In B.C. court filings, American Metal says it entered a confidentiality agreement with The Metals Company after it expressed interest in buying a stake in American Metal. According to American Metal’s complaint, which has not yet been tested in court, The Metals Company seized a window of opportunity during the deal talks to get ahead of American Metal in the queue for deepsea mining applications with U.S. regulators. (The Logic, Business in Vancouver)

Talking point: Court records show The Metals Company has not yet filed a legal response to the allegations, which also include breach of contract and confidence, and the firm did not respond to The Logic’s request for comment by deadline. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has signalled it will support deepsea miners, which aim to extract critical minerals like nickel, cobalt and copper from seabeds and provide an alternative to China’s massive metals supply chain. Vancouver is becoming the epicentre of the industrial race—and legal conflict. Robert Heydon, now the CEO of American Metal, was previously the co-founder of the company that later became The Metals Company in Vancouver.