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The order, signed on Thursday April 24, focused on fast-tracking exploration and mining licenses, mapping the US outer Continental Shelf, and determining the potential commercial opportunities.
It also asked the Department of Defense to assess the feasibility of adding seabed minerals to the national defense stockpile.
The move is part of the White House’s goal of bolstering US access to critical minerals, including the nickel, manganese, copper, cobalt, precious metals and rare earth elements lying on the ocean floor.
The executive order also provided a boost to The Metals Company (TMC) which – backed by its sponsor nation, Nauru – is looking to ramp-up its ambitions for deep-sea mining, particularly in the highly coveted Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean.
That was because TMC, which is based in the Canadian west coast city of Vancouver, has grown increasingly vexed by what it has viewed as a lack of progress in the regulation of seabed mining. This frustration reached tipping point last month, when TMC backed away from an international governmental organization set up to be the sector’s global regulator.
The concept of deep-sea mining is not new, but it is complex, and TMC’s action must be viewed with this in mind.
The idea of mining the oceans dates from the 1870s, when a research vessel picked up samples from the bottom of the sea. The little rocks it retrieved were later found to contain copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese, with grades of metal that were substantially higher than those found in land-based deposits.
This eventually led to the United Nations’ Law of the Sea Convention, which determined that all areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction that contained these minerals would be administered by an international governmental organization called the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
But while the ISA has granted exploration licenses, a commercial mining code for international waters has still not been created. It is this lack of progress that led TMC to back away from the ISA and instead to align itself with the US – which is not an ISA member.
“What we need is a regulator with a robust regulatory regime, and who is willing to give our application a fair hearing,” TMC said. “This is why we’ve formally initiated the process of applying for licenses and permits under the existing US seabed mining code.”
TMC has now engaged with White House officials and started a process with the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to seek federal approval for commercial deep-sea mining operations in international waters, bypassing the ISA.
TMC is looking to move quickly. It will apply for licenses and permits under the existing US seabed mining code in the second quarter of this year.
TMC’s permit application will come while the US seeks to streamline the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process, cutting the typically years-long wait down to a matter of months, and possibly less.
While speeding-up permitting might seem like a game-changer, it also means that environmental scrutiny of projects, which is already a hot-button issue, could be bypassed more quickly than usual.
Groups such as Greenpeace have been vocal in their opposition to seabed mining, citing concerns over potentially irreversible damage to marine ecosystems – something that commercial interests active in seabed mining refute.
Major corporations, particularly European automotive companies, have meanwhile said that they will not use materials sourced from deep-sea mining in their products, a stance that reflects growing consumer and shareholder pressure for sustainable sourcing practices.
At the same time, deep-sea mining is extremely capital-intensive, with high upfront costs and fluctuating investor interest. Projects are often dismissed by traditional mining companies as ‘pie in the sky’, in the same vein as the concept of mining in outer space.
Ultimately, geopolitics and the critical minerals race will play key roles in how the sector develops.
So far, ISA members, which include China, have stood firm in support of their regulator and continue to advocate for a collaborative approach to seabed mining, rather than unilateral actions. The ISA argues that future mining activities will proceed if it can be demonstrated that they are environmentally sustainable and economically viable.
But the US executive order has also emphasized forming partnerships with other nations on projects on the US Continental Shelf as well as in other national jurisdictions, including Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).
This includes the EEZs in the Cook Islands, where CIC Limited is actively exploring, as well as EEZs in India and Mauritius.
Much will depend on how other countries react to offers of partnership with the US. If TMC proves to be a ‘poster child’ for seabed mining, the floodgates could be opened for the oceans to become a source of the future mineral supply mix.
In Hotter Commodities, special correspondent Andrea Hotter covers some of the biggest stories impacting the natural resources sector. Read more coverage on our dedicated Hotter Commodities page here.