The Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, NORI, was granted an exploration contract (“NORI Exploration Contract”) on July 22, 2011 under the sponsorship of Nauru. The contract application fee of $0.3 million, provides NORI with exclusive rights to explore for polymetallic nodules in the NORI Area for an initial term of 15 years (renewable for successive five-year periods) subject to complying with the exploration contract terms (Note 22) and provides NORI with the priority right to apply for an exploitation contract to collect polymetallic nodules in the same area. The NORI Exploration Contract terminates on July 22, 2026, and the Company has filed for an extension.

NORI has a right to renounce, without penalty, in whole or part of its rights in the NORI Area at any time and therefore does not have a fixed commitment with relation to the NORI Exploration Contract (Note 22).

TOML was granted an exploration contract (“TOML Exploration Contract”) on January 11, 2012 under the sponsorship of Tonga. The TOML Exploration Contract provides TOML with exclusive rights to explore for polymetallic nodules in the TOML Area for an initial term of 15 years (renewable for successive five-year periods) subject to complying with the exploration contract terms and a priority right to apply for an exploitation contract to collect polymetallic nodules in the same area. The TOML Exploration Contract terminates on January 11, 2027.

On March 31, 2020, the Company entered into an acquisition agreement with Deep Sea Mining Finance Ltd. to acquire TOML and other related entities in the group (the “TOML Acquisition”). Total purchase price of the TOML Acquisition, before transaction costs, was $32.0 million comprising of $42.7 million for exploration contracts offset by $10.7 million for deferred tax liability. TOML holds the TOML Exploration Contract and some exploration related equipment.

A reconciliation of the Company’s capitalized exploration contracts is as follows:


								Marawa
		NORI			TOML			Option
		Contract			Contract			Agreement			Total
December 31, 2023		$	250		$	42,701		$	199		$	43,150
Termination of Marawa Option Agreement			—			—			(199)			(199)
December 31, 2024		$	250		$	42,701		$	—		$	42,951
Changes during the year			—			—			—			—
December 31, 2025		$	250		$	42,701		$	—		$	42,951


	For the year ended			For the year ended
	December 31,			December 31,
	2025			2024
Environmental studies	$	3,654		$	3,234
Exploration labor⁽¹⁾		9,542			9,424
Share-based compensation⁽¹⁾ (Note 18)		15,355			10,451
Mining, technological and process development⁽²⁾		7,560			22,392
Prefeasibility studies		1,149			1,120
Sponsorship, training and stakeholder engagement		2,645			3,069
Other		377			953
Exploration and Evaluation Expenses	$	40,282		$	50,643