Wealth beneath the waves: US takes a step toward promoting deep-sea mining amid concerns in the Pacific

By Jayvee Vallejera

Around 16,404 feet beneath the northern Pacific Ocean, the whole seabed—stretching around 4,500 miles from east to west—is littered with potato-sized chunks of what look like charcoal lumps called polymetallic nodules.

Rich in metals such as manganese, cobalt and other elements needed to power cell phones and electric cars, these nodules have long been targets of deep-sea mining companies as a source of rare-earth minerals for high-tech batteries.

New research shows that these valuable nodules also produce what is  known as “dark oxygen,” upending the long-held scientific belief that oxygen production requires sunlight for a process called photosynthesis.

“This is a totally new and unexpected finding,” said Lisa Levin, an emeritus professor of biological oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, as quoted in Scientific American.

The discovery didn’t happen overnight. It took several tests and underwater expeditions to find out how it happens.  According to the Scientific American article, the nodules are somehow acting as natural geobatteries.

It is believed that, as metals are deposited in the nodules over millions of years, they become electrically charged and are able to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called seawater electrolysis, bypassing the need for sunlight to create oxygen.

It was long believed that trees, plants and weeds need sunlight to produce oxygen, even underwater plants rely on sunlight for this process. However, this new research shows that oxygen is also being generated in the abyssal plain—the perpetually dark depths of the ocean—thanks to these seabed nodules.

First observed in 2013 in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, the phenomenon seemed so preposterous that ocean scientist Andrew Sweetman believed his monitoring equipment was malfunctioning, according to a CNN report.

“Sensor readings seemed to show that oxygen was being made on the seabed 4,000 meters (about 13,100 feet) below the surface, where no light can penetrate. The same thing happened on three subsequent voyages to a region known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone,” the CNN report stated.

The zone, located beneath the northern Pacific Ocean, measures about 1.7 million sq.mi., a little over half the size of the continental United States.

This issue comes to the forefront as American Samoa is now working to jumpstart efforts to become a potential supplier of in-demand battery minerals, aiming to supplement its fishing economy.

The American Samoa Economic Development Council is collaborating with California-based Impossible Metals Inc. to conduct deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules in American Samoa’s waters and process them into battery-grade metals.  The council has drafted a public-private partnership with the American Samoan government. If approved, the agreement would facilitate the mineral exploration and extraction protocols in the waters around the U.S. territory.

On May 21, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved Impossible Metals’ request to begin the leasing process for deep-sea mineral exploration off the coast of American Samoa.

This comes amid outcry from environmental groups and advocates over an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump in April this year aimed at jump-starting deep-sea mining in U.S. and international waters, to counter China’s dominance in critical mineral supply chains.  The order, according to the White House, is designed “to counter China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources.”

“The United States has a core national security and economic interest in maintaining leadership in deep-sea science and technology and seabed mineral resources,” Trump said in the executive order mandating federal agencies to expedite permits for seabed mining.

The presidential directive was followed by The Metals Company’s announcement about its plans to apply for seabed exploration and commercial recovery permits under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act of 1980, the law on which Trump based his executive order.

“These developments could undermine international law, commitments to peaceful use of the area and environmental protections. But, as one of us has argued, it could also sideline TMC’s Pacific partners. Nauru and Tonga are currently sponsoring TMC’s activities in the area, but it’s not clear  what’s in it for them if TMC secures a permit for seabed mining under U.S. law,” Nicholas

Bainton and Philippa Louey wrote in an article posted on Devpolicy.org.

Bainton is an associate professor at the Australian National University, and Louey is a research fellow at the university's Pacific Security College.

“As worrying as this is, it’s only one side of the coin. Trump’s executive order aims to position the U.S. as the partner of choice for countries developing seabed minerals in their exclusive economic zones,” Bainton and Louey wrote.

They noted that since the 1970s, several Pacific island countries have been exploring the possibility of deep-sea mining in their domestic waters, but the regulatory seascape remains irregular.

“Currently, only seven countries have seabed minerals legislation (but not all of them have active DSM programs), while none have finalised a DSM policy. The remaining countries have either developed draft policies and rules or the process has simply stalled,” the authors said.

They noted that only the Cook Islands and Nauru have operationalized a regulatory authority. “In every other country, this work has gotten stuck or been farmed out to other departments with other responsibilities, with major implications for regulatory capacity,” Bainton and Louey said.

Alongside the Cook Islands, Tonga, Nauru and Kiribati hold exploration contracts with industry and face tough choices between pursuing economic growth and preserving the environment—balancing immediate needs against long-term sustainability.

Deep-sea mining, however, is generally frowned upon in the Pacific island region. Currently, 32 countries have endorsed a moratorium on deep-sea mining, including Tuvalu, Palau, the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Vanuatu and Samoa.

The environmental group Greenpeace has slammed The Metals Company, a Canadian firm, for attempting to bypass procedures at the International Seabed Authority by pursuing a mining license through the U.S. mining code.

“The move was deceitful for governments in the Pacific with whom it had promised to work, but not surprising and completely on-brand for predatory, extractive industries like wannabe deep-sea miners,” said Juressa Lee, spokesperson for Greenpeace Aotearoa.

“The people of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga have been subjected to propaganda promising jobs, economic prosperity and false climate solutions, but all along TMC has only ever been driven by one thing: to fill its own pockets with dirty money at the expense of Pacific peoples and the deep ocean.”

When it comes to protecting the ocean, Lee said, the Pacific islanders have always been leaders on the world stage. “Any discussion and decision-making on the future of the ocean must center on the rights of Indigenous Pacific communities and be led by their lived experiences and Indigenous knowledge systems, as the first custodians of the moana. The Pacific Ocean requires it, and our governments must act on it.” (With additional reports from Mar-Vic Cagurangan)