Overview

• The research vessel Anuanua Moana has spent two years mapping 20,000 km² of polymetallic nodule deposits in the Cook Islands’ exclusive economic zone valued at about $4 billion.
• President Trump’s decree to ‘‘liberate’’ ocean mineral resources has reinvigorated U.S. interest and intensified competition with China over deep-sea mining.
• Cook Islands authorities have pledged to follow International Seabed Authority rules but declined to set a firm timeline for commercial extraction.
• Moana Minerals’ director general, Hans Smit, says the company aims to launch mining operations by 2030 under guidelines aligned with ISA regulations.
• Local inhabitants and marine scientists warn that deploying untested robotic harvesting machines risks devastating fragile deep-sea habitats and disturbing ancestral cultural sites.