January 23, 2026 — When the United States recently escalated its confrontation with Venezuela – carrying out strikes in Caracas and capturing President Nicolás Maduro — the moves were framed as political intervention.
But the raid also reflected a deeper contest over oil and critical mineral supply chains.
For Washington, controlling energy and strategic materials is now inseparable from power projection. That same logic is increasingly being applied in our own backyard — the Pacific seabed — where new mining could target minerals vital for batteries, electronics, clean energy and the military industrial complex.
WHAT IS DEEP‑SEA MINING?
In the Pacific, most attention today is on nodules in the Clarion‑Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a vast area between Hawaii and Mexico. This zone is administered by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), an intergovernmental body responsible for safeguarding the deep sea.
Nodules, which appear like potato-sized rocks, are found scattered across seabed plains four to six kilometres beneath the surface. These nodules are rich in nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese – metals used in electric vehicle batteries, smart phones and wind turbines.
Mining them involves driving a robotic “vacuum” over the seabed, pumping nodules up a riser pipe to a ship, and shipping concentrates ashore for processing.
Nodules aren’t the only target. Companies also eye sulphide deposits at hydrothermal vents and cobalt‑rich crusts on underwater mountains.
Increasingly, seabed minerals have become geopolitically important – and for two key reasons.
First, the energy transition is driving up demand for nickel, cobalt and manganese, with agencies projecting at least a doubling over the next two decades. Second, supply chains are concentrated in a handful of countries, making democracies nervous about choke points.
Policy makers and firms therefore see seabed minerals as a hedge: a way to diversify sources of “critical minerals” for clean energy and military defence.