The executive order will help private deep-sea mining companies access mineral-rich nodules on the seabed.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to expand controversial but financially deep-sea mining practices to lock in access to important minerals and metals below the seabed.
The order, signed privately by Trump on Thursday, is about to jumpstart mining in both the US and international waters as part of a push to offset China’s drastic control of key minerals industry.
“The United States is attracting national security and economic interest in maintaining leadership in deep sea science and technology and undersea mineral resources,” Trump ordered.
The order directs the establishment of a process for promoting mining permits under the Deep Sea Bed Hard Mineral Resources Act of 1980 and issuing permits along the external US continental shelf.
It also orders a prompt review of submarine mining permits in “regions beyond national jurisdiction,” a move that could cause friction in the international community.
Deep sea mining will generate billions of tons of material and add $300 million and 100,000 jobs to the US economy over the next decade, according to the White House.
Environmental groups are calling for banning all deep-sea mining activities, warning that industrial work on the seabed can cause irreversible loss of biodiversity.
“The US government has no right to unilaterally allow industries to destroy humanity’s common heritage and tear the deep seas apart for the benefit of a few businesses,” said Arlo Hemphill of Greenpeace.
Deep sea mining targets resources such as potato-sized polymetal nodules from depths of 4,000-6,000 meters. Nodules contain important materials such as manganese, iron, cobalt, copper and nickel, which are used in the defense, aerospace, energy and technology industries.
Polymetallic, or manganese, nodule, is on display at the booth of Deep Green Resources, a submarine mining startup, during a 2019 conference of the Canadian Developers Association in Toronto. [File: Chris Helgren/Reuters]
Access to key minerals is increasingly politicized by the industry’s heavy reliance on China, one of the largest trading partners in the United States and one of its biggest geopolitical rivals.
Trump’s executive order will grant the US Secretary of Commerce for 60 days to “facilitate the review and issue process of submarine mineral exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits in areas beyond national jurisdiction.”
The seabed remains a relatively unexplored region of the world. More months are mapped than the month, with about three-quarters not being mapped.
The United Nations international submarine authorities have set regulations on deep sea mining, but the United States is not a member of the organization and has never ratified any related contracts.
Under international law, the United States has the right to perform deep-sea mining within its territory 200 km (124 miles) from the coast. Still, Trump is also pushing to expand mining to international waters by invoking “an obscure 1980 law allowing the federal government to issue submarine mining permits,” according to the New York Times.
Recent deep-sea mining efforts have targeted the US island of Samoa, a US territory in the Pacific.
Earlier this month, California-based deep-sea mining company Impossion Metals called on the Trump administration to launch a commercial auction for access to minerals around Samoa, America, which is under US jurisdiction.
