Lockheed Martin In Talks To Tap Untouched Pacific Mining Licenses Amid Global Mineral Push

Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT is in talks with mining companies to enable the development of its licensed areas on the Pacific seabed. The move comes as global competition for critical minerals continues to intensify.

What Happened: Lockheed Martin is in preliminary discussions with several companies to utilize its two eastern Pacific licenses. These licenses, secured from US regulators in the early 1980s, have recently garnered significant interest from undersea mining groups, despite never being utilized, reported the Financial Times.

Frank St John, Lockheed's COO, confirmed that the companies have “done the homework and determined there is value there”, but refrained from commenting on the potential worth of the deposits. The rising demand for critical raw materials, used in industries ranging from electric vehicle batteries to modern defense technologies, has sparked this interest.

 “We are in early stages of conversations with several companies about giving them access to our licenses and allowing them to process those materials,” stated St John.

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Why It Matters: The global demand for critical minerals, used in products ranging from electric vehicle batteries to modern defense technologies, has surged. This demand, coupled with China’s dominant position in the critical minerals market, has prompted Western countries to seek ways to strengthen their domestic supply chains.

President Donald Trump's executive order in April, asserting the U.S. right to grant mining licenses in international waters, has intensified the global competition. Although the U.S. has not ratified the treaty that grants authority to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), it has signed an agreement acknowledging the treaty's provisions related to the seabed.

Economist Craig Shapiro suggested a $2 billion plan to secure the U.S. supply of these vital materials. The plan aims to strengthen rare earth supply chains by fast-tracking projects via the Defense Production Act and NEPA, building domestic processing and manufacturing facilities, creating an international "Allied REE Bloc," and stockpiling key rare earth materials.

Benzinga's Edge Rankings place Lockheed in the 47th percentile for quality and the 53rd percentile for growth, reflecting its strong performance in both areas. Check the detailed report here. 

On a year-to-date basis, Lockheed Martin stock dropped 3.06%.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.