Trump signs executive order boosting deep-sea mining industry

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on April 24 signed an executive order aimed at boosting the deep-sea mining industry, marking his latest attempt to boost US access to nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy.

The order, which he signed in private, seeks to jump-start the mining of both US and international waters as part of a push to offset China’s sweeping control of the critical minerals industry.

Reuters first reported in March that the order was under deliberation.

Parts of the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere are estimated to contain large amounts of potato-shaped rocks known as polymetallic nodules filled with the building blocks for electric vehicles and electronics.

More than one billion metric tonnes of those nodules is estimated to be in US waters and filled with manganese, nickel, copper and other critical minerals, according to an administration official.

Extracting them could boost US gross domestic product by US$300 billion (S$394 billion) over 10 years and create 100,000 jobs, the official added.

“The United States has a core national security and economic interest in maintaining leadership in deep-sea science and technology and seabed mineral resources,” Mr Trump said in the order.

The order directs the administration to expedite mining permits under the Deep Seabed Hard Minerals Resource Act of 1980 and to establish a process for issuing permits along the US Outer Continental Shelf.

It also orders the expedited review of seabed mining permits “in areas beyond the national jurisdiction”, a move likely to spark friction with the international community.

The International Seabed Authority – created by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which the US has not ratified – has for years been considering standards for deep-sea mining in international waters, although it has yet to formalise them due to unresolved differences over acceptable levels of dust, noise and other factors from the practice.

Supporters of deep-sea mining say it would lessen the need for large mining operations on land, which are often unpopular with host communities.

Environmental groups are calling for all activities to be banned, warning that industrial operations on the ocean floor could cause irreversible biodiversity loss.

“The United States government has no right to unilaterally allow an industry to destroy the common heritage of humankind, and rip up the deep sea for the profit of a few corporations,” said Mr Arlo Hemphill of Greenpeace, which opposes the practice.

Any country can allow deep-sea mining in its own territorial waters, roughly up to 200 nautical miles from shore, and companies are already lining up to mine US waters.

Earlier in April, Impossible Metals asked the administration to launch a commercial auction for access to deposits of nickel, cobalt and other critical minerals off the coast of American Samoa.

Shares of The Metals Company – among the most prominent of deep-sea mining companies – rose on April 24 by roughly 40 per cent to hit a 52-week high of US$3.39 a share after the Reuters report earlier in the day on the executive order.

“With a stable, transparent and enforceable regulatory pathway available under existing US law, we look forward to delivering the world’s first commercial nodule project, responsibly and economically,” said Mr Gerard Barron, CEO of the company. It aims to extract nodules from a vast plain of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico, known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

Beyond The Metals Company, others eyeing deep-sea mining include California-based Impossible Metals, Russia’s JSC Yuzhmorgeologiya, Blue Minerals Jamaica, China Minmetals, and Kiribati’s Marawa Research and Exploration.

Other mining steps

US access to critical minerals, especially those produced by Chinese companies, has dwindled in recent months as Beijing has limited exports of several types.

That, in turn, has ratcheted up pressure on Washington to support efforts to boost domestic mining.

Last week, Trump officials fast-tracked permits on 10 mining projects across the US and implemented an abbreviated approval process for mining projects on federal lands.

The administration said it would approve one of the country’s largest copper mines.

The April 24 order uses the term “rare earths” to broadly refer to all critical minerals and is not meant to imply the administration believes the nodules contain neodymium and the 16 other rare earths, the administration official said. REUTERS