Critical minerals are the new oil: everyone needs them, but not every country has them. This has led some to seek them out in some pretty wild places. And few places are as strange as the depths of the ocean.
But deep-sea mining appears poised to get a boost from the incoming Trump administration, according to The Wall Street Journal. A string of candidates have all previously said they support the practice, which typically involves scavenging egg-like rocks known as nodules from the ocean floor.
Nodules are composed of a variety of minerals, depending on where they are located. Mining companies can recover copper, nickel, cobalt and other minerals, all vital to data centers and the energy transition.
But deep sea mining is controversial. Life thousands of meters below sea level tends to be slow growing and fragile. Even small breaks in the ocean floor can persist for decades, and scientists worry that plumes of sediment from mining companies’ vacuums will leave scars that, over human time, may never heal.
Removing the nodules can also threaten life in the deep sea: Since light doesn’t reach the depths to drive photosynthesis, organisms depend on other sources of energy and oxygen, from geothermal vents to the nodules themselves.
However, the value of these minerals and their presence in international waters has made some countries salivate over the prospect. The International Seabed Authority, a UN organization, is charged with regulating deep-sea mining in international waters and recently received a permit application from The Metals Company, an American company that is working with the Republic of Naurut, a poor island in the south. Peaceful. Other countries, including the UK, Canada and France, have called for a ban on the practice.
Given the international focus of deep-sea mining, two Trump administration candidates stand out, Elise Stefanik and Marco Rubio. Stefanik is Trump’s choice for ambassador to the UN and Rubio is expected to head the State Department. Ultimately, they will be the ones negotiating with other countries to determine how to regulate deep-sea mining.
Despite the favorable political environment, deep sea mining still has some troubled waters ahead. Battery manufacturers have begun to avoid expensive minerals such as nickel and cobalt. If the trend continues, it could reduce demand and drag down prices, hurting the sector’s profitability.
