U.S. Could Be Left in the Wake in Race to Mine the Sea Floor

A new breed of mining companies is rushing to claim what they say is the next frontier of mineral exploration: the bottom of the ocean.

But American entrepreneurs are largely staying on the sidelines of the new land rush. One reason could be the U.S. isn’t a member of the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a decades old international treaty, that among other things grants permits for mining in international waters.

President Bill Clinton signed the treaty in 1994, but the Senate has yet to ratify it. In ...