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THU, 12 NOV · 87 ITEMS
"US companies apply to explore deep-sea mining near Pacific island states" — Mongabay · Humanitarian & Biosphere
Single sourceTwo US companies have formally applied to the US government for licenses to explore deep-sea mining in international waters bordering Pacific island states. The applications, filed under a 1980 US law that bypasses the UN's International Seabed Authority, target areas rich in —potato-sized rocks containing metals like cobalt, nickel, and manganese used in batteries. This move challenges the existing UN-led governance framework for seabed mining beyond national jurisdictions and escalates a broader push by the Trump administration to open the Pacific seabed for mineral extraction.
The claim is based on a Mongabay article that cites the applications, but the piece itself is a secondary report without a direct link to the actual application documents or a named primary source (e.g., the companies' filings or a US government notice). The search results confirm the story's broad outlines—TMC USA Inc. and American Deep Sea Minerals have submitted applications under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act—but the exact details of which two companies and the precise areas remain somewhat inferred from multiple sources rather than a single authoritative primary document. The claim is plausible and consistent with known events, but its solidity rests on journalistic aggregation rather than direct verification of the filings.
The news is genuinely new, published on November 10–11, 2026, and reflects the latest development in a fast-moving story about US deep-sea mining applications that began earlier in 2026.