BAN DEEP SEA MINING
Glomar Minerals targets deep-sea production before end of Trump term
This week, Glomar Minerals announced its wholly owned subsidiary UK Seabed Resources Limited (UKSR) departed from Tahiti for the Pacific Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) to survey its license area for polymetallic nodules.
Nodules found within the company’s two CCZ license areas – together the size of Louisiana – are rich in manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, and rare earths – minerals critical to defense, aerospace, energy, and modern manufacturing, Glomar said.
The campaign is the first comprehensive geological and biological survey of the UK2 license area in more than 40 years, the company said in a news release.
The 65-day campaign is being run with Earth Sciences New Zealand aboard the RV Tangaroa, which the company says is one of the most capable deep ocean research vessels in the world.
Glomar Minerals aims to begin processing polymetallic nodules before the end of US President Donald Trump’s term as it evaluates regulatory routes beyond the International Seabed Authority (ISA), chief executive Chris Williams told MINING.com in an interview.
The US seabed minerals company is looking at exclusive economic zones where it could launch a relatively small operation while the ISA continues negotiations over rules governing commercial mining in international waters.
“There’s a real question about whether there’ll be regulations at the ISA during that timeframe, so we are looking actively at other jurisdictions to see whether there is a faster regulatory path to production.”
The ISA has spent years trying to finalize its mining code and was still working through several outstanding regulatory issues during its July 2026 session. Its latest draft covers environmental protection, compliance, inspections and the financial terms that would apply to mining in international waters. The ISA released a third revision of the draft exploitation regulations in June..
Pacific campaign underway
Glomar owns UK Seabed Resources (UKSR), which holds two UK-sponsored exploration contracts covering about 133,000 sq. km in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a mineral-rich expanse of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico.
The company acquired UKSR from the bankruptcy estate of Norway’s Loke Marine Minerals in 2025. Lockheed Martin, which had previously owned UKSR, sold the subsidiary to Loke in 2023.
Williams managed Lockheed’s seabed minerals program from 2015 until the sale. He said Glomar’s licences cover the same areas he oversaw at the defence contractor.
UKSR has launched a 67-day expedition aboard the Earth Sciences New Zealand research vessel Tangaroa, including 45 days of active survey work.
Historical US data indicates that UK2 contains a potentially strong nodule resource, Williams said, although the licence remains at an earlier exploration stage than UK1.
“UK1 is really pretty far advanced,” he said. “It doesn’t require an enormous amount of work to be ready for an application for a production licence — or an exploitation contract, as it’s known at the International Seabed Authority.”
US processing plans
In March, Glomar and Australian critical minerals developer Cobalt Blue Holdings said they plan to build a US refinery to process critical minerals extracted from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean within three years, dubbed Project Infinity.
The modular facility is being designed to process about 200,000 tonnes of polymetallic nodules and 7,500 tonnes of terrestrial cobalt hydroxide annually. Its proposed flowsheet would produce manganese, cobalt sulphate, nickel and copper, as well as a rare-earth-rich residue.
The companies said they have shortlisted four sites across Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas after reviewing more than 30 locations.
“We’d like to see nodules going through that processing plant before the end of the Trump term,” Williams said.
The facility would operate at roughly one-tenth the scale of a plant supplied by a full-size collection vessel working continuously, Williams said. Glomar sees the smaller initial development as a way to reduce risk before expanding capacity.
“The idea is that it’s modular and scalable, which lowers the risk out of the gate but gives us lots of opportunity to scale,” he said.
The company has not announced customers, financing arrangements or any talks with the US government concerning project funding.
Environmental debate
Deep-sea mining remains fiercely contested. Environmental groups and several governments have called for a moratorium or precautionary pause, arguing that too little is known about abyssal ecosystems to permit commercial extraction.
The UK, which sponsors Glomar’s ISA contracts, has supported a moratorium on exploitation licences until sufficient scientific evidence and strong environmental rules are in place.
Williams argues mining is likely to proceed regardless, driven partly by governments seeking secure supplies of critical minerals.
“Anyone who spends time at the International Seabed Authority and hears how some member states — particularly China — are talking about it would recognize that there’s a really strong imperative to get these regulations done to enable seabed mining.”
“Given that it’s happening anyway, let’s make sure we do it the right way. Let’s lead by example.”
Williams pointed to research examining a 1979 pilot mining test in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone as evidence that some biological recovery is possible. Scientists returning to the site 44 years later found animals had begun recolonizing the disturbed ground.
The findings were not uniformly positive. The peer-reviewed study found persistent physical changes to the seabed and a mixed recovery among animal groups, underscoring the long duration of mining impacts. The research was published in Nature in 2025.
“The environment was a little different where the nodules had been taken away, but the recolonization was very real over that 40-year period,” Williams said. “That changes, I think, the assumption that after you do this, you’ve got a barren desert with no life.”
Glomar has pledged to submit its environmental findings for peer review and, where possible, fund open access to the resulting academic papers.
“We’d like people to see what we’re doing, and we’d like to be transparent about it,” Williams said.
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