At a congressional hearing, one executive welcomed President Trump’s “starting gun” to begin mining. Democrats and Republicans clashed over environmental and business concerns.

Together, the company and President Trump are circumventing a multilateral process to develop rules for deep sea mining that has so far prevented any commercial exploitation from

Deep-sea mining firm The Metals Co asked the Trump administration on Tuesday to approve its plans to mine the international seabed, making it the first such company to seek the government's permission to operate outside U.