This photo provided by NOAA shows a field of manganese nodules in deep waters off of Hawaii during the Hohonu Moana (deep water) expedition in 2015. (NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research via AP)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-05-21T11:07:06Z<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 In the year since President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to create a deep-sea mining industry from scratch, businesses have raised millions of dollars from investors, stock prices have soared and federal regulators have raced to fast-track a permitting process.<\/p>\n
At least nine companies are in talks with the government for access to seabed minerals, according to an Associated Press review<\/a><\/span>. Sections of the seafloor from American Samoa to Alaska could be auctioned for offshore mining this summer and through the fall.<\/p>\n All the action suggests the U.S. may soon give the green light for companies to commercially mine the seabed \u2014 something that\u2019s never been done in international waters.<\/p>\n But a close look at some of the companies involved reveals uncertain track records and histories spattered with legal disputes, while major questions about how the minerals would be processed and refined remain unanswered. Watchers of the nascent industry are skeptical the promised riches will ever materialize.<\/p>\n The most widely prized ores on the seafloor are fist-shaped rocks known as polymetallic nodules, formed over millions of years from the remains of sunken shark teeth and shells. They contain high grades of manganese, copper, nickel and cobalt, and some rare earth elements. Trillions of nodules lie on the international seabed between Mexico and Hawaii, scientists say.<\/p>\n Nearer to shore, companies have proposed dredging ocean sands for titanium, zirconium and phosphorites.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s April 2025 executive order<\/a><\/span> hailed seafloor minerals as vital to America\u2019s future prosperity and its trade independence from China, and directed U.S. agencies to expedite permitting.<\/p>\n Two U.S. agencies will enforce rules: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. NOAA has never approved a commercial project for seabed mining; nor has BOEM, beyond a short-lived mining effort in California waters more than 60 years ago.<\/p>\nWhat kinds of minerals are in the deep sea?<\/h2>\n
How is the Trump administration promoting deep-sea mining?<\/h2>\n