IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1082 
Calling upon the International Seabed Authority to adopt regulations allowing 
the collection of critical minerals from the international seabed area, 
which will enable America to regain reliable and responsible supply 
chains, provide high-wage jobs for United States citizens, secure supply 
chains away from the People’s Republic of China’s dominance of the 
critical mineral supply chain, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 15, 2024 
Mr. HUNT submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on For-
eign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Calling upon the International Seabed Authority to adopt 
regulations allowing the collection of critical minerals 
from the international seabed area, which will enable 
America to regain reliable and responsible supply chains, 
provide high-wage jobs for United States citizens, secure 
supply chains away from the People’s Republic of China’s 
dominance of the critical mineral supply chain, and for 
other purposes. 
Whereas the United States acknowledges the importance that 
critical minerals will have in the future; 
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•HRES 1082 IH 
Whereas critical minerals, along with rare-earth minerals, are 
the building blocks of technology, information and com-
munications technology, and defense; 
Whereas critical minerals are used in the construction of ad-
vanced defense systems and clean energy technologies; 
Whereas the People’s Republic of China (PRC) currently 
dominates global mineral production and refining, with a 
market share of up to 90 percent; 
Whereas the PRC builds on environmental and human rights 
violations, including attacks against grassroots leaders, 
water pollution, ecosystem destruction, and unsafe work-
ing conditions; 
Whereas, building upon previous investments with the Belt 
and Road Initiative, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flag-
ship foreign policy initiative, China has spent the past 2 
decades pouring at least $170,000,000,000 into building 
ports, railroads, and other massive infrastructure projects 
across Africa; 
Whereas, although the United States has a vast collection of 
minerals, excessive regulations and Federal overreach 
have made it virtually impossible to mine in America; 
Whereas leases were recently canceled for the Twin Metals 
mine, which contains the largest deposit of cobalt and 
nickel in the United States; 
Whereas the processing and refining of critical minerals in 
the United States will require access to sufficient feed-
stocks and a regulatory landscape that does not involve 
insurmountable roadblocks; 
Whereas the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has esti-
mated that the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), in the 
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•HRES 1082 IH 
international seabed area of the Pacific Ocean, contains 
21,000,000,000 tons of polymetallic nodules; 
Whereas the CCZ is estimated to contain more manganese, 
nickel, and cobalt than the entire global terrestrial re-
serve base for those minerals, combined; 
Whereas the CCZ is a 48,000,000,000,000 square feet area 
in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico; 
Whereas, because the CCZ is located in the international sea-
bed area, the ISA, a United Nations organization, man-
ages and regulates these ocean floor minerals; 
Whereas the ISA is an autonomous international organization 
established under the 1982 United Nations Convention 
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); 
Whereas the ISA is an organization through which only sig-
natories to UNCLOS organize and control all mineral re-
sources-related activities in the international seabed area, 
which covers approximately 54 percent of the total area 
of the world’s oceans; 
Whereas the European Union and 168 nations are members 
of the ISA, including China and Russia; 
Whereas the United States is not a member of the ISA but 
could obtain access to minerals located in the CCZ 
through partnerships with ISA contractors based in allied 
countries that are aligned with United States interests; 
Whereas the ISA is currently deliberating on rules to govern 
the collection of polymetallic nodules, and only ISA mem-
bers have a vote on these regulations; 
Whereas the ISA has issued 19 current exploration contracts 
for polymetallic nodules, including 3 sponsored by the 
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PRC for Chinese entities, 2 of which sit in the CCZ, the 
area of most economic interest; 
Whereas the United States must not let this imminent eco-
nomic opportunity be ceded to China because of our un-
willingness to act; and 
Whereas the United States needs the innovation and inge-
nuity that made this country great more than ever: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes that diverse and resilient energy 
and mineral supply chains are vital for the United 
States, our partners, and allies, and for global eco-
nomic stability; 
(2) affirms that the International Seabed Au-
thority should adopt the regulations by 2025 in 
order to avoid delays to a critical industry; and 
(3) affirms that it is in the national interest of 
the United States to provide a regulatory environ-
ment that supports the domestic processing and re-
fining of critical minerals, including polymetallic 
nodules located in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. 
Æ 
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