The Trump administration could give a boost to deep-sea mining for critical minerals

Critical minerals are the new oil: everyone needs them, but not all countries have them. This has led some to look for them in some pretty wild places. And few places are as extravagant as the deep ocean.

But the deep sea mine appears poised to get a boost from the incoming Trump administrationaccording to the Wall Street Journal. A number of candidates have previously said they support the practice, which usually involves vacuuming up egg-like rocks known as nodules from the ocean floor.

Nodules are made up of a variety of minerals, depending on where they are found. Mining companies can recover copper, nickel, cobalt and other minerals all vital to data centers and the energy transition.

But deep sea mining is controversial. Life thousands of feet below sea level tends to be slow and fragile. Even small disruptions to the ocean floor can persist for decades, and scientists are concerned that plumes of sediment from the vacuums of mining companies will leave scars that, on a human time scale, they may never recover from .

Removing the nodules can also threaten deep-sea life: Since light does not reach the depths to drive photosynthesis, organisms depend on other sources of energy and oxygen, from geothermal winds to the nodules themselves.

However, the value of those minerals and their presence in international waters has some countries salivating at the prospect. The International Seabed Authority, a UN organization, is responsible for regulating deep-water mining in international waters, and recently received a permit application from The Metals Company, a US company which works with the Republic of Nauru, an impoverished island in the South. Pacific. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and France, have called for a ban on the practice.

In view of the international attention of deep sea mining, two candidates of the Trump administration stand out, Elise Stefanik and Marco Rubio. Stefanik is Trump’s pick for UN ambassador, and Rubio is expected to head the State Department. Ultimately, they will be the ones negotiating with other countries to determine how to regulate deep sea mining.

Despite the favorable political environment, deep sea mining still has some rough waters ahead. Battery manufacturers have started to shy away from expensive minerals like nickel and cobalt. If the trend continues, it could depress demand and drag down prices, undermining the profitability of the sector.