After Trump pledged to open international waters to mining, The Metals Company sought U.S. permits. But other countries are raising legal concerns.
Two months ago, President Trump took an extraordinary step toward issuing permits to mine vast tracts of the ocean floor in international waters where valuable minerals are abundant.
It was a boon to The Metals Company, an ambitious start-up that had already spent more than half a billion dollars preparing to become the world’s first commercial seabed miner. Within days of Trump’s executive order, the company submitted its application to the federal government.
As a result, some of the company’s international partners are now questioning their relationships with The Metals Company. Trump’s order conflicts with a longstanding treaty known as the Law of the Sea, potentially exposing them to legal risks.
The issue with The Metals Company’s seabed-mining application is that nearly every country in the world, but not the United States, has signed the Law of the Sea treaty. Its language is clear: Mining in areas outside a country’s territorial waters before nations agree on how to handle the practice is not just a breach of international law, but it is also an affront to “the common heritage of mankind.”
In May, a Japanese firm that The Metals Company has partnered with in the past to process minerals from seabed-mining test runs, said it was “carefully discussing the matter with T.M.C.,” citing the importance of doing business with companies “via a route that has earned international credibility.”
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