A Canadian company announced it is in talks with the Trump administration to apply for permits to mine critical minerals in international waters under U.S. law, which a United Nations body working to finalize global regulations for the industry warned Friday could violate international law.
Gerard Barron, chair and CEO of the Metals Co., said the company had conducted “extensive legal review and constructive engagement” with Trump administration officials and determined that the 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act represents the most “stable, transparent and enforceable regulatory path” toward commercial operations.
“The United States has had the legal framework and regulations for issuing exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits for deep seabed minerals in international waters in place since the 1980s,” Barron said on an earnings call Thursday. “Now, there is political will to put existing authorities to use.”
The International Seabed Authority, which has sole authority over mining operations in international waters under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, has been negotiating a set of global regulations for the industry for years.
