Deep-sea mining company eyes US approval to extract critical minerals

In late March, The Metals Company, a Canadian deep-sea mining firm, announced that it would seek approval from US agencies to extract critical minerals in areas of the ocean floor that are beyond US jurisdiction. If approved, the move would be the first to bypass the International Seabed Authority (ISA). These seabed mineral resources are in demand for clean energy technologies, but mining them could disturb fragile marine environments and disrupt unique biodiversity.

The company’s US subsidiary is hoping to obtain exploratory and commercial mining permits under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, which Congress passed in 1980. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service plans to review any forthcoming application for “compliance and requirements in accordance with the act and regulations,” Kim Rodgers, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tells C&EN in an email. “The process ensures a thorough environmental impact review, interagency consultations, and opportunity for public comment.”

But the act conflicts with a 1982 international treaty called the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The treaty, which came into force in 1994, established the ISA and entrusts it to regulate deep-sea mining in international waters, about 370 km off a nation’s coastline. The US hasn’t ratified this treaty, which may mean it could access and manage these seabed minerals on its own terms.

“The seabed mining issue was the main reason why the US has not joined UNCLOS,” says David Bosco, a professor of international studies at Indiana University. “The US was just never comfortable with the idea of US companies being regulated by an international authority and having to share profits.”

In 1984, NOAA issued four exploratory mining licenses—two of them remain active—in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). The area is beyond US jurisdiction in the Pacific Ocean and has among the highest abundances of potato-shaped rocks called polymetallic nodules, which are rich in nickel and cobalt. Since then, the agency has not issued any such licenses and hasn’t received commercial mining applications.

The ISA became operational in 1996, more than a decade after NOAA granted the early licenses. The authority has awarded 31 exploratory seabed mining contracts to government agencies and private companies from 21 countries. ISA secretary general Leticia Carvalho maintains that all deep-sea mining activities in international waters must be carried out solely “under the authority’s control.”

The US feels otherwise. “Under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, US companies can apply for exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits for deep-sea mining in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction,” the NOAA’s Rodgers told C&EN via email.

In the past, The Metals Company has acquired three exploration contracts from the ISA in the CCZ by partnering with the island nations of Nauru, Tonga, and Kiribati. In 2021, Nauru gave the ISA a 2-year notice that it intended to sponsor the company’s application to the ISA for commercial mining. But the organization won’t approve such a request until its 36-member council finalizes overall regulations for mining and environmental safeguards, which hasn’t yet occurred.

Thirty-two of the ISA’s 169 member states and the European Union have called for a precautionary pause or moratorium on deep-sea mining out of concerns about its irreversible harm to marine ecosystems.

“After 16 years of engaging with the authority in good faith, we are increasingly concerned that the ISA may not adopt the exploitation regulations in a timely manner and that the regulations may be written in a way so as to not allow commercial enterprises to operate,” The Metals Company says in a recent statement. The firm did not respond to C&EN’s questions. They include whether the company plans to apply for a US permit to commercially mine in the same CCZ area it has explored as part of an ISA contract with Nauru that triggered the 2-year notice.

But the plan to seek mining authorization from US authorities has led ISA secretary general Carvalho to voice deep concern. “The area and its resources are proclaimed the common heritage of humankind under the [UNCLOS] convention,” she says in a statement. “Any unilateral action would constitute a violation of international law.”

It’s unclear when The Metals Company intends to file its application to NOAA and if it’ll be approved, which could happen as the administration of Donald J. Trump is potentially considering fast-tracking permits for deep-sea mining. The firm has spent over half a billion dollars doing exploratory work and assessing the environmental impacts of seabed mining in the CCZ. Companies don’t like to spend that kind of money and “not get anything in return,” says James Hein, a marine geologist and former scientific adviser to the ISA’s US delegation.

Hein had hoped that the exploitation regulations would come forward through the ISA and that “everything would be done under international law.” But “it hasn’t happened yet, and who knows when it’ll be done,” he says. Hein thinks The Metal Company’s move “might give them [the ISA] a little kick in that direction.” But the company’s actions have also caused a furor among many countries, including China, Russia, India, and the United Kingdom, over concerns about potential clashes on who regulates mining in international waters.