The mining company seeks to support Trump to shorten access to sea bottom minerals

The long -term battle was taken on whether you were to allow the manufacture of the sea bottom in the oceans in the oceans, in turn unexpected on Thursday when a company revealed that it was secretly negotiating a plan with the Trump administration to circumvent the United Nations treaty and perhaps obtain permission from the United States to start mining in international waters.

The proposal that was drawn Immediate protests Among the environmental groups and diplomats from some countries, is a fundamental shift in the controversial debate about reaching deposits at the sea floor that contains copper, cobalt, manganese and other minerals needed for electric car batteries.

The International Sea Foundation, which was established 30 years ago through an agreement that is now believed in more than 160 countries, Jurisdiction Above the sea floor mining in international waters, outside the coastal areas of every nation.

Sea bottom salad formulates slowly mining governing regulations, which are still controversial because the potential effects of industrial activity on marine life are unknown.

Now, the Trump administration, which has already expressed its desire to restore the Panama channel and control Greenland, is paid by the Vancouver Mineral Company to ignore the sea floor authority and give it a license to start mining after 2027.

Gerard Baron, CEO of Minerals Company, announced the maneuver on Thursday after it became clear that it is still possible to pass the sea bottom power to end the mining regulations.

Contractors From countries including China, India, South Korea, Japan and Poland are also exploration in international waters under permits from the sea bottom, but no permission to start mining on a large scale.

Metal Company to request It will come in the next few months of the United States -based company, and will use a ship registered in the United States. The company will send a giant vacuum -like machine to 2.5 miles underwater to the ocean floor to absorb rocks the size of potatoes loaded with metal.

Mr. Baron said that CEOs have already met the Trump administration officials to promote their plan, which also requires a permit from the National Oceanic and Calf Administration.

“The United States has achieved the legal framework, regulations for issuing exploration licenses and mineral recovery permits in the depths of the sea in international waters,” said Mr. Baron on Thursday. “Now there is a political will to put the current authorities to use it.”

It arrived on Thursday evening, the Minister of Trade Howard Lootnick said he could not say whether the Trump administration would agree to the minerals company’s proposal and referred a reporter to its employees. The agency officials did not respond to the suspension requests.

The mineral company, which is circulating publicly, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on exploratory works in the Pacific Ocean, in an area known as Claarion Cliperton Zone, a remote spot between Mexico and Hawaii. Her latest annual report, It was released on ThursdayIt appears that it is almost outside the monetary authority and borrowing, leaving the matter only 43 million dollars in reserves. “We are submitting urgent,” the company said.

In January, Leticia Carvalho, a photographer of the Brazilian ocean skeptical in the seabed mining, the Secretary -General of the Sea Foundation, indicates that the final regulations can be delayed for a longer period.

more than 160 countries are true The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which created and granting the authority of the International Sea Foundation the right to determine a place and how the sea floor mining can occur.

But the United States did not sign the treaty. This prompted the Metal Company to pressure the Trump administration and members of Congress, on the pretext that the United States is free to move forward in mining in international waters, because it is not a party to the treaty.

The drafts will now be asked to circulate the executive order of President Trump to sign that he would direct his administration to move forward in this plan, according to two people involved in the discussion provided that his identity is not disclosed because they were not allowed to issue a document.

The Trump administration has indicated that it wants to get greater access to the so -called critical minerals needed to manufacture in the United States, even if it means submitting new international claims.

In his confirmation session, Mr. Lootnick expressed his general support for mining at the sea floor, although he did not say whether the United States would challenge the sea floor authority.

“It is important for American national security to create ourselves the main minerals on the ground, and create ourselves,” said Mr. Lootnick at his confirmation session. “Fortunately we have the greatest land in the world, and under our seas is the rest of everything we do not have on the ground. We need to harvest it, and we need to understand it, and we need to take care of America. We can.”

A briefing document produced by the Minerals Company and obtained by the New York Times, indicated that before Mr. Lootnick was a commercial secretary, CEO, Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial company was the company’s main banker. The Minerals Company also indicated that its plans have “strong support from influential members in Republican -controlled Congress.”

But even the idea that the United States may consider this step angered by environmental scientists and some countries.

At least 30 countries, From Austria to New Zealand, he called for a delay at the beginning of the sea floor mining, on the pretext that he does not know whether it would lead to widespread damage to water life and the environment.

“It is a desperate but very dangerous work,” said Louisa Kason, an organization from Greenpeace International, an environmental group trying to prevent mining at the sea floor. “This can be a negotiating tactic to try to transfer the sea floor salad.”

Mr. Baron referred to extensive research funded by his company, which found that the seafood mining had a lower effect on the environment of open or underground mining.

More than ten diplomats representing their countries are expected to meet before the sea bottom authority – which is located in the middle of the King’s working session, Jamaica – on Friday to determine how to respond to plans from the mining company.

“This step appears to be inappropriate by the Metal Company,” said Georgina Maria Gillin Grillo, a representative of Costa Rica, who slowed the beginning of the sea bottom mining until environmental and financial regulations are adopted. “They have pushed us to work on regulations when they don’t seem to be really interested in compliance with legal obligations under international law.”