The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has determined that American Ocean Minerals Corporation's (AOMC) consolidated application for seabed mineral exploration and commercial recovery is in substantial compliance with requirements under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA), allowing formal environmental, public, and regulatory review to proceed.

The application, filed by AOMC's wholly owned subsidiary AOM Area-1 LLC, covers approximately 147,054 km² across five non-contiguous subareas in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific Ocean. The area contains polymetallic nodules with deposits of manganese, nickel, copper, and cobalt.

AOMC submitted the application under NOAA's consolidated permitting process, established following Executive Order 14285, which allows qualified U.S. applicants to pursue an exploration license and commercial recovery permit through a single coordinated procedure. A determination of substantial compliance does not constitute approval of an exploration license or commercial recovery permit.

AOMC is in the process of merging with Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ: OMEX). The combined company is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker "AOMC," pending stockholder, regulatory, and Nasdaq approvals. The merger has been described as creating a deep-sea critical minerals platform valued at approximately $1 billion. AOMC has also secured equity financing exceeding $230 million.

Tom Albanese, Chairman of AOMC and former CEO of Rio Tinto, said the Area-1 application "complements AOMC's Cook Islands investments and supports our broader objective of building an environmentally responsible, global supply chain for cobalt, manganese, nickel, copper, titanium, rare earth elements and other critical minerals."

DSHMRA, enacted in 1980, provides the legal framework for U.S. companies to explore and recover deep-seabed minerals in international waters under NOAA's regulatory authority.