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July 16, 2025

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Seabed Mining Heats Up as Lockheed Martin Courts Interest in Pacific Licenses

Defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) is in early talks with undersea mining companies to open access to two dormant seabed exploration licenses it has held since the 1980s

The move signals a renewed US push to tap the ocean floor for critical minerals.

The licenses, which cover swaths of the eastern Pacific seabed in international waters, were awarded to Lockheed by US regulators decades ago during a previous wave of interest in deep-sea mining.

Though the projects never progressed to extraction, they are now gaining fresh attention as nations and corporations seek alternative sources of key minerals used in electric vehicles, defense technologies, and clean energy systems.

“We are in early stages of conversations with several companies about giving them access to our licences and allowing them to process those materials,” Frank St. John, Lockheed’s chief operating officer, told the Financial Times.

While St. John declined to quantify the potential value of the deposits, he added that interested parties have “done the homework and determined there is value there.”

Lockheed’s seabed licenses could represent a strategic foothold in a mineral-rich region, containing polymetallic nodules that can hold commercially viable concentrations of key metals.

The timing also coincides with recent executive action from the White House.

USPresident Donald Trump, who returned to office in January, signed an executive order in April asserting US rights to issue mining licenses in international waters and encouraging the stockpiling of seabed metals as strategic resources.

The order bypasses ongoing negotiations at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN agency tasked with regulating deep-sea mining, and instead relies on the 1980 US Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act as the legal foundation.

It emphasizes the need to “establish the US as a global leader in seabed mineral exploration and development both within and beyond national jurisdiction.” While the US has not ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea — the treaty from which the ISA derives its authority — it has signed a 1994 agreement recognizing the treaty’s seabed provisions and operates its own permitting system through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lockheed said it welcomes the renewed policy attention. “We believe the US has the opportunity to develop a gold standard for commercial recovery of nodules in an environmentally responsible manner.”

Court upholds TMC disclosures on deep-dea mining risks

Lockheed is not alone in navigating the legal uncertainties surrounding seabed mining.

The Metals Company (TMC) (NASDAQ:TMC), a deep-sea mining startup, recently survived a shareholder lawsuit alleging it had misled investors about the environmental impacts and financial backing of its operations.

US District Judge Eric Komitee dismissed the claims, ruling that the company’s comparisons to conventional mining methods were not misleading, even if deep-sea mining still carries environmental risks.

“It is eminently possible that (1) deep-sea mining causes meaningful environmental harm, and yet (2) such harm is significantly less than the harm caused by existing methods,” the judge wrote.

TMC had disclosed in filings that deep-sea mining could result in damage and that the regulatory path remained uncertain. Its legal win may encourage others — like Lockheed — to proceed more openly with their seabed plans, albeit cautiously.

Deep-sea mining industry cautiously awakens

The growing pursuit of potentially extracting resources from the world’s oceans comes at a critical juncture for the seabed-mining industry. For decades, a de facto moratorium on mining in international waters has been in place due to regulatory uncertainty and environmental concerns.

The ISA has issued more than 30 exploratory permits, but has yet to finalize commercial extraction rules. That delay has prompted frustration from some parties, while drawing calls from others for a pause or outright ban.

Currently, the ISA is holding key assemblies in Jamaica to hash out the long-awaited mining code to regulate commercial activity on the ocean floor with provisions for environmental safeguards, royalties, and tax obligations.

But a growing number of countries — 37 at last count — have pushed for a precautionary pause, citing risks to deep-sea ecosystems that remain largely uncharted. Scientists warn that mining these habitats could cause irreversible damage.

In 2023, Lockheed appeared to step back from the sector by selling two UK-sponsored exploration licenses in the Pacific, a move interpreted by analysts as signaling reduced confidence in deep-sea mining.

However, its retained US licenses suggest it never fully exited the space.

The Trump administration’s executive order marks the most assertive US step yet to undermine the ISA’s multilateral approach, raising fears among diplomats that the agency may lose legitimacy.

China, which has also invested heavily in seabed mining, responded sharply to the move.

“The US authorization violates international law and harms the overall interests of the international community,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said earlier this year.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Rule Symposium 2025: Gold, Geopolitics and the Real Asset Uprising

The resource investing community descended on Boca Raton, Florida, during the first full week of July for another edition of the Rule Symposium, hosted by veteran investor and speculator Rick Rule.

The five day event featured an illustrious array of speakers, panelists and companies sharing a wealth of investor knowledge. As in years past, gold remained a top focus, with many presenters stressing the value it offers investors.

Opening the conference, Rule provided a sobering overview of the current economic trajectory. He urged investors to set aside political narratives and instead focus on the raw arithmetic of America’s financial condition.

“It’s not about politics, it’s about math,” said Rule.

He pointed to three figures that define the US financial landscape: US$141 trillion in aggregate private net worth, a US$27.71 trillion GDP and a personal savings rate of just 4 percent. That’s set against mounting obligations — US$36.6 trillion in federal debt held by bondholders and over US$100 trillion in unfunded federal entitlements.

Rule cautioned that the imbalance between assets and liabilities points to a looming reckoning, potentially echoing the inflationary erosion of the 1970s, when the US dollar lost 75 percent of its purchasing power.

“There’s no way out of this without reducing the value of the dollar,” he told the audience. “(The) increase in gold (prices) will mirror the decrease in purchasing power of the US dollar.’

To hedge against this risk, Rule encouraged attendees to adopt a more self-reliant approach.

He advised listeners to question government guarantees, focus on building personal financial resilience and consider investing in inflation-sensitive assets such as gold and silver. “The math doesn’t lie — it’s time to prepare, not just react,” said Rule. ”I need you not to panic when the time is right, but rather to pounce.”

Watch a recap of key Rule Symposium takeaways.

Tailwinds turning to headwinds

In addition to strategically allocating to gold, geopolitical uncertainty was as a key theme at the Rule Symposium.

During his presentation “Back to the Old Drawing Board: First Principles and the Lost Art of Investing Through Crisis,” author and publisher Grant Williams made the case that longstanding tailwinds — globalization, demographic expansion and low interest rates — have reversed, giving way to persistent uncertainty.

 

Williams provides an overview of shifting market dynamics.

He traced the last four decades of wealth creation to a rare alignment of forces that pushed asset prices, particularly US equities, sharply higher. However, since 2020, a new macro regime has emerged, defined by tighter monetary policy, rising geopolitical risk and fading confidence in the US dollar.

Like many speakers at the Rule Symposium, Williams also underscored the massive gold purchases central banks are making. During Q1 of this year, central banks added 244 metric tons of gold to their official reserves, a 24 percent increase above the five year quarterly average, according to World Gold Council data.

For Williams, this shift signals growing concern within the financial system — a trend investors shouldn’t overlook.

“When central banks are exchanging their reserves for gold in record amounts, if they feel the sudden urgent need to own more gold, you better believe that we should feel that too,” he noted.

The expert went on to illustrate how major economic and societal cycles are converging, suggesting more volatility ahead. A live poll of the audience taken during his session revealed growing unease among attendees, with many already adjusting their portfolios and long-term goals. In response, Williams called for a return to key principles: scarcity, durability, resilience, trust, patience and a clear-eyed acceptance of uncertainty.

These, he said, should now anchor any sound investment approach. He urged Rule Symposium attendees to shift their mindset from chasing returns to preserving capital by reducing overexposure to US equities, diversifying by geography and asset class and focusing on businesses with real staying power.

The investment playbook of the past no longer fits the world we’re entering, he stressed.

Navigating what Williams calls an “age of headwinds” will require humility, discipline and a willingness to rethink what truly creates and protects wealth.

Hard assets set to shine

Economist, author and former Wall Street executive Dr. Nomi Prins laid out a case for what she calls the “real asset uprising,” a global shift in value and power driven by hard assets like gold, silver, copper, uranium and rare earths.

Drawing on her experience in high-level banking and her current work in the mining sector, Prins argued that rising geopolitical friction, shifting trade dynamics and financial system strain are fueling a renewed focus on tangible resources. She pointed to surging institutional interest in commodities, noting that Wall Street deal flow tied to real assets is up 24 percent year-on-year, while hiring in commodity finance roles has increased by 15 percent.

Gold, once dismissed on trading desks, is now seen as a strategic monetary tool.

According to Prins, the yellow metal will not replace the US dollar as the reserve currency, but it will play a central role in bilateral trade and power negotiations. Gold’s jurisdiction — where it is stored and mined — is now more important than ever, she explained, as nations seek to shield assets from sanctions and instability.

Silver, copper, uranium and rare earths are all finding support through similar structural tailwinds, Prins pointed out.

Silver demand is rising due to its industrial applications, and limited aboveground supply is driving long-term contracts.

For its part, copper has become so strategically important that the US is conducting a Section 232 national security investigation into its supply chain, a move historically reserved for defense resources. Major buyers like China and India are stockpiling copper in anticipation of supply constraints.

Uranium is also surging back into focus, driven by bipartisan support for nuclear energy. Legislation and executive orders are fast tracking uranium permitting and enrichment, with utility demand expected to outstrip supply.

Rare earths = real assets

Prins highlighted rare earths as a critical new front in the ongoing global shift in value and power.

‘Rare earths are intrinsic to the nation,’ she said, pointing to their essential role in defense, electronics and energy technologies. With 85 percent of processing controlled by China, the US has launched Section 232 investigations to assess domestic vulnerabilities — reports on copper and rare earths are expected this fall.

Prins described her decision to join the board of a rare earths company as a natural extension of her belief in physical assets: “It’s not just about the asset — it’s about controlling the asset, the processing and the movement.”

That theme underpins the investment case: security of supply, efficient processing and strategic jurisdiction are key to value creation. She also noted a dramatic capital rotation, saying that US$330 billion has exited bonds over the past year, while US$230 billion has flowed into commodities.

“Wall Street is following the real asset story,” Prins emphasized.

 

Rule sits down with Porter Stansberry to discuss his investment strategy.

Prins then said real upside now lies not just in owning resources, but in having processing capability.

New technologies, like advanced rare earths separation methods, are increasing economic viability and attracting private capital. “Where private money and public power combine, that’s where the investment opportunity is,” she said.

With key policy announcements and trade shifts looming in the fall, she warned investors this is a “very critical time” in the real asset uprising. For Prins, the message is clear: investors, policymakers and mining leaders must position accordingly, because, in today’s world, “whoever controls the ground controls the game.’

Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Jerome Powell asks inspector general to review Fed’s $2.5B renovation project

The Federal Reserve has brought in its inspector general to review a building expansion that has drawn fire from the White House, according to a source familiar with the issue.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell asked for the review, following blistering criticism of the project, initially pegged at $2.5 billion but hit by cost overruns that have brought accusations from President Donald Trump and other administration officials of “fundamental mismanagement.”

“The idea that the Fed could print money and then spend $2.5 billion on a building without real congressional oversight, it didn’t occur to the people that framed the Federal Reserve Act,” Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We’ve got a real problem of oversight and excess spending.”

The inspector general serves the Fed and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and is responsible for looking for fraud, waste and abuse. Powell’s request was reported first by Axios.

In a letter posted to social media last week, Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, also slammed the project, which involves two of the Fed’s three Washington, D.C., buildings including its main headquarters known as the Eccles Building.

Vought, during a CNBC interview Friday, likened the building to the Palace of Versailles in France and charged that Powell was guilty of “fiscal mismanagement” at the Fed.

For its part, the central bank has posted a detailed frequently asked questions page on its site, highlighting key details and explaining why some of the specifications were changed or “scaled back or eliminated” at least in part due to higher-than-expected construction costs.

“The project also remediates safety issues by removing hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead and will bring the buildings up to modern code,” the page explains. “While periodic work has been done to keep the buildings occupiable, neither building has seen a comprehensive renovation since they were constructed.”

The Fed is not a taxpayer-funded institution and is therefore not under the OMB’s supervision. It has worked with the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington on the project, but also noted on the FAQ page that it “does not regard any of those changes as warranting further review.”

In separate comments, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, speaking Sunday on Fox News, called the renovation costs “outrageous” and said it was more evidence the central bank “has lost its way.” Warsh is considered a strong contender to succeed Powell when the latter’s term as chair expires in May 2026.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS