Trump's critical minerals drive the way for a gold rush with deep sea

The critical mineral drive by US President Donald Trump will pave the way for a gold rush on the sea floor.

The Trump government, which counteracted the mineral dominance in April, signed a comprehensive arrangement of the executive in April in order to pursue the deep-sea mining in the USA and international waters too quickly.

The step is intended to help private companies access billions of tons of potato sizes known as polymetallic nodules that are rich in strategically important minerals.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a government agency, seemed to be welcoming Trump's announcement. The executive order rings “the next gold rush” and lays the reason for “a flourishing domestic manufacturing industry”.

Washington one-sided support for deep-sea mining is considered very controversial, with critics pointing legal and ecological concerns. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Trump's executive order and said it violated “international law” and “harms the collective interests of the international community”.

Thinking about the current score of the industry, The Metals Company (Tmc) CEO Gerard Barron said: “It will be lively.”

TMC quickly followed Trump's executive order by requesting a commercial license to reduce the sea floor. When approved, the company listed by NASDAQ could be the first sea floor mining company that receives a license to use minerals in international waters.

“The only thing that offers this administration is a certain certainty in the direction of it, and I think the only problem with which we are always confronted is the regulatory certainty – and this is not available at ISA. But it is plentiful in the USA,” Barron told CNBC by video call.

In response to TMC's request to a license to muzzle the US Inland Act, the International Sea Lobas Authority (ISA) said a little-known UN regulatory authority, which supervises deep-sea mountain construction, the only legal authority to regulate marine floor reduction activities in international waters.

And while companies “free to express their views”, the ISA warned that every attempt to avoid this process “” would represent a violation of international law “.

For a long time, ISA negotiators have tried to develop a rule book to regulate the exploitation and extraction of polymetallic nodes and other deposits on the sea floor – before mining activities begin.

ISA General Secretary Leticia Carvalho told CNBC last year that it was possible for the Member States to agree on any form of regulation by the end of 2025.

Barron from TMC contested the Isa schedule for a mining code and said that there is no chance of an international agreement this year. He described the investor interest according to Trump's executive order as “like night and day” for the company, with TMC currently increasing efforts to prepare production.

“We are believers. We were confident that we would solve them at some point. But investors' interest since the executive regulation was phenomenal,” said Barron.

In the practice of deep-sea mining, machines are used to remove minerals and metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese from the sea floor. The final use of these minerals is far-reaching and includes applications for the defense and green technologyectors.

In fact, in addition to increasing the security and manufacturing of supply chain security and manufacturing, marine floor reduction could help to reduce the trust of large mining operations on land.

In the meantime, scientists have warned that the full environmental impact of marine floor reduction is difficult to predict, while environmental campaign groups say that practice cannot be carried out sustainably.

Barron of TMC, who recently testified at a hearing of the US congress, said that the company intended to submit an environmental impact declaration to the regulatory authority, and found that it “clearly indicates that we can do this safely and that the effects can minimize”.

“What people have missed is that there is no chance that this will not happen,” said Barron. He added that the company is confident that it will be given permission to commercially dismantle the sea floor before the end of the year.

Maria Jose (Majo) Valverde, analyst of biodiversity and sustainability at Eurasien Group, a political risk extension, said the support of the USA for deep-sea mining could have profound geopolitical effects.

“I think this order will shake the geopolitical board game. The United States has already managed this in the climate room by leaving the Paris Agreement, and I think this now leads to larger environmental processes,” said Valverde.

In particular, Trump's Executive Order could encourage the ISA member states to finally achieve a contract to formalize a mining code, said Valverde, especially in view of the fact that the UN was now effectively drawn to avoid race on the ground of the ocean.

“If the United States pursues this strategy” alone “alone, other countries can, for example, coordinate to either avoid the purchase of US minerals or to negotiate cheaper business among themselves -especially China because they are really active in the ISA negotiations,” said Valverde.

Trump's Executive Order “has expanded the panorama of the options that the countries could pursue, especially now that multilateralism is eroded and that we are in a G-Zero environment in which countries only look in their own garden and they will be more creative with regard to what they are ready to take into account,” she added.

Danielle Fugere, President and Chief Counsel at AS You Sow, a shareholder adjustment group, said that the non -profit organization was “deeply concerned” by Trump's executive regulation.

“Whatever the United States, there must be a regulatory review. In order for Trump to give an executive regulation that demands that we are driving it up immediately – that is problematic,” Fugere told CNBC by video call.

“I think this creates a storm. China says that this is illegal and that the law of the sea should rule deep sea resources that should benefit all of humanity, and that the law of the sea is actually necessary. However, the United States is justified that it is justified to loot the resources for deep sea,” she added.

Of course, the United States is one of the few countries that have not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Sea Act.

While sowing that supports a deep-sea mining moratorium, Trump's command means that ISA member states are now under strong pressure to find a regulatory framework for this, how-to-low mining should go forward.

“We are very concerned about this executive regulation and the effects that you have on these organisms, these resources and fishing countries that rely on the oceans for their livelihood,” said Fugere.