The Metals Company applied to the U.S. for a deep-sea mining license

||| FROM MONGABAY |||

Mere days after the Trump administration rolled out a controversial executive order directing the U.S. government to expedite the launch of deep-sea mining, The Metals Company (TMC) announced that it had applied for a license to mine the deep seabed. If approved, the Canadian firm, which is listed on the Nasdaq in New York, could become the first deep-sea mining company to obtain a license to exploit minerals in international waters. It would also be the first to do so under the self-declared authority of the U.S. Many experts say the move could not only violate international law, but also inflict immense, potentially irreversible damage on marine ecosystems.

In a statement released April 29, the company said its newly rebranded U.S. subsidiary, The Metals Company USA LLC (TMC USA), had submitted applications for a commercial recovery permit — in other words, an exploitation license — along with two exploration licenses. These applications fall under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA), a law Congress originally established in 1980, authorizing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a scientific and regulatory agency of the U.S. government, to issue mining permits under it.

According to TMC, its mining application focuses on a 25,160-square-kilometer (9,714-square-mile) area of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, that it refers to as “TMC USA-A_2.” The company said that this specific area includes parts where it has already “indicated and measured resources,” likely meaning that the area overlaps with one of TMC’s existing license areas obtained via the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-mandated body that regulates deep-sea mining in international waters. TMC currently holds two exploratory licenses via the ISA, covering 150,000 km2 (about 60,000 mi2) in the CCZ. The company planned to focus its initial mining operations on a 25,000-km2 (9,650-mi2) site called NORI-D in one of its license areas, targeting potato-shaped rocks called polymetallic nodules, which are rich in minerals like manganese, nickel, copper, and cobalt.

The Hidden Gem, a deep sea mining ship operated by The Metals Company, anchored in Mexico in 2023. Greenpeace activists climbed the vessel to protest its presence. Image by Ivan Castaneira / Greenpeace.

The company said its submission accelerates its original timeline, moving ahead of its previously stated goal to file a mining application with the ISA by June 27, 2025.

TMC did not respond to Mongabay’s questions about whether the proposed USA-A_2 area overlaps with NORI-D, or if it still intends to submit an application to the ISA.

The Trump administration signed an executive order on April 24 ordering the U.S. government to “accelerate” the nation’s seabed mineral industry, and to “expedite the process for reviewing and issuing seabed mineral exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits” in international waters, beyond the jurisdiction of the U.S, and also within territorial waters in the U.S. EEZ. Another deep-sea mining firm, Impossible Metals, which has offices in the U.S., Canada, and Saudi Arabia, announced on April 15 that it would apply for a mining license via the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees mineral resources in territorial waters. The Trump administration’s order to launch the deep-sea mining industry is aimed at securing the nation’s hold on critical minerals and “counter[ing] China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources.”

“With this Executive Order, the President is paving the way for supply chain resilience and a thriving domestic manufacturing industry,” Erik Noble, principal deputy assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, said in a statement released April 25. “The United States will lead the world in deep sea mineral extraction, and NOAA is the tip of the spear as we partner with federal agencies and private industry to support the discovery and collection of critical minerals on the sea floor.”

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