NOAA Commissions a Survey of Deep-Sea Mining Resources Off American Samoa
In addition to inaugurating a first-of-its-kind lease auction for seabed mining in the U.S. EEZ, the Trump administration plans to help the industry along by investing in its own seabed surveys in potential lease areas, providing prospecting information for the government and for future bidders. NOAA's National Ocean Service has hired a contractor to carry out a hydrographic survey around the coast of American Samoa, part of the "critical minerals mapping plan" outlined in the White House executive order on deep-sea mining.
“NOAA is proud to play a leading role in the President’s plan unlocking access to critical minerals for domestic supply chains,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., NOAA administrator.
The contract for near-coastal survey operator NV5 Geospatial - an operator of Subchapter T survey boats - provides up to $20 million to survey 30,000 square miles of seabed. The results, including charts, images and samples, will be made available to the public at large.
Potential target resources in the area include polymetallic nodules, small lumps predominantly made of manganese ore that develop over hundreds of millions of years on the abyssal plains of the mid-Pacific. The nodules may be vacuumed or plucked off the bottom without mechanical crushing or digging - but at a cost, environmentalists and many researchers say. The nodules are part of an under-explored ecosystem, and areas where they have been removed before for testing appear to show a quasi-permanent degradation of habitat. Conservationists also caution that any sediment plumes from extraction or processing could affect fish, corals or other life nearby.
According to NOAA's Jacobs, the contract will invest in research that "supports sustainable deep sea mining practices and allows partners to better understand their marine environments." At least one mining firm with interests in the American Samoa region, Impossible Metals, has lobbied the administration to carry out the survey, its CEO told the New York Times.
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The survey contract to NV5 was announced on January 22, and the work is expected to launch operationally next month.
"As NOAA’s hydrographic survey contractor, NV5 is honored to contribute our expertise to a project that advances sustainable deep?sea mineral research, and expands the scientific understanding of American Samoa’s marine environment," NV5 said in a statement.