Deep-sea Regulators Condemn Miner’s Bid to Seek Trump Approval

International regulators on Friday condemned a seabed mining company’s move to circumvent their authority by seeking the Trump administration’s approval to extract critical minerals from untouched ocean ecosystems.

The Metals Company (TMC) on Thursday said it had initiated a process to obtain a US government license to mine metals used in green technologies from a region of the Pacific Ocean controlled by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the United Nations-affiliated organization that regulates the exploitation of the deep sea. The announcement came as ISA delegates were meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, to draft rules for how companies should go about mining ...