Water Tower Research Publishes Initiation of Coverage Report on Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. Titled, “Minerals for the Future”

September 21, 2023, ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Water Tower Research (www.watertowerresearch.com) has published an Initiation of Coverage Report on Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMEX) titled, “Minerals for the Future”. The report can be accessed here.

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, is a deep-ocean exploration pioneer based in Tampa, FL, that provides access to critical mineral resources worldwide. The company uses innovative methods and cutting-edge technology to discover and validate seafloor mineral resources, and to develop subsea mineral deposits in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Its growing project portfolio includes different mineral sets, including polymetallic nodules and phosphate resources in various economically and politically stable jurisdictions around the world. OMEX is currently focused on the Cook Islands polymetallic nodule exploration projects, as well as developing additional projects.

While dozens of companies are actively engaged in the discovery and development of critical metals and minerals on land, very few have the expertise and technology to conduct similar operations on the ocean floor. OMEX is one such company, having pivoted away from shipwreck exploration to underwater discovery and development of metal and mineral reserves over the last decade. OMEX currently has several such projects in its development portfolio and the company’s strategy is to apply its vast experience to shepherd these projects from discovery and resource validation to environmental permitting and production, potentially monetizing part, or all, of its ownership stakes during the course of development and redeploying the proceeds toward new project investments, sharing the gains with shareholders along the way.

To date, OMEX has assembled several such projects including cobalt, phosphate, and gold deposits, with opportunities to economically extract other metals found in these deposits, such as iron, rare earth elements, including yttrium, as well as manganese, titanium, nickel, and copper. Given the uncrowded market and limited competition, OMEX continues to explore additional opportunities and the company expects its project portfolio to continue to expand and grow as more countries look to the seafloor in their jurisdictional waters for sources of metals and minerals that can be utilized to improve local economies and provide the world with the materials needed to transition away from fossil-derived energy.

When looking at the attractiveness of OMEX’s current market cap of ~$72 million, investors need to consider a number of factors, the primary one being the pending NAFTA arbitration decision related to the company’s ExO Phosphate Project in Mexico. OMEX’s claim of damages from the illegal (in its opinion) denial of an environmental permit is in excess of $2 billion. OMEX management believes strongly in the merits of its case. With final arguments done and post-hearing briefs submitted, OMEX now awaits the decision by the NAFTA arbitration panel. The cash could be redeployed by OMEX toward faster development of the cobalt projects in Cook Islands, as well as allow the company to make sizeable investments in additional exploration projects, building out its portfolio and improving its intrinsic value. In the case the two parties reach a settlement, possibilities could include a monetary payment and/or resumption of the project with line of sight to commercialization of the vast phosphate resource.

About Water Tower Research

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Tags: Battery Metals, Critical metals, NAFTA arbitration, Deep sea mining, phosphate, Cobalt