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Donald Trump has instructed the US government to speed up permits for deep-sea metals projects to launch early industries and take control of key mineral supply chains from China.
On Thursday, the president signed an executive order aimed at rapidly developing mineral extraction deeper at sea level by promoting licensing, identifying seabed mapping, and miner opportunities.
“It will unleash important offshore minerals and resources in America’s offshore,” a senior management official said prior to the signing. “The (President) is very clear that ensuring access to these rare earths and critical materials is a domestic and economic security priority.”
Thursday’s action shows Trump’s latest efforts to expand access to key minerals that have long been controlled by China. He has invoked wartime forces to increase the production of US minerals and pursued trade with countries, including Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ensuring access to mineral wealth.
Trump’s latest move shows a challenge to the authority of international undersea authorities based in Jamaica, not in the US, but in the 170 members, including the EU, China and Brazil. The ISA refused to allow commercial mining to proceed in international waters.
It is concentrated in the Clarion-Clipperton zone, rich in Pacific resources between Hawaii and Mexico. There, potato-sized metal blocks on the seabed contain traces of nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese and rare earth.
Countries including China and Russia are investigating the potential of international seabed minerals under licenses acquired by the ISA, despite discussions in regulatory authorities failing to complete global royalties and tax regimes and to resolve questions about environmental hazards.
China sponsors more exploration contracts allocated by the ISA in international waters than any other country.
Under Thursday’s executive order, the US federal agency is directed to develop plans to promote mineral exploration and commercial recovery permits, compile reports on potential opportunities for miners on the US external continental shelf, and map preferred areas.
The order also directs the Department of Defense to investigate the possibility of adding the Department to its defense stockpile.
Following a Financial Times report on the US stockpile plan last month, China warned against a unilateral US move on the seabed.
“The international seabed region and its resources are considered a general heritage of humanity,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “ISA or international law should not be bypassed to unilaterally approve exploration and development activities in the international submarine region.”
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The most direct beneficiary of Trump’s executive order is expected to be a metals company, a Vancouver-based NASDAQ-registered company, which has long been asking for my permission. TMC said last month it plans to apply for a license to the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The company’s stock price has almost doubled this month, but is significantly lower than the price listed in 2021.
US startup Impossible Metal also plans to explore the Pacific ocean floor, and earlier this month it said it applied for a license to “explorate and potential mining” in US territorial waters off the coast of Samoa, USA.
Despite growing interest in metals on the seabed, the industry is struggling to attract capital, with large miners reluctant to sign contracts amid uncertainty regarding the supply of metals that include nickel and the industry’s regulatory position.
