US deep‑sea mining for critical minerals

In mid‑July 2026 the United States intensified its push for offshore extraction of critical minerals. A merger between American Ocean Minerals Corp. and Odyssey Marine Exploration created a billion‑dollar, US‑controlled deep‑sea mining entity targeting assets in the Cook Islands and other Pacific licences. The combined firm has already gathered extensive seafloor imagery using autonomous HUGIN submersibles, while a DOE‑backed modular reactor at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory demonstrated direct extraction of magnesium hydroxide from seawater and outlined pathways to harvest lithium, manganese, cobalt, nickel and rare‑earth elements.

A week later Deep Sea Minerals Corp. filed a formal proposal with the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium seeking approval to harvest polymetallic nodules from the Clarion‑Clipperton Zone for defense‑critical nickel. The proposal highlighted the strategic aim of reducing reliance on Indonesian and Chinese supply chains and argued that deep‑sea extraction could lower the environmental impact of traditional land mining, though it acknowledged potential long‑term seabed disturbance. Together, the snapshots illustrate a trajectory from corporate consolidation and technology validation toward targeted defence‑oriented mineral procurement plans.