James Deckelman

Future-Oriented Companies: Technology & Mineral Innovation for the Data Center Economy | Sept. 24

• Top takeaway He argues the real returns in the cited $7 trillion data center build-out sit in power infrastructure, cooling and physical real estate — about 25% of that capital, roughly $1.75 trillion, by his reading of the scenario.
• He argues polymetallic nodules will augment, not replace, tightening terrestrial supply of copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese, with first commercial recovery permits possibly issued within a year of the panel and first commercial production in the coming years.
• He argues US policy support for seabed mining is real and likely durable, citing the April 2025 executive order declaring seabed minerals a national security priority, BOEM lease sales planned for November and December, and more than $16 billion in US government critical minerals commitments over the prior 10 months.
• He argues Deep Sea Minerals is partly insulated from any AI slowdown because its target minerals also serve defense and energy-transition demand, including the cobalt, nickel and copper used in phones and laptops.
• He stresses the company works strictly through NOAA under DISHMA, a review process he says can take over a year from application to potential award and should not be shortcut.

Deep Sea Minerals' CEO argues polymetallic nodules (seafloor rocks holding copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese) can augment, not replace, land-based mining. Power shortages are AI's real bottleneck; Chip AI's CEO says transformer, switchgear (grid electrical gear), and memory backlogs push capacity toward 2029. Panelists see historic US critical-minerals policy support: seabed mining declared a national security priority, backed by multibillion-dollar government financing commitments. James Deckelman cites an estimated 50,000 tons of copper per new AI data center, with nickel, cobalt, and manganese demand close behind. FUTR's CEO argues personal data is an investable asset class, with consumer-owned vaults and AI agents capturing value big tech currently keeps.

Deep Sea Minerals ($SEAS | $DSEAF): Strategy for Seabed Critical Minerals

• Top takeaway Deckelman frames deep-sea mining as a strategic fix for US reliance on imported critical minerals, citing the April 2025 Trump executive order declaring seabed minerals a national-security priority, the January 2026 presidential proclamation on import risk, and the February 2026 announcement of Project Vault, a $12 billion critical-mineral stockpile.
• He argues polymetallic nodules offer a lower-carbon, lower-waste, lower-land-impact alternative to terrestrial mining, addressing declining ore grades, higher costs, and social/environmental resistance to land-based extraction as energy-transition demand grows over the next 10-15 years.
• He emphasizes jurisdictional and portfolio diversification — across the CCZ, the Cook Islands, and American Samoa — as the core risk-management lesson drawn from 25 years in deep-water oil and gas.
• He flags near-term catalysts over the next 1-2 months: NOAA full compliance determination on the CCZ application, Cook Islands exploration license submission, a NASDAQ uplist with possible concurrent financing, board additions, and external events such as the Odyssey Marine $1 billion pro forma reverse merger.
• He closes by positioning Deep Sea Minerals as an early-stage company 'at a pivotal moment' in an emerging demand-driven sector, citing execution against plan, strong share-price performance since inception, and multiple foundational catalysts ahead.

Deep Sea Minerals is seeking exploration licenses in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and Cook Islands for seabed polymetallic nodules rich in nickel, cobalt, manganese, and copper. The April 2026 CCZ exploration license application has cleared the NOAA substantial-compliance stage gate, with Cook Islands submission and full license award still ahead. US policy tailwinds now stack: an April 2025 executive order, a January 2026 presidential proclamation, and the February 2026 $12 billion Project Vault stockpile. An MOU with Impossible Metals opens the door to autonomous, riserless robotic nodule collection evaluated against future exploration license areas. A May 2026 NASDAQ uplist filing and a planned C$50 million shelf prospectus would broaden US investor access and liquidity.

Deep Sea Minerals ($SEAS | $DSEAF): Potential NASDAQ Uplisting & Exploration Strategy

• Top takeaway He is staking the near-term story on the NASDAQ uplisting: BCSC final receipt for the C$50 million base shelf came July 28, which he calls critical to the uplist and to a planned concurrent US financing.
• He argues seabed nodule harvesting has a fundamentally lower risk profile than terrestrial mining or offshore oil and gas: the nodules rest unattached on the seafloor, so there is no cutting, blasting, tunneling, overburden removal or tailings, and deposits are mapped by AUV/ROV video and sampled with box cores.
• He is mitigating jurisdictional risk by positioning across the Cook Islands EEZ, the US EEZ via BOEM in American Samoa, and international waters under both the ISA and NOAA regimes, while stressing strict legal and procedural rigor on the NOAA application.
• He positions Deep Sea Minerals as a deliberate second mover that benefits from The Metals Company's groundwork, including more than US$250 million of environmental work and the sector's only published project economics.
• He argues fiscal terms such as royalties, taxes and revenue sharing remain negotiable and unsettled, with stabilization clauses the standard mitigation, and says the Cook Islands target areas already carry minerals in the CIM inferred category, removing discovery risk.

Deep Sea Minerals received BCSC final receipt for its C$50 million shelf prospectus on July 28, advancing its planned NASDAQ uplisting. Polymetallic nodules lie loose on the seafloor; explorers map them with AUV and ROV video and sample with box cores — no drilling or blasting. The guest argues no commercial-scale nodule production exists yet, so proving harvesting machines run reliably is the industry's central risk, not discovery. Deep-sea licenses span several regulators (NOAA, BOEM, Cook Islands, ISA); the CEO says spreading applications across them mitigates jurisdiction risk. The hosts argue permit-ready Mexico silver developers such as GoGold and Silver Tiger trade depressed and could rerate as construction nears.

Deep Sea Minerals ($SEAS | $DSEAF) CEO on the Opportunity in Seabed Critical Minerals

• Top takeaway His thesis is that the sector reached an inflection point in the last 18 months: the April 2025 Trump executive order revived the 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act pathway, giving international-water projects a US regulatory route to commercial recovery that the ISA framework never provided.
• He argues the harvesting technology is already proven at pilot scale, with TMC and Allseas having recovered several thousand tons of nodules and processed 2,000 metric tons in Japan, so the remaining step is upscaling to steady-state production.
• He contends polymetallic nodules carry less resource risk than offshore oil and gas because they sit visible on the seafloor, requiring no remote definition or wellbores, and much equipment can transfer from decades of deepwater oil-and-gas operations.
• He expects robotic harvesting of the kind Impossible Metals is developing to achieve a lower cost per ton than track-based riser systems, while conceding he did not have a cost-per-ton figure at hand.
• He is candid that the industry remains nascent, with capital intensity comparable to oil and gas, real uncertainties and risks, and project economics that will only be defined as the sector matures.

Deep Sea Minerals plans to harvest polymetallic nodules, seafloor rocks bearing nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese, in the CCZ and Cook Islands. A 1980 US law, revived by a 2025 executive order, gives NOAA a commercial licensing path in international waters outside the ISA. At about a $56 million market cap, the CEO positions the company far below multi-billion-dollar seabed peers TMC and the Odyssey Marine merger. Hosts see gold support at $3,500-$3,850 and silver at $50-$55, with the HUI (gold miners index) down 37% creating buying setups. Near-term catalysts include a NASDAQ uplisting, a Cook Islands license submission, NOAA full compliance, a $50 million shelf, and the Impossible Metals partnership.