The combined company is pursuing what it describes as a dual-track regulatory strategy. In the Cook Islands, it holds investments in two of three licensed exploration projects \u2013 Moana Minerals Ltd. and CIC Limited \u2013 covering licence areas that encompass 417 million tonnes of indicated resources and over two billion tonnes of inferred resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Cook Islands has established a domestic regulatory framework through its Seabed Minerals Act 2019 and Seabed Minerals Harvesting Regulations 2024, which the company points to as providing a clear, nationally governed pathway for development within the country\u2019s exclusive economic zone.<\/p>\n
In parallel, AOMC has secured compliance for two exploration applications under the U.S. Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration \u2013 providing a domestic regulatory route to explore nodule resources in international waters.<\/p>\n
Tom Albanese, Chairman of AOMC and formerly Chief Executive of Rio Tinto Group, said: \u201cAOMC will be positioned to be a reliable, long-term supplier for American re-industrialisation. We are taking a differentiated, responsible approach to the research and development of deep-sea resources. The work over the past decade has set a high standard for advancing the industry responsibly, and we are proud to play a role in maintaining that standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
References to environmentally responsible harvesting, improved scientific understanding, and high industry standards appear repeatedly throughout AOMC\u2019s announcement. But the scientific community\u2019s assessment of deep-sea mining\u2019s environmental consequences tells a very different story.<\/p>\n
The Clarion-Clipperton Zone, which falls within AOMC\u2019s target areas, is home to extraordinary and largely undescribed biodiversity. Studies have consistently found that the nodules themselves are not inert mineral deposits but are, in fact, ecosystems. Hundreds of species live on and around them, many found nowhere else on Earth. Sediment plumes generated by nodule collection vehicles can travel hundreds of kilometres, smothering filter feeders and disrupting the water column across vast areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Research on historical test mining sites has shown that recovery, if it occurs at all, takes decades \u2013 possibly centuries.<\/p>\n
The deep ocean is the least understood and most biodiverse environment on Earth, and the case for large-scale industrial extraction of its resources \u2013 before that environment is properly understood \u2013 has not been made. While the energy transition is urgent and necessary, a recent report from the Institute for Sustainable Futures in collaboration with Greenpeace International has stressed that deep-sea or critical ecosystems on land \u201cdo not need to be sacrificed.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Instead, the report has urged, Governments should focus on reducing demand for raw materials \u2013 through the adequate use of public transport, improved recycling programmes, and advanced battery technologies \u2013 \u201crather than opening the deep-sea to industrial exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n The investors backing this merger are betting that regulatory and political conditions are moving in their favour. In the United States, the current administration has shown a clear appetite for accelerating domestic and allied critical minerals supply chains, and the executive framing around resource security is providing commercial operators with significant political tailwind.<\/p>\n Sofia Tsenikli, Global Campaign Director at the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, said: \u201cPromises about deep-sea mining are built on a highly speculative, high-risk industry which has never proven commercially viable. <\/p>\n