Trump Considers Virginia Seabed for Critical Minerals Mining (1)

A Florida company wants to mine titanium, zirconium, and other critical minerals in the seabed off the coast of Virginia, and the Trump administration is beginning to consider the plan this week.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it’s considering Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc.'s unsolicited request to lease critical minerals and hold a lease sale, according to a Federal Register public inspection notice published Monday.

Tampa-based Odyssey submitted the request last November and said in a news release at the time that it is also seeking to mine rare earth elements and phosphate.

Odyssey is seeking to mine within a 2,764 square-mile area about 63 miles off the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula at a depth of up to 410 feet.

BOEM on Tuesday will open a 30-day public comment period about the impacts and benefits of opening Virginia’s Outer Continental Shelf to seabed mining.

If the Trump administration holds the lease sale and permits Odyssey’s mining operation, it would be among the first on the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). BOEM is considering Odyssey’s request for a lease sale under President Donald Trump’s executive orders prioritizing critical minerals mining across the US and offshore, including his 2025 energy emergency declaration.

The bureau is in the process of rolling back regulations limiting ocean mining on the outer continental shelf, including hard minerals. It proposed the rollbacks in February, but they have not yet been finalized.

BOEM didn’t respond to specific questions about the proposal Monday, but said in a news release that initial exploration will not involve permanent structures and its impact will be similar to beach renourishment projects common on the East Coast.

“Virginia’s offshore mineral resources present a pathway to lessen foreign dependence and reinforce America’s strategic position by establishing secure domestic supply chains,” BOEM Acting Director Matt Giacona said in the statement.

“This request is designed to identify locations where responsible marine minerals development can advance innovation, support production growth, and sustain future progress,” he said.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum last year identified 43 critical minerals found on the outer continental shelf, according to the notice.

Odyssey is planning to evaluate heavy mineral sands as part of its proposal, spokeswoman Liz Shows said. “If the project advances to recovery, operations will utilize shallow-water dredging,” she said in a statement Monday.

The company said in November that it’s seeking to mine minerals essential to national defense, manufacturing, and food security.

“We’re seeing unprecedented momentum and funding from the U.S. government to advance projects that strengthen our critical mineral supply chains,” Odyssey CEO Mark Gordon said in the November statement. “Specifically, the U.S. is focused on developing ocean resources.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, said seabed mining will harm wildlife in ways scientists don’t fully understand.

“We know it takes decades for life at the bottom of the ocean to recover from even the most basic disruptions,” Rachel Mathews, a senior attorney at the Center, said in a statement. “Mining damage could ripple out to marine life at all depths, harming sturgeon, sea turtles and North Atlantic right whales and hurting the Commonwealth’s coastal economy. There’s way too much risk to move forward with this plan.”