Deep-sea mining is unregulated. Some want to forge ahead anyway

Published August 11, 2025 at 8:23 AM EDT

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A photo taken on June 11, 2025 on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands shows polymetallic nodules, bulbous lumps of rock that are rich in battery metals such as cobalt and nickel which carpet huge tracts of Pacific Ocean seabed.

The Trump administration announced this past week that it has entered talks with the Cook Islands to research and develop seabed mineral resources.

The Polynesian archipelago is one of only a handful of countries worldwide that has begun permitting this type of exploration, called deep-sea mining.

Deep-sea mining is not regulated. There's no blueprint for how to do it safely, or responsibly. Which is why, for the last decade, the UN's International Seabed Authority has worked to draw up regulations.

But President Trump — and one Canadian company — have posed a question: Why wait?

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