The U.S. Interior Department has proposed a lease of more than 31 million acres off the coast of American Samoa for seabed mining, part of President Donald Trump’s broader push to boost U.S. critical minerals production.
The waters around the Pacific Ocean territory are estimated to contain large amounts of potato-shaped rocks known as polymetallic nodules filled with the building blocks for electric vehicles, weaponry and electronics.
The department’s Marine Mineral Administration (MMA) said on Thursday it aims to lease two blocks, one of 16.3 million acres and the other 15.1 million acres, in federal waters off the eastern coast of Tau, one of the territory’s seven islands.
Last year, Trump signed an executive order aimed at boosting the industry to offset China’s control of minerals markets.
The MMA is proposing the auction for November 19 at BOEM’s offices in Camarillo, California. It will be closed to the public but livestreamed on MMA’s website. Minimum bids are $3 million.
Royalty rates would be 2% of the value of mineral production for the first five years and 5% thereafter.
Pulaali’i Nikolao Pula, American Samoa’s governor and an opponent of deep–sea mining, will have 60 days to respond to the proposed lease. The MMA will need to give a final notice of the lease sale in October.
Supporters of deep–sea mining say it would lessen the need for mining operations on land, which are often unpopular with host communities. Detractors say more research is needed to determine how the practice could affect ecosystems.
Matt Giacona, acting MMA director, said the proposed lease “is an important step toward building a secure domestic critical minerals supply chain.”
Oceana, a marine conservation organization, said the proposed lease “is yet another instance of this administration not only disregarding long-term damage to the environment but ignoring both science and the will of the people.”
(Reuters)
