The Company may be subject to a variety of claims and suits that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of business. We are not a party to any litigation as a defendant where a loss contingency is required to be reflected in our consolidated financial statements.

We also owe consultants contingent success fees of up to $700,000 upon the approval and issuance of the ExO Project Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") . The EIA has not been approved as of the date of this report.

We have experienced several years of net losses and may continue to do so. Our ability to generate net income or positive cash flows for the following twelve months is dependent upon financings, our success in developing and monetizing our interests in mineral exploration entities, generating income from exploration charters or collecting on amounts owed to us.

Our 2023 business plan requires us to generate new cash inflows to effectively allow us to perform our planned projects. We continually plan to generate new cash inflows through the monetization of our receivables and equity stakes in seabed mineral companies, financings, syndications or other partnership opportunities. If cash inflow ever becomes insufficient to meet our desired projected business plan requirements, we would be required to follow a contingency business plan that is based on curtailed expenses and fewer cash requirements. On June 10, 2022, we sold an aggregate of 4,939,515 shares of our common stock and warrants to purchase up to 4,939,515 shares of our common stock. The net proceeds received from this sale, after offering expenses of $1.8 million, were $14.7 million (see Note 13 Stockholders' Equity/(Deficit)). These proceeds, coupled with other anticipated cash inflows, provided operating funds through early 2023.

Our consolidated non-restricted cash balance at December 31, 2022 was $1,443,421. We have a working capital deficit at December 31, 2022 of $60.7 million. The total consolidated book value of our assets was approximately $13.3 million at December 31, 2022, which includes cash of $1,443,421. The fair market value of these assets may differ from their net carrying book value. The factors noted above raise doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. These consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to the amounts and classification of assets and liabilities that may be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.

In August 2019, we entered into an operating lease for our corporate office space under a non-cancellable lease through August 2024 with monthly payments ranging from $11,789 to $13,269, not including sales tax. The lease provides for annual increases of base rent of 3% until the expiration date. Pursuant to ASC 842, an operating lease right of usage ("ROU") asset and liability were recognized in the amount of $590,612 at inception of the lease based on the present value of lease payments over the remaining lease term. The ROU asset represents the Company’s right to use the underlying office space asset for the lease term, and the lease liability represents the Company’s obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Since the implicit rate of interest in the arrangement was not readily determinable, we utilized our incremental borrowing rate of 10% in determining the present value of lease payments. The operating lease ROU asset includes any lease payments made and excludes lease incentives.

At December 31, 2022, the ROU asset and lease obligation were, $218,098 and $229,657, respectively.

The remaining lease payment obligations are as follows:


Year ending December 31,	Annual payment obligation
2023	$	156,524
2024		92,884
	$	249,408

During the third quarter of 2019, we entered into a five-year lease at the location of our corporate office space in Tampa, Florida to support our marine operations. The lease was effective October 1, 2019 and has monthly lease payments ranging from $4,040 to $4,547, not including sales tax, over the five-year term. We are accounting for this lease under ASC 842 which resulted in a right of use asset and lease obligation of $202,424. The discount used in determining the right of use asset was 10%.

At December 31, 2022, the ROU asset and lease obligation were, $81,927 and $86,138, respectively.

The remaining lease payment obligations are as follows:


Year ending December 31,	Annual payment obligation
2023	$	53,382
2024		40,930
	$	94,312

We have recognized approximately $218,000, $216,000 and $194,000 in rent expense associated with these leases for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.