The Metals Company (TMC) will instead seek permission from the U.S. to start deep-sea mining in the Pacific Ocean, rather than from the UN-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA).

Co-founder and CEO Gerard Barron says he believes U.S. could help start mining “much sooner than we would have been under the ISA pathway.”

The move has alarmed observers and the ISA. The agency, since forming in 1994, and its nearly 170 member nations have been working to set regulations for mining in international waters but has yet to finalize any. It has issued exploration permits, but none for commercial mining.