Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that the Trump administration is getting close to approving permits to mine the deep ocean for critical minerals.
Burgum told a gathering of G20 energy ministers on Sept. 14 in Houston that companies could hear more about deep-sea mining “in the weeks and months ahead.”
The United States is taking on China in the race to the bottom of the sea, hoping that new mining techniques will help break Beijing’s grip on global minerals.
“Those nodules that we just have to go out and vacuum up off the (sea) floor are filled with these critical minerals that we need,” Burgum said at the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy Abundance that is taking place this week….