US eyes ocean floor for critical minerals as TMC leads deep-sea mining push despite environmental concerns

After expressing his desire to grab critical minerals from Ukraine and Greenland, US President Donald Trump is now looking into mining below the surface of the ocean.

Deep-sea polymetallic nodules have been identified as a potentially significant supply of critical minerals such as nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese.

Those minerals are high on the list for the US and its plans to develop a domestic critical minerals supply chain.

Massive resource

Analysts have estimated that the global subsea metal resource could be as much as 250 trillion tonnes, around 20 times the estimated global terrestrial tonnage.

However, despite the obvious potential, technical and environmental issues have so far held up development.

In a world first, The Mining Co (TMC) USA has submitted an application for commercial recovery of deep-sea minerals under a US seabed mining code.

US executive order

TMC’s submission followed the recent release of the executive order Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources, which directed various departments to explore using the National Defense Stockpile and offtake agreements to secure seabed minerals essential to US industrial resilience.

The application area for commercial recovery permit covers a total combined area of 25,160 square kilometres, including areas that contain the company’s already significant indicated and measured resources.

The two exploration licence applications cover a total combined area of 199,895 sq km.

Major exploration upside

“We believe the [two] exploration areas contain SEC SK 1300-compliant resources of 1,635 million wet tonnes of polymetallic nodules, with an additional estimated 500Mt of exploration upside,” TMC chief executive officer Gerard Barron said.

“We have invested over half a billion dollars and have spent more than a decade preparing for this moment, investing in deep-sea science, engineering and technology to build the world’s most advanced deep-sea minerals platform.”

“With strong support from Washington and a stable, enforceable US regulatory pathway, we look forward to delivering the world’s first commercial nodule project and to helping power a new era of American industrial strength.”

Environmental concerns

Meanwhile, a scientific survey of the areas targeted by TMC has confirmed the presence of vulnerable species of whales and dolphins.

“We already knew that the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is home to at least 20 species of cetaceans but we’ve now demonstrated their presence in two areas specifically earmarked for deep-sea mining by TMC,” Dr Kirsten Young from the University of Exeter said.

Calls for a moratorium on deep-sea mining grew at the recent UN Ocean Conference, with four new countries joining the argument, bringing the total to 37.

The UN Secretary-General has also issued a strong call to stop the industry.