“AOMC was built as a platform company because the critical minerals challenge requires scale, regulatory diversification, processing capability, operational discipline, and long-term capital formation—all while navigating historically high barriers to entry in the industry,” said Tom Albanese, Chairman of AOMC and former CEO of Rio Tinto. “AOM Area-1 is an important part of that platform. It complements AOMC’s Cook Islands investments and supports our broader objective of building an environmentally responsible, global supply chain for cobalt, manganese, nickel, copper, titanium, rare earth elements and other critical minerals essential to America and its allies’ industry, infrastructure, energy, and national security.”
Enacted in 1980, DSHMRA predates both the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and provides the legal framework for US companies to explore and recover deep-seabed minerals in international waters. The Act established a US licensing system under NOAA’s regulatory authority to promote responsible development, environmental stewardship, and secure access to critical minerals. AOMC’s application was submitted under NOAA’s new consolidated review process, established following Executive Order 14285. Rather than requiring separate sequential applications, the process allows qualified US applicants to pursue an exploration license and commercial recovery permit through a single coordinated procedure while preserving environmental review, public participation, and other regulatory safeguards.
“Regulatory readiness and environmental readiness have to advance together,” said Dr. Laura Azevedo, Chief Science Officer of AOMC. “Our approach is to build the scientific record, the environmental baseline, the engineering discipline, and the regulatory record required to evaluate these resources responsibly. The consolidated application process provides a clearer pathway for that work, and AOMC intends to continue advancing its programs with transparency, rigor, and respect for the role of regulators, scientists, and stakeholders.”
AOM Area-1’s application area comprises approximately 147,054 km² across five non-contiguous subareas in the eastern-central Clarion-Clipperton Zone. The application area was selected following a review of publicly available ISA exploration contract areas, reserved areas, and Areas of Particular Environmental Interest (APEIs), and was designed to avoid overlap with those areas.
The announcement follows several recent AOMC milestones, including:
- A definitive merger agreement with Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc to create a deep-sea critical minerals platform valued at approximately $1 billion.
- Equity financing in excess of $230 million in capital, including pre-public financing and private placement in connection with the proposed merger.
- The completion of Moana Minerals’ MV Anuanua Moana Expedition 7, a three-week research campaign that completed 53 sampling sites with box cores and multicores and collected 4,059 physical samples.