That follows a number of cabinet appointments by Trump seen as friendly to deep-sea mining. Elise Stefanik, Marco Rubio, Howard Lutnick and William McGinley have all been nominated for positions on the president-elect’s team and have all previously voiced support for ocean mining.

Stefanik, who will be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, has signed letters to the U.S. secretary of defense calling for the country to step up its interest in the sector amid a push by China for dominance in the critical minerals supply chain.

Deep-sea mining remains controversial, but its proponents argue that it could offer a new source of cobalt, nickel, copper and other minerals needed for the energy transition, defense technologies and other needs. However, environmental campaigners and a number of nations including Canada, France and the U.K. have all called for bans or a moratorium on the practice, saying that it could cause irreparable harm to an environment that has largely been untouched by humans.

Tensions over deep-sea mining have most recently been felt in Norway, which in December paused its efforts to mine the sea floor within its own waters amid opposition from the country’s Socialist Left Party. To date, Norway is the only country to have outwardly supported deep sea mining in its own continental shelf.

While the Trump campaign has voiced its support for mining—mainly as a means to secure more resources for the U.S.—the president-elect hasn’t singled out deep-sea mining in his comments on the sector. The Trump administration didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“If the U.S. is to get involved in deep sea mining, the political stars are more aligned than ever,” said Duncan Wood, president and chief executive of the California-based think tank Pacific Council, which focuses on foreign policy. where he specializes in critical minerals. Wood added that Trump’s appointments plus the work of the Biden administration to understand the need for critical minerals in the economy as well as the resurgence around economic nationalism would help to further deep sea mining’s case in the U.S.

Additional momentum in the sector comes from The Metals Company, a prospective deep-sea mining company listed on Nasdaq, which intends to make its first application to mine the sea floor this year.

To do this, TMC will have to submit an application to representatives of the International Seabed Authority, a U.N. body tasked with looking after the sea floor, which is due to meet in March this year to hash out rules and regulations on deep-sea mining. Last year, during meetings at the ISA’s headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, significant progress was made on a code for the deep-sea mining industry, though gaps still remain around royalties and environmental practices.

TMC has said it will launch its application with the Republic of Nauru, an island country in Micronesia and a member of the ISA. Member states can apply to mine the deep sea on behalf of private companies. TMC and Nauru intend to submit their application on June 27, ahead of the organization’s second meeting this year in July, forcing representatives of other member countries to make a decision on whether to give it the go-ahead. In the past year, the number of members opposed to deep-sea mining has grown to 32, according to environmental charity Greenpeace.

Deep-sea mining is covered in part by the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. While the U.S. isn’t party to the convention, and can’t vote on matters relating to the international seabed, it sends one of the largest delegations to the meetings in Jamaica and has a presence during the talks. Wood added it would be unlikely that the Trump administration ratifies UNCLOS during its term given Trump’s reticence to global treaties like the Paris climate agreement.

Louisa Casson, Greenpeace’s global lead on deep-sea mining, said when TMC launches its application, “governments are going to have to get off the fence because they will have to vote on it.”

“While there may be a lot of hype that TMC wants to spin, the decision is for the rest of the world on whether they want to open up the deep ocean,” said Casson. “And aligning with the Trump White House may not be the best way to win the world over.”

A complication for TMC could come in the form of the ISA’s new boss. At the start of this year, Leticia Carvalho, a Brazilian ocean scientist, assumed the role of Secretary-General of the ISA, following an election last summer.

“This is a new era for the ISA—one defined by collaboration, effectiveness, equity, inclusiveness, transparency, accountability and sustainability,” Carvalho said in a speech. “The deep seabed is one of Earth’s least explored frontiers, yet its ecosystems are vital to the health of our ocean and the planet. Our mandate is both a privilege and a responsibility—to act in the interest of all humankind and future generations.”

For TMC, the appointment last year of former Tesla executive Steve Jurvetson–a friend of Elon Musk–to the board may also prove to be propitious. Musk, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, has been appointed to head up Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency.

“This Trump administration is the shot in the arm this industry has been waiting for,” said Gerard Barron, chief executive of TMC.