
U.S. Takes a Another Step Toward Opening the Seabed for Mining
The move follows an executive order last month that urged government agencies to expedite permits for seabed mining in U.S. territorial waters as well as international waters. Most other nations argue that the United States does not have the legal right to mine the seabed beyond its own territorial waters.
Parts of the ocean floor are blanketed by potato-size nodules containing valuable minerals like nickel, cobalt and manganese that are essential to advanced technologies that the United States considers critical to its economic and military security. Supply chains of many of these valuable minerals are increasingly controlled by China.
No commercial-scale mining of the seabed has ever taken place. The technological hurdles to seabed mining are high, and there have been serious concerns about the environmental consequences. Yet many countries have been impatient to get started as demand grows for the metals found there.
Under a United Nations treaty signed by nearly every country except the United States, mining in international waters is supposed to wait until regulations and environmental protections have been agreed upon. President Trump's executive order last month stirred outrage across a broad swath of governments and activist groups that said permits issued unilaterally by the U.S. government would be in breach of widely accepted international law.
The Interior Department's announcement on Tuesday pertains to a request from a company called Impossible Metals to move toward mining in U.S. territorial waters. In early April, before the executive order was issued, the company had requested that the government consider granting it access to nearly 30,000 square miles of those waters.
Testifying in front of a congressional subcommittee in April, the company's chief executive, Oliver Gunasekara, said the election of a new, Republican governor in American Samoa last November boded well for their plans. An application made last year by the company to the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management was denied and, shortly thereafter, the previous governor of American Samoa, a Democrat, enacted a moratorium on seabed mining in the territory's waters.
American Samoa, which is around 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii, is not a U.S. state and has no representation in Congress. It is also the only U.S. territory where people born there are not automatically granted citizenship at birth.
'As soon as the executive order came out, that very much directed the different groups to accelerate and prioritize deep-sea mining,' Mr. Gunasekara said in an interview on Wednesday.
He added that his company's request was to explore a zone near the United States' maritime border with the Cook Islands. 'It avoids any existing marine sanctuaries, even though there was a recent executive order that rescinded them,' he said, referring to Mr. Trump's opening of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to commercial fishing in April.
For decades, negotiators at the International Seabed Authority, an agency affiliated with the United Nations, have been drafting and redrafting a rule book for deep-sea mining that would cover everything from environmental regulations to royalty payments. Despite a pledge to finalize it by this year, negotiators seemed unlikely to meet that deadline.
Nevertheless, anticipating that mining would eventually be allowed, a handful of companies have invested heavily in developing technologies to mine the ocean floor. They include ships with huge claws that would extend down to the seabed, as well as autonomous vehicles attached to gargantuan vacuums that would scour the ocean bottom.
The furthest along is the Metals Company, a Canadian enterprise that, so far, is the only company to apply for a U.S. permit after Mr. Trump's executive order.
Through a U.S.-based subsidiary, the company is seeking to mine in the so-called Clarion-Clipperton Zone, in international waters, about halfway between Hawaii and Mexico, and has spent more than a half-billion dollars preparing to mine. Its application will go through a separate permitting process run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is part of the Commerce Department.
The Metals Company has developed an extraction technology that resembles a vacuum attached to an autonomous vehicle that would trundle across the seafloor, sending up nodules to a ship through a pipe. The company proposing to mine near American Samoa, Impossible Metals, says it has a machine that will pick up nodules individually and without actually landing on the seafloor.
An Interior Department news release said the department would now begin the process of seeking input 'from the Indigenous Island community, ocean users, industry stakeholders, government agencies and the public,' in its consideration of whether to grant Impossible Metals request.
Mr. Gunasekara said this was only the beginning of a 'multiyear process' that he hoped would move from public consultation to exploration to environmental assessments and ultimately a production license.
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Altius Retains 0.5% NSR interest as Long-Term Portfolio Component ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland and Labrador, July 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Altius Minerals Corporation (TSX: ALS) (OTCQX: ATUSF) Altius Minerals Corporation ("Altius") is pleased to announce that Altius Royalty Corporation ("ARC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Altius, has completed the sale of a 1% NSR royalty covering the Silicon and Merlin gold deposit discoveries in Nevada ("1% NSR Silicon Royalty") to a wholly owned subsidiary of Franco-Nevada Corporation ("Franco-Nevada") (TSX & NYSE: FNV) ("The Transaction"), pursuant to a royalty purchase agreement entered into by ARC and Franco-Nevada (the "Agreement"). ARC will continue to hold a remaining 0.5% NSR royalty interest in Silicon (recently renamed to the Arthur Gold Project by AngloGold Ashanti plc ("AGA") as a long-term component of its diversified portfolio. The purchase price for the 1% NSR Silicon Royalty interest is US$ 275 million (~ C$ 375 million) comprised of US$ 250 million in upfront cash paid at closing and a further payment of US $25 million in cash payable upon the conclusion of an ongoing arbitration process that confirms the area subject to the royalty under final award to be consistent with Altius's interpretation of the partial award of the arbitration tribunal that was issued and reported on earlier this year. The Board of Directors of Altius has received a fairness opinion from Cormark Securities Inc. which opinion concluded that, based upon and subject to the assumptions made, procedures followed, matters considered, limitations and qualifications set out therein, the consideration to be received by ARC pursuant to the Transaction is fair, from a financial point of view, to ARC. Brian Dalton, CEO of Altius commented, "We are pleased to partner with Franco-Nevada on this royalty, which encompasses AGA's world-class Silicon and Merlin gold deposit discoveries in Nevada, as well as extensive areas of prospective surrounding land. The Transaction crystallizes significant value for shareholders while further demonstrating the ability of Altius's Project Generation business to amplify the return profile of its overall royalty investment portfolio. The decision to retain a third of our Silicon royalty interest also provides continuing growth exposure to this emerging gold district, while confirming the addition of precious metals as a long-term, well-balanced component of our shareholder's diversified royalty portfolio. We now look forward to the ability to explore a wider set of capital allocation and deployment opportunities, facilitated by a considerably strengthened balance sheet and liquidity profile, and to further growing shareholder value." Anticipated Benefits to Altius Shareholders Capital Allocation Opportunities Cash, after taxes and fees, expected to increase to more than C$ 360 million (assumes up front and further payment proceeds from this Transaction and also from the recent acquisition of Orogen Royalties Inc. by Triple Flag Precious Metals Corp.) Total liquidity increased to more than C$ 540 million (including C$ 116 million available under a revolving credit facility and C$ 62.5 million potentially available under an accordion feature) Creates enhanced flexibility to evaluate external M&A opportunities while limiting equity level dilution of existing assets and the embedded growth potential of our portfolio Improves ability to opportunistically increase per share exposure to existing royalty interests through share repurchases Retained Royalty Exposure Continuing optionality exposure to gold resource growth1 from current ~16 Moz resource estimate at the Arthur Gold Project, as AGA continues aggressive exploration and delineation drilling programs and the reporting of encouraging results Achieves rebalance of commodity exposures while confirming precious metals and another tier-1 quality royalty as components of Altius's long-term, diversified portfolio. For further information, please see the updated Altius corporate presentation posted to the website at 1 See Expanded Silicon Project Update presentation Financial and Legal Advisors Cormark Securities Inc. is acting as financial advisor to Altius. Stikeman Elliott LLP is acting as legal counsel to Altius and ARC. About Altius Altius's strategy is to create per share growth through a diversified portfolio of royalty assets that relate to long life, high margin operations. This strategy further provides shareholders with exposures that are well aligned with global growth trends including increasing electricity based market share within energy usage, global infrastructure build and refurbishment growth, increased EAF based steelmaking, steadily increasing agricultural fertilizer requirements and the enhanced appetite for financial asset diversification through precious metals ownership. These macro-trends each hold the potential to cause higher demand for many of Altius's commodity exposures including potash, high purity iron ore, renewable energy, base metals, and gold . In addition, Altius runs a successful Project Generation business that originates mineral projects for sale to developers in exchange for royalties and that has a demonstrated track record of driving outsized direct returns from its overall royalty investment portfolio. Altius has 46,315,304 common shares issued and outstanding that are listed on Canada's Toronto Stock Exchange. It is a member of both the S&P/TSX Small Cap and S&P/TSX Global Mining Indices and the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index. Forward Looking Information This news release contains forward-looking information. The statements are based on reasonable assumptions and expectations of management and Altius provides no assurance that actual events will meet management's expectations. The information in this news release about the any anticipated benefits of the transaction to Altius Shareholders, timing and results of the ongoing arbitration process in respect of the Silicon royalty and possibility of ARC being paid contingent consideration of US$25 million following conclusion thereof, and any other information herein that is not a historical fact may be forward looking information. In certain cases, forward-looking information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimates", "expects", "may", "shall", "will", or "would". Although Altius believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Altius does not undertake to update any forward-looking information contained herein except in accordance with securities regulations. View source version on Contacts For further information, please contact:Flora WoodEmail: Fwood@ Tel: 1.877.576.2209Direct: 1.416.346.9020 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data