Experts alarmed over Trump’s promotion of deep-sea mining in international waters

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In 2013, a deep-sea mining company named UK Seabed Resources contracted marine biologist Diva Amon and other scientists from the University of Hawaii at Manoa to survey a section of the seafloor in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a vast swath of international waters located in the Pacific Ocean that spans around 2 million square miles between Hawaii and Mexico.

The area is known to have an abundant supply of rocky deposits the size of potatoes called polymetallic nodules. They are rich in metals like nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese, which have historically been used to make batteries and electric vehicles.

Someday, the company envisioned it might profit from mining them. But first it wanted to know more about the largely unexplored abyssal environment where they were found, Amon said.

Using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with cameras and lights, she began documenting life 2.5 miles deep.

On one of the robot’s first dives, an anemone-like creature with 8-foot-long billowing tentacles appeared about two feet above the seabed. It was attached to the stem of a sea sponge anchored on one of the valuable nodules.

Amon was overwhelmed with excitement. It was likely a new species, she said. She also felt a sense of grief. “Here was this incredibly beautiful animal,” she said, “that no one has likely ever seen before.” And they might not ever again. “I feel this immense sadness at the potential that this place that we have come to survey may be mined and essentially destroyed in the future,” she remembers thinking at that moment.

Now, more than a decade later, Amon worries her fears may be coming to fruition.

“The next gold rush”

On April 24, President Trump signed an executive order promoting deep-sea mining in the US and international waters, touting the industry’s potential to boost the country’s economic growth and national security.

“These resources are key to strengthening our economy, securing our energy future, and reducing dependence on foreign suppliers for critical minerals,” the order states.

In an online post last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) described the political move as a step towards paving the way for “The Next Gold Rush,” stating: “Critical minerals are used in everything from defense systems and batteries to smartphones and medical devices. Access to these minerals is a key factor in the health and resilience of US supply chains.”