TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMEX), a global subsea mineral exploration and validation company, filed a Comprehensive Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which included restated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, and interim periods. The company also reported first quarter financials for the period ended March 31, 2024.
"The comprehensive audit and restatement of our financials serves as a critical step towards further ensuring transparency, accuracy, and accountability within our company. Although a technical accounting matter led to the restatement of our financial statements, we anticipate this to be a one-time event that will not impede our future filings," stated Mark Gordon, Odyssey’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors. "The restatement has had no adverse effect on our business where we remain focused on building a portfolio of projects that will have a net positive impact by providing critical mineral resources in demand by society."
As previously disclosed in a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 26, 2024, the company’s Audit Committee of the Board of Directors concluded that certain previously issued consolidated financial statements could not be relied upon and that certain financial statements would be restated. The restatement addresses the correction of accounting treatments for certain transactions, including the company’s litigation financing, which has been reclassified as a derivative liability under GAAP. The company's unaudited consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, are included in the Comprehensive Form 10-K, along with restated audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, and restated unaudited consolidated financial statements for interim periods ended March 31, 2022, and 2023, June 30, 2022, and 2023, and September 30, 2022. With this filing, Odyssey has now filed all previously delinquent SEC periodic reports.
Odyssey recently announced that it received a payment of approximately $9.4 million arising from its residual economic interest in a shipwreck project. The company expects to use the funds primarily to support the company's ongoing operations.
The company’s consolidated financial statements and Comprehensive Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, and the company’s consolidated financial statements and Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2024, are available on the company's web site at www.odysseymarine.com as well as at www.sec.gov.
Company Updates
Odyssey grows its portfolio by focusing on polymetallic nodule projects, which could provide the metals necessary to transition to renewable energy sources, thereby reducing carbon, emissions and by developing phosphate deposits, a vital component of fertilizer essential for addressing the food security requirements of a growing global population. Leveraging its distinctive Global Prospectivity Process, the company identifies projects that align geologically and geopolitically, strategically advancing them along its value curve model.
ExO Phosphate Project - NAFTA Case
Odyssey initiated a claim under Chapter XI of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2019, alleging that Mexico wrongfully denied its environmental approval of the ExO Phosphate Project in breach of NAFTA. The company is seeking damages of over $2 billion.
On March 8, 2024, Odyssey received a letter from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) relating to the claim of Odyssey and Exploraciones Oceánicas S. de R.L. de C.V. (a subsidiary of Odyssey) against the United Mexican States under Chapter Eleven of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The letter advised the Claimant that the Tribunal “has continued to make progress in finalizing its determinations” and that it “expects to render the Award in the second quarter of this year.”
Odyssey cannot predict the outcome of the arbitration, but the company remains confident in the merits of its case.
Responsible Use of Seafloor Resources Act (RUSRA)
Odyssey and several industry peers endorsed the Responsible Use of Seafloor Resources Act (RUSRA) in March 2024. This act underscores the United States' commitment to supporting international governance of seafloor resource exploration and fostering responsible collection efforts.
Cook Islands Polymetallic Nodule Exploration Milestones
The Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) granted three exploration licenses in 2022. Odyssey is invested in and provides services to two license holders that have undertaken exploration efforts and achieved several milestones while advancing understanding of the resources in their respective areas.
Ocean Minerals LLC (OML), one of the companies in which Odyssey has invested, completed multiple expeditions during the last year, resulting in a comprehensive mapping survey of the entire license area as well as collecting environmental, sediment, and resource samples. These samples, supported by the extensive ROV-captured video recordings, have been analyzed by independent laboratories and scientists, with results being reported to the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority with an updated resource report being imminent. Using a benthic sled, a five-tonne bulk nodule sample to enable our ongoing metallurgical process development was recovered. This work accrues to expanding the amount of measured and indicated resources reported in their initial JORC resource report.
“We have been very pleased with the performance of our turnkey research vessel, the Anuanua Moana, in the Cook Islands. Our remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and suite of scientific and exploration tools have provided us, the Cook Islands, and the world with a never-before-seen comprehensive understanding of the seafloor in the Cook Islands EEZ,” said Hans Smit, OML Chief Executive Officer. “We are looking forward to updating our JORC resource report in the coming months and continue to progress our program in line with our published work plan, and we are doing this while providing vessel services to the Cook Islands and other license holders there.”
About Odyssey Marine Exploration
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMEX) is a deep-ocean exploration pioneer engaged in the discovery, validation and development of subsea mineral deposits in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Odyssey provides marine services for private clients and governments interested in exploring their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) to survey, map and identify any potential mineral resources present. The company focuses on the exploration of polymetallic nodules (battery metals to power the future) and subsea phosphate deposits (fertilizer to feed the future) which the company believes will provide a benefit to society now and in the future, For additional details, please visit www.odysseymarine.com. An investor presentation is available in the Investors section of the website.
Forward Looking Information
Odyssey Marine Exploration believes the information set forth in this Press Release may include "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. Certain factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are set forth in "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, 2022. The financial and operating projections as well as estimates of mining assets are based solely on the assumptions developed by Odyssey that it believes are reasonable based upon information available to Odyssey as of the date of this release. All projections and estimates are subject to material uncertainties and should not be viewed as a prediction or an assurance of actual future performance. The validity and accuracy of Odyssey's projections will depend upon unpredictable future events, many of which are beyond Odyssey's control and, accordingly, no assurance can be given that Odyssey's assumptions will prove true or that its projected results will be achieved.
