U.S. Plans to Advance Deep-Sea Mining Permits Within Months

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 14, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stated that the U.S. government aims to advance the issuance of deep-sea mining-related permits within the coming months to accelerate the development of critical mineral resources such as manganese, nickel, cobalt, and copper. The United States currently has two different approval pathways: mineral development on the outer continental shelf within U.S. national jurisdiction is handled by the Department of the Interior system; exploration licenses and commercial recovery licenses for U.S. companies in deep-sea areas beyond national jurisdiction are approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Department of Commerce pursuant to the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act.

NOAA is currently processing deep-sea mineral applications from companies such as The Metals Company USA. Among them, The Metals Company USA has submitted an application to review its exploration license and commercial recovery license together, with the relevant Federal Register notice published on August 19, a public comment period running until October 19, and an online public hearing scheduled for October 13. This is also the first deep-sea commercial recovery license application NOAA is reviewing.

Commercial recovery licenses and exploration licenses have different scopes of authority. Under NOAA rules, an exploration license allows U.S. companies to conduct surveys, research, and test mining in designated areas beyond national jurisdiction; a commercial recovery license allows companies to recover polymetallic nodules for sale or commercial use. The United States has not yet issued any commercial recovery license under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, and existing permits remain primarily exploration licenses.

The Metals Company USA's USA-B exploration application received NOAA completeness certification on May 26. On August 19, NOAA also initiated the environmental impact statement process for the application. If ultimately approved, the USA-B license could authorize the company to conduct deep-sea exploration for up to 10 years in designated areas beyond national jurisdiction, including vessel and autonomous underwater equipment operations, sonar surveys, and seabed sampling activities.

In addition to The Metals Company USA, companies such as American Deep Sea Minerals, American Metal Resources, and SeaX have also submitted deep-sea exploration license applications to NOAA. Among them, the public comment period for American Deep Sea Minerals ended in August; the applications of American Metal Resources and SeaX have respectively completed public comment collection and online hearings.

In U.S. waters under national jurisdiction, the Department of the Interior is responsible for outer continental shelf mineral leasing and development approval. In 2025, the Department of the Interior launched an assessment of potential mineral leasing areas offshore American Samoa, the first such offshore mineral leasing process initiated by the department in more than 30 years. In April 2026, the Department of the Interior began establishing the Office of Ocean Minerals Management, consolidating relevant functions from the former Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement into a unified offshore resource leasing, permitting, inspection, and environmental regulatory system.

The U.S. approval pathway and that of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) are independent of each other. The United States has not acceded to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, so U.S. companies may apply to NOAA under U.S. domestic law for exploration and commercial recovery licenses in areas beyond national jurisdiction; activities by states parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the international seabed area are managed by the ISA.