The head of submarine mining pioneer The Metals Company told AFP he had "no doubt" the Canadian firm would be the first to to extract coveted minerals from the deep seas, with help from Donald Trump.

Metal-containing deep-sea nodules, which have the appearance of potato-size pebbles and typically contain nickel and cobalt, are highly sought for use in electric vehicle batteries and electric cables, and the race is on to be the first to extract them from the untapped deep sea.

TMC's chief executive Gerard Barron told AFP in an interview in New York that his company was sure to win the race.

The company turned its back on the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which has jurisdiction over the international seabed, complaining over its slow pace in adopting a mining code that establishes

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