The United States Plans a Marine Minerals Processing Plant

The facility will initially process 200,000 metric tonnes per year.

The goal is to be online before Trump leaves office.

Companies refuse to say whether seabed minerals are being considered as a mineral source in financing talks with the U.S. government; this raises environmental concerns.

Deep-sea mining company Glomar Minerals and Australian Cobalt Blue Holdings announced on Monday that they plan to build a U.S. refinery to process critical minerals extracted from the Pacific Ocean floor within three years.

The decision comes amid growing interest worldwide in seabed mining to supply nickel, manganese, copper and other critical minerals used to build electronics, weapons and a range of consumer goods, even as the practice has drawn criticism from environmentalists.

The war in Iran has pushed the global economy off the path of growth, according to the OECD.

Demand for these minerals is expected to increase in the coming years, fuelling pressure for new and alternative supplies from Washington, Tokyo and other governments seeking to counter Beijing’s dominance in the minerals industry.

Glomar and Cobalt Blue plan to select a U.S. site by June for the refinery and to be in commercial production before the end of President Donald Trump’s term in 2029.

This timetable would require the partners to secure financing for the facility, which is expected to cost less than $500 million and initially process 200,000 metric tonnes per year, with potential for expansion.

Shares of Cobalt Blue, based in North Sydney, Australia, rose nearly 7% in morning trading on the Australian Stock Exchange.

The companies declined to discuss the commercial terms of their partnership or whether they are in financing talks with the U.S. government. No customer has yet signed a supply contract.

“Seabed minerals represent a game-changer for redefining U.S. critical mineral dependence, the way shale oil and gas have reshaped global energy geopolitics,” said Robbie Diamond, Glomar’s executive chairman, in a statement to Reuters.

Rival The Metals Company said last week that it is in talks to lease land in Texas for its own refinery, which is expected to produce 12 million metric tonnes per year. Company officials, however, said the project would depend on financing from the Trump administration.

The technology could give the industry a boost

Cobalt Blue, which is developing a cobalt mine and refinery in Australia, will provide its technology to separate at least five minerals from so-called polymetallic nodules.

While deep-sea mining nodules face their own technical and engineering challenges, processing these nodules is also difficult and no commercial nodule refinery is currently operating. The two companies are essentially betting that Cobalt Blue’s technology can help launch a new industry.

“Polymetallic nodules offer the prospect of supplying multiple critical minerals from a single resource stream,” said Andrew Tong, CEO of Cobalt Blue.

Founded in 2025, Glomar controls exploration leases in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific, previously held in part by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. Glomar “seeks to expand its resource base,” Diamond said, although he declined to provide details.

International tension

The refining plans come amid rising geopolitical tensions around deep-sea mining. In January, Trump said he would accelerate permitting for companies seeking to mine in international waters.

The International Seabed Authority — created by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which the United States has not ratified — has been reviewing mining standards for years but has not yet managed to finalise them when it met earlier this month.

Trump’s January decision aims to bypass the ISA. The Metals Company has asked Trump to issue its own international permit. Glomar declined to say whether it has asked the Trump administration for the same thing, although it has not yet formally requested such a decision.

By the Editorial Team with Reuters