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.
The startup Impossible Metals has set its sights on seafloor nodules in U.S. waters near American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, despite growing outcry from local residents and leaders. The company boasts of being the most environmentally friendly deep-sea mining company.
Still other companies are lining up for U.S. permission, including American Metal Resources, SeaX, Deep Sea Minerals Corp., and Deep Sea Rare Minerals, which planned to change its name to Eco Minerals this week.
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