The risks of U.S. deep-sea mining

As demand for critical minerals surges amid fears of overreliance on Chinese supplies, the United States has begun taking steps to secure access to the vast stores of minerals on the seabed. With international negotiations on seabed mining under the International Seabed Authority (ISA) stalled, Washington’s push to fast-track deep-sea mining under U.S. law has found support among private firms eager to begin mining. But if Washington isn’t careful, its dive into deep-sea mining risks undermining the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and creating opportunities for China and others to bend, break, and remake the rules of the sea to their benefit—at the expense of international peace and security.

The ISA, created by Part XI of UNCLOS and a 1994 implementing agreement to regulate seabed mineral-related activities in international waters, concluded its thirtieth annual session in Kingston, Jamaica, on July 25 without much to show for it. Despite mounting pressure to finalize a mining code that would allow commercial extraction, the ISA Council again failed to reach consensus, delaying potential adoption to 2026 at the earliest. The delays stem not just from bureaucratic inertia but also from principled opposition: 38 countries have declared support for a moratorium on seabed mining pending further study of the environmental consequences.

While the rest of the world debates, the Trump administration is taking steps toward mining on the high seas under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. Passed in 1980, before UNCLOS negotiations had concluded, the act has been unused since 1984, when the United States issued four exploration licenses in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a mineral-rich high-seas area in the Pacific.

Read more at Center for Strategic and International Studies