US-based miner Impossible Metals has requested a lease for exploration and commercial mining of deep-sea minerals off the coast of American Samoa through the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
Impossible Metals applied for a critical minerals lease under the BOEM-managed Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which regulates the federally controlled ocean area extending 3 nautical miles (nmi) from shore to 200nmi, known as the outer continental shelf. The company plans to use an autonomous underwater robot to explore the area for nickel, magnesium, cobalt, copper and rare earth minerals.
BOEM has never issued a commercial exploration or mining lease, according to the non-partisan US Congressional Research Service. The agency previously received and denied a request for a lease sale off the coast of American Samoa in the outer continental shelf in February 2024 for deep-sea polymetallic nodules — a source of manganese, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth minerals.
The Secretary of the Interior issued an order to all Department of Interior offices including BOEM to streamline its internal processes for identifying, permitting, and leasing critical minerals on the outer continental shelf on 3 February.
