US seabed mining applications expand across Pacific high seas

The story in brief

What you need to know

• Mongabay identified about a dozen applications from at least seven companies since April 2025. Nine appeared active when its report was published on 20 October 2026, with seven active applications seeking areas in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ).1
• Mongabay estimates that applications in the CCZ, combined with existing Lockheed Martin exploration licences there, could total 962,634 km² if all applications were approved without revision. The report says this would be equivalent to about half the seabed in the zone overseen by the ISA for mining purposes. It is an estimate of proposed and existing areas, not an approved mining footprint.1
• The ISA's environmental management plan identifies 13 areas of particular environmental interest in the CCZ that are protected from deep-seabed mining. Mongabay's analysis found overlaps between US applicants, ISA contract areas and ISA-reserved areas.16
• The US has a domestic process under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. NOAA reviews applications through multiple steps before a licence or commercial recovery permit is issued; an application alone does not grant permission to mine.2
• A 24 April 2025 executive order directs US agencies to expedite reviews of seabed exploration licences and commercial recovery permits, including for areas beyond national jurisdiction. The ISA says it has the exclusive mandate to regulate mineral-related activities in the international seabed area under UNCLOS, while the US uses its domestic statutory process.452

Conservation context

Why this matters

The scale and overlap of proposed claims raise questions about how applications would be assessed against existing contracts and protected areas. The ecological effects of future commercial mining are not established by the applications, but conservation advocates cited by Mongabay warn of serious harm to poorly understood deep-sea ecosystems.16

The developing story

What happens next

NOAA's update on The Metals Company USA's application said it had met information requirements to proceed to further review. Certification would not itself grant a licence, and environmental review would follow if the application were certified. The reporting does not establish which applications will ultimately be certified or permitted.3

Established evidence

What we know

• Mongabay's report describes a growing set of US company applications and identifies the CCZ as a focus of activity.1
• Some proposed areas overlap with other applicants' areas, ISA contract areas or ISA-reserved areas, according to Mongabay's analysis.1
• The CCZ environmental management plan identifies 13 protected areas of particular environmental interest.6
• The US and ISA processes are distinct, and the sources reviewed do not establish that commercial mining has begun.251

Open questions

What we don't know

• How NOAA will assess applications that overlap with ISA contract areas, reserved areas or protected areas is unresolved in the reporting.126
• The sources do not establish which applications will be certified or granted licences and commercial recovery permits, or what environmental review and conditions would apply.23
• The legal status of any unilateral US authorisation for activity in international waters is contested. The sources describe different positions on the authority to regulate such activity.125
• The ecological effects of commercial mining in the proposed areas, including effects beyond mined blocks, are not established by the applications or the reporting reviewed.13

Source coverage

Read the reporting