Interior Sets Terms for First Seabed-Mining Auction Off American Samoa: Nov. 19, $3 Million Minimum Bids, No Rent for Five Years
The Interior Department on Monday set the final terms for what it calls its first-ever offshore mineral lease sale: an auction on Nov. 19 of the rights to two vast stretches of seafloor off American Samoa, together about 31.5 million acres, with a minimum bid of $3 million for each area and no rent owed for the first five years.
The Marine Minerals Administration, the Interior agency that replaced the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management this year, announced the Final Leasing Notice for the sale, called Lease Sale PACM-1, in a press release. The notice was filed for public inspection at the Federal Register on Monday and is scheduled to be published Tuesday, Oct. 20.
The leases cover minerals found in polymetallic nodules and ferromanganese crusts on the seabed, according to the notice. All other minerals, including oil and gas, stay with the government, according to the agency's decision memo.
The Terms of the American Samoa Seabed Mining Leases
The auction will be held Thursday, Nov. 19, at 9 a.m. Pacific time at the Ventura County Fire Department Headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, according to the notice. The venue will not be open to the public; the "oral ascending clock auction" will be live-streamed on the agency's website.
Two lease areas are offered. Area OCS-P 0568 covers about 16,332,256 acres and Area OCS-P 0569 covers about 15,170,979 acres.
The two areas lie roughly 150 to 240 miles from Pago Pago, according to the decision memo. The agency said it removed blocks within one leasing block of the Cook Islands' exclusive economic zone and of Rose Atoll Marine National Monument when it drew the lease areas.
Under the notice:
The minimum bid is $3,000,000 for each lease area.
Bidders must put down a deposit of 20 percent of the minimum bid, $600,000 per area, by Nov. 5. A company that wants a chance at both areas must post two deposits.
Each lease runs for a primary term of 20 years.
Rent is $0.00 per acre in lease years 0 through 5. It then rises in steps, depending on how much of the original area the company keeps: $0.30 to $1.20 per acre in years 6 to 10, $1.25 to $5.00 in years 11 to 15, and $2.50 to $10.00 in years 16 to 20.
The government takes a 5 percent royalty on minerals produced under an approved delineation or testing plan, 2 percent on production during the first five years under an approved mining plan, and 5 percent after that.
The notice says the United States "reserves the right to reject any and all bids, regardless of the amount offered."
The minimum bid, acreage and lease term are the same as in the proposed notice the agency published in July.
A Lease Is Not a Mining Permit
Winning an area does not mean a company can start mining. "A winning bid and securing a lease along the OCS, by itself, does not authorize immediate permission to harvest deep-sea minerals; it only authorizes preliminary activities like mapping," the agency said in its press release. It said companies would have to go through "a multi-stage post-auction regulatory process" before exploration, testing or commercial harvesting.
"Critical minerals are no longer just commodities; they are a vital strategic asset in global competition, essential for reaching our energy efficiency goals, strengthening our national defense, and securing domestic supply chains," acting Marine Minerals Administration Director Mike Olsen said in the release. He said the agency "recognizes the ocean floor surrounding American Samoa carries cultural, economic, and environmental significance."
The agency also issued a Finding of No Significant Impact, signed Oct. 14, which concludes that issuing the leases "will not significantly affect the quality of the human environment" and that "the preparation of an EIS is not required," meaning no full environmental impact statement.
What Interior Told American Samoa's Governor
Along with the notice, the agency posted its written answers to 14 recommendations that American Samoa's governor sent on Sept. 15, 2026. An Interior official exercising the authority of the assistant secretary for land and minerals management approved those answers on Oct. 15.
The governor's letter, as quoted in the agency's response, asked for strict environmental monitoring, protection of the territory's tuna fisheries and reporting on vessel traffic in Pago Pago Harbor. "Issuance of a lease under PACM-1 should not predetermine whether commercial mineral extraction will ever be authorized," the governor wrote.
The agency said it accepted the governor's recommendations "with qualification," and "to the extent allowed by law," mostly through lease conditions and future reviews.
On money, the governor asked Interior to find a way to give American Samoa "an equitable share of revenues generated from offshore mineral leasing associated with the Territory, including competitive lease bonus payments, acreage rentals, production royalties, and other federal receipts."
The agency said it supports the idea but cannot do it now: "existing law does not currently provide MMA with the authority to provide revenue sharing." It pointed to a House bill, H.R. 10318, filed by Rep. King-Hinds, and said it is "actively working" with Interior leadership and lawmakers on new authority.
Opposition and a Lawsuit
American Samoa's top elected leaders "expressed unified opposition to the proposed commercial leasing" of the territory's waters after a June 13, 2025 meeting, according to a release from the American Samoa Government. That release said the territory's moratorium on seabed mining, set by Executive Order 006-24, "has not been repealed, and therefore, remains in full force and effect."
The lease areas are in federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf, and the notice says the sale is held under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
On Aug. 18, 2026, the community group Fa'asao Amerika Samoa and the Conservation Council for Hawai'i, represented by Earthjustice, sued in federal court in Hawaii, challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service's conclusion that deep-sea mining "is not likely to adversely affect" species protected by the Endangered Species Act, according to Earthjustice. Earthjustice called it the first lawsuit to challenge deep-sea mining in U.S. waters.
How the Sale Came About
The sale began with an unsolicited request from Impossible Metals, Inc. on April 8, 2025, according to the agency's decision memo. The agency asked for public comment in June 2025, extended the comment period at the governor's request, identified the area in November 2025 and published the proposed notice on July 17, 2026.
In a statement to TDFP, Mike Olsen, acting director of the Interior Department's Marine Minerals Administration, said the ocean floor around American Samoa "carries cultural, economic, and environmental significance," and that the agency's "priority remains guided by science, environmental review, and meaningful engagement with the people and leadership of American Samoa."
An agency spokesperson added that "a lease does not authorize extraction" and that any future mining proposal "would undergo subsequent multi-agency environmental and regulatory reviews where local concerns can continue to be addressed." On the governor's request for a share of the money, the spokesperson said that under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, "there is no statutory mechanism that grants U.S. territories such as American Samoa a direct share of lease bonuses, rentals, or royalties."
TDFP has also asked the Office of the Governor of American Samoa for comment and will update this story.
Sources: Marine Minerals Administration / BOEM, "American Samoa Outer Continental Shelf Pacific Mineral Lease Sale 1," Final Leasing Notice, FR Doc. 2026-21462 (public inspection Oct. 19, 2026; publishes Oct. 20, 2026): https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-21462.pdf ; MMA press release, "MMA Announces Final Leasing Notice for first-ever Offshore Mineral Lease Sale" (Oct. 19, 2026): https://www.boem.gov/newsroom/press-releases/mma-announces-final-leasing-notice-first-ever-offshore-mineral-lease-sale ; MMA decision memo on the Final Leasing Notice (Oct. 16, 2026) and MMA response to the Governor of American Samoa (Oct. 15, 2026), both at https://www.boem.gov/marine-minerals/potential-american-samoa-offshore-minerals-lease-sale ; American Samoa Government, "Leadership United" (June 23, 2025): https://www.americansamoa.gov/leadershipunited ; Earthjustice (Aug. 18, 2026): https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/lawsuit-targets-first-deep-sea-mining-lease-sale-in-us-waters
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