Companies join a deep-sea mining rush after Trump executive order, as regulators fast-track permits [View all]

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://apnews.com/article/trump-deepsea-mining-executive-orders-oceans-environment-399faab6fc32922b4c533d3bad9c1ca5

By HELEN WIEFFERING
Updated 8:48 AM EDT, May 21, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the year since President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to create a deep-sea mining industry from scratch, businesses have raised millions of dollars from investors, stock prices have soared and federal regulators have raced to fast-track a permitting process.

At least nine companies are in talks with the government for access to seabed minerals, according to an Associated Press review. Sections of the seafloor from American Samoa to Alaska could be auctioned for offshore mining this summer and through the fall.

All the action suggests the U.S. may soon give the green light for companies to commercially mine the seabed — something that’s never been done in international waters.

But a close look at some of the companies involved reveals uncertain track records and histories spattered with legal disputes, while major questions about how the minerals would be processed and refined remain unanswered. Watchers of the nascent industry are skeptical the promised riches will ever materialize.

…