Miner Applies to Exploit Deep Sea Under Controversial Trump Executive Order

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(Bloomberg) — Seabed miner The Metals Company said Tuesday it has submitted an application for a US license to mine an area of the Pacific Ocean administered by a United Nations-affiliated organization. The move sets up a showdown between the Trump administration and international regulators over control of minerals critical to the energy transition.  

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Canadian-registered The Metals Company (TMC) said its US subsidiary has also filed two applications for US licenses to prospect for minerals in a vast stretch of the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico under the jurisdiction of the 169-member-nation International Seabed Authority (ISA). 

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The move comes just days after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order expediting the processing of seabed mining applications under a 1980 law. TMC, the first company to seek a mining license under the 45-year-old legislation, said it expects the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to complete an initial review of its mining application within 60 days. 

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The region —  known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) — contains some of the world’s largest estimated reserves of critical minerals for green technology in the form of polymetallic nodules, potato-sized rocks rich in copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese. Nodules, which are found by the billions at depths of 4,000 meters (13,000 feet), serve as habitat for about 50% of seabed species, most of which remain unknown to science but which researchers estimate can live hundreds or thousands of years.

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TMC holds two ISA-issued exploration licenses in the region, sponsored by member states Nauru and Tonga, two tiny Pacific island nations. TMC’s US license application would allow it to mine part of the CCZ assigned to Nauru. The company previously said it would seek ISA approval in June to begin mining the area even though the international body has yet to enact regulations after more than a decade of negotiations.

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Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the seabed in international waters is managed by the ISA for the benefit of humanity and any mining royalties must be divided among member states. The US hasn’t signed the treaty, which governs commercial use of the ocean, but has generally abided by its provisions.

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“If powerful states or corporations attempt to bypass the international legal framework established by UNCLOS, they risk undermining its very foundation: preventing unilateral actions that privilege the interests of the few at the expense of the many,” the ISA said in a statement issued Saturday in response to Trump’s executive order.