- TMC stock is down roughly 25% year to date but up approximately 178% over the trailing 12 months, reflecting a volatile 2026 for the pre-revenue miner.
- TMC's business model centers on extracting polymetallic nodules from the seabed containing cobalt, nickel, copper, and magnesium, with some investors also betting on a future move into rare-earth minerals.
- China dominates both critical mineral extraction and refining, and its increasingly adversarial relationships with the U.S. and Japan are driving both allies to diversify away from Chinese-sourced minerals.
- The U.S. and Japan have already announced a joint initiative to extract rare-earth minerals from areas near Japan's Minamitorishima Island, potentially accelerating commercialization timelines for deep-sea miners.
- TMC carries a market capitalization of roughly $1.9 billion despite having recorded zero revenue from its core operations, making it a highly speculative bet on the future of seabed mining.
Why it matters: TMC is a pre-revenue $1.9 billion bet that the U.S.-Japan push to break China's stranglehold on critical minerals will translate into commercial deep-sea mining contracts. The 178% one-year gain shows the market is pricing in that scenario, but the 25% YTD drop and zero-revenue status show how much execution risk remains between today's partnership talk and actual nodule sales.
