Trump administration will let companies bid to mine the deep ocean off American Samoa’s coast

The Trump administration is officially proceeding with a decision to lease ocean tracts off the coast of American Samoa for deep sea mining. Announced by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Marine Minerals Administration, this initiative marks the first time the U.S. government has offered offshore mining leases. The plan involves two areas totaling nearly 32 million acres, aiming to bolster the domestic critical mineral supply chain, despite large-scale deep sea mining never having been performed before.