The Trump administration’s move to consider opening federal waters off Alaska to mineral leasing is drawing early interest from a small group of companies, turning a remote and largely unmapped stretch of seabed into the newest test case for U.S. ambitions in deep-sea mining.
Among the most visible entrants is Deep Sea Rare Minerals, a South Carolina-based startup led by former Air Force officer and commercial real estate investor Tony Romeo. The company has publicly signaled interest in mineral leasing offshore of Alaska, positioning itself alongside a handful of industry players responding to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s solicitation.
From Earhart Search to Seabed Prospecting
Romeo’s path into the sector is unconventional. In May 2023, he purchased a submarine-shaped deep-sea drone equipped with sonar, initially aimed at solving the 1937 disappearance of Amelia Earhart’s aircraft over the Pacific. In 2024, Romeo pivoted the operation toward mineral exploration.
Deep Sea Rare Minerals is now targeting polymetallic nodules, baseball-sized concretions rich in nickel, copper and cobalt that sit two to three miles below the surface in parts of the Pacific. Whether similar deposits exist off Alaska remains an open question. A 2022 federal review noted the possible presence of nodules and other mineral formations in Alaskan waters, but roughly 62 percent of the federally managed seafloor around the state has not yet been mapped.
“Let’s at least find out what we have there,” Romeo said. “That’s the question mark, I think, for Alaska: Is there an abundance of nodules? If there is, I think you’ll see a whole ecosystem and industry develop in Alaska, which would be great.”
Strategic Case for Domestic Supply
Supporters of the leasing proposal include Nome’s city government and companies tied to the sector, who argue domestic seabed resources could reduce U.S. reliance on foreign supply chains for battery and defense metals, strengthen national security, and stimulate Alaska’s economy. The proposed leasing zones span parts of the Gulf of Alaska, the Aleutians, the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean.
Building the Capability
Deep Sea Rare Minerals remains privately held and is seeking tens of millions of dollars in additional funding. Its near-term focus is mapping and exploration, though it is also designing collection equipment it hopes to deploy if resource definition and financing align. The company is pursuing parallel interests near Guam and in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, the Central Pacific region that has become the industry’s main theater.
Romeo has described his company’s proposed system as floating rather than tractor-based, using rake-like tines to lift nodules into a collector before piping them to a surface vessel.
“We’re building a mining vessel from scratch, right?” Romeo said. “There’s only a couple in the world that have ever been built, and they’re all novel.”
Why This Matters for the Sector
Alaska’s entry into the federal leasing conversation marks an expansion of the U.S. domestic deep-sea mining footprint beyond the Pacific frontier zones that have dominated industry attention. For operators, it signals that BOEM is prepared to test interest in higher-latitude basins and that the Trump administration is actively widening the map of opportunity for U.S.-flagged players.
Whether that signal attracts sustained capital will be one of the clearer indicators of how far the current administration’s deep-sea mining agenda can reach.
