China Minmetals Becomes First Chinese Company to Receive Approval for Deep-Sea Mining Tests

May 2025 | Minener Staff

China Minmetals has become the first Chinese company authorized to carry out deep-sea mining trials in the Pacific Ocean, following a green light from the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN-affiliated regulator overseeing international waters.

The company announced on Tuesday that its environmental impact report for the proposed trial operations had successfully passed review by ISA’s Legal and Technical Commission. The approval allows Minmetals to deploy and test seabed mining vehicles in a designated area of the Pacific’s international waters.

According to company filings, the trials are scheduled to begin later this year. Minmetals emphasized that this was the first time a Chinese environmental impact report had met ISA’s standards for seabed mining tests—potentially setting a precedent for future authorizations.

The push for seabed exploration comes amid a global scramble for deep-ocean minerals critical to renewable energy infrastructure and electric vehicle batteries. Resources such as cobalt, nickel, and rare earths lie untapped beneath the ocean floor.

Minmetals holds one of three ISA contracts secured by Chinese entities. The others are the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association and the Beijing Pioneer High-Tech Development Corporation, both of which also plan trials this year. However, Minmetals is the first to obtain environmental clearance.

Despite having multiple ISA-backed contracts, China has so far refrained from launching commercial-scale mining operations, waiting for a finalized regulatory framework from the ISA—still under negotiation after years of debate.

Meanwhile, the United States has taken unilateral steps. Last month, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at expanding rare earth mineral extraction in U.S. and international waters. Washington is not a party to the treaty that created the ISA, and has sought to bypass the multilateral regulatory process.

Canadian firm The Metals Company also announced it has applied to the U.S. government for an international seabed mining license, further stoking geopolitical tension. The Chinese government denounced Trump’s order, stating it violated international law.

Environmental groups continue to raise alarms about the ecological toll of deep-sea mining, warning that it could disrupt marine ecosystems. However, the mounting demand for minerals and the environmental impact of terrestrial mining have led governments and corporations to accelerate plans for ocean extraction.

China remains a dominant force within the ISA. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Beijing is the organization’s primary financial contributor. President Xi Jinping has highlighted the strategic importance of oceanic resources, referring to deep-sea minerals as “treasures of the ocean depths.”