On Thursday, a company revealed that it had restricted a UN treaty with the Trump administration and that it had revealed Thursday that a company had been secretly negotiating a plan, an unexpected fight, was an unexpected fight, when it was revealed that it had been secretly negotiating a plan.
The proposal sparked protests from environmental groups and diplomats from certain countries, representing a radical shift in the controversial debate over deposits on deposits of copper, cobalt, manganese and other metals needed for electric vehicle batteries on the seaboard.
Thirty years ago, the International Seabed Authority, established by agreements approved by more than 160 countries, had jurisdiction over seabed mining in international waters outside the coastal areas of each country.
The Seabed Authority has been slowly developing regulations on mining, which remains highly controversial, as the potential impact of industrial activities on marine life is unclear.
Now that the Trump administration has expressed its desire to retake the Panama Canal and assume control of Greenland, the Vancouver-based metal company ignored the Seabed Authority’s nudging and granted it a license to start mining in 2027.
Metals CEO Gerard Barron announced the maneuver Thursday because it was clear that the Seabed Authority could also complete mining regulations for several years.
Contractors from countries including China, India, South Korea, Japan and Poland also carried out exploratory work in international waters under the permission of the Seabed Authority, but have not yet allowed them to start large-scale mining.
The metals company’s application will come from a subsidiary of the company in the next few months and will use ships registered in the United States. The company will send a giant vacuum cleaner-like machine on the 2.5 miles of seabed underwater to absorb potato-sized rocks filled with metal.
Mr Barron said executives have met with Trump administration officials to facilitate their plans, which also requires permission from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“The United States has a legal framework and regulations for issuing exploration permits and commercial recycling permits in international waters,” Barron said Thursday. “There is now a political will to use existing authorities for use.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrived Thursday night and could not say whether the Trump administration agreed to the metals proposal and forwarded the reporter to his staff. Agency officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Publicly traded metal companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on exploratory work in the Pacific, a region known as the Clarion Clipperton district, a remote area between Mexico and Hawaii. Its recent annual report shows that it is almost a cash and lending authority with only reserves of only $43 million. “We are moving forward urgently,” the company said.
In January, Brazilian oceanographer Leticia Carvalho, who was skeptical about the submarine mining industry, became secretary-general of the Seabed Authority, suggesting that the final regulations could be delayed longer.
More than 160 countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which created the International Maritime Floor Authority and granted it the right to decide on seabed mining.
But the United States has never signed the treaty. This prompted metal companies to lobby the Trump administration and members of Congress to believe that the United States is free to mine international waters because it is not a party to the treaty.
According to the two people involved in the discussion who spoke on anonymously, the draft is now announcing the signing of the executive order President Trump’s president, which will direct his administration to continue the plan.
The Trump administration said that even if it means making new international claims, it hopes to gain greater opportunities even in the so-called critical minerals needed for manufacturing in the United States.
Lutnick expressed widespread support for seabed mining at the confirmation hearing, although he did not say whether the United States would defy the Seabed Administration.
“It’s important for U.S. national security, we created our own major rare earth minerals,” Lutnik said at the confirmation hearing. “Luckily, we have the greatest land in the world, under our oceans, other places we don’t have on the land. We need to harvest it, we need to understand it, we need to take care of the United States. We can.”
A briefing document made by the Metals and obtained by The New York Times stated that Mr. Lutnik was the chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, the company’s chief banker, before he became Commerce Secretary. The metal company also noted that its plans “have strong support from influential members of Republican-controlled Congress.”
But even the idea that the U.S. might be considering such a move has caused anger from environmentalists and some countries.
At least 30 countries from Austria to New Zealand have called for delays at the start of subsea mining, believing that it would cause widespread harm to aquatic organisms and the environment, and that it is not well understood.
“It’s a desperate but very dangerous move,” said Louisa Casson, organizer of Greenpeace, an environmental group trying to stop submarine mining. “This may be a negotiating strategy to try to force armed authority at altitude.”
Mr Barron noted that extensive research funded by his company found that seabed mining has less environmental impact than open pits or underground mining.
More than a dozen diplomats who are expected to represent their country at a working meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, are expected to meet on Friday to decide how to deal with the mining company’s plans.
“This seems like a totally inappropriate move by metal companies,” said Georgina Maria Guillen Grillo, a representative for Costa Rica. “They have been urging us to do the regulations when they don’t seem to be really concerned about complying with legal obligations under international law.”
