U.S. Issues Unilateral Deep-Sea Mining Permit, Sparking International Legal Dispute

This week NOAA placed The Metals Company's consolidated request for an exploration license and commercial recovery permit in the Federal Register, covering roughly 65,000 km² of Pacific seabed rich in battery-grade mineral nodules. Two days later the agency began an environmental review for an additional 122,000 km² area, together containing an estimated 1.6 billion metric tons of nickel-, cobalt-, manganese- and copper-bearing rock.

The permits are issued under the 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, a statute that has rarely been used and is not recognized by the International Seabed Authority, which maintains that only it can authorize mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an international-water region between Hawaii and Mexico. The Metals Company, backed by Pacific island sponsors Nauru, Tonga and Kiribati, shifted to the U.S. pathway after the ISA failed to finalize its rulebook, prompting concerns that benefit-sharing obligations to the island states are being bypassed.

China and France have condemned the move as a breach of international law, while the U.S. cites national security and supply-chain needs for battery metals as justification, even exploring stockpiling options under the Defense Production Act. The controversy highlights a broader contest over control of the ocean floor’s mineral wealth and its implications for the global energy transition.