US pushes deep‑sea mining of critical minerals from seawater

The United States is accelerating efforts to harvest critical minerals from the ocean. American Ocean Minerals Corp. is merging with Nasdaq‑listed Odyssey Marine Exploration in an all‑stock deal valuing the combined deep‑sea platform at roughly $1 billion, creating one of the largest US‑controlled critical‑minerals enterprises. The merged group aims to develop assets in the Cook Islands and other Pacific licences, while a fleet of autonomous HUGIN submersibles has already captured more than 600,000 m² of high‑definition seafloor imagery at depths beyond 5,000 m.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has demonstrated a modular co‑flow reactor that extracts magnesium hydroxide directly from seawater, a process that could be paired with existing desalination plants to produce up to 1.16 million lb of magnesium hydroxide daily. The same technology targets lithium, manganese, cobalt, nickel and rare‑earth elements, with by‑products such as acids that outperform commercial alternatives for metal leaching. The U.S. Department of Energy is backing the work, and a 2025 executive order and revised Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act have sharpened the regulatory landscape. These developments are driven by a strategic aim to diversify supply away from China and to secure sources for batteries, electric drivetrains, grid infrastructure and advanced alloys.