NOAA OKs First Deep-Sea Mining Plan For Critical Minerals In Pacific Ocean Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times, The Trump administration approved on May 1 its first deep-sea critical minerals exploration application, submitted by North Carolina-based deep-sea mining explorer The Metals Company USA (TMC). The company expects to find millions of tons of nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese on the sea floor needed in the United States for electric vehicle batteries, in...