Welcome back: We have three stories on critical minerals for you today, those elusive comodities considered vital for the construction of electric-vehicle batteries as well as smartphones and even missiles. 

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Trump's minerals-for-security deal may come with unexpected consequences: child miners. Meanwhile, Brazil is offering an alternative to China in rare-earths processing. And we take a look at the science of deep-sea mining and the search for sea-floor minerals. 

But first, the Empire Wind energy project off the coast of New York is back on after an abrupt about-face by the Trump administration. Norwegian energy group Equinor said it was informed by the Interior Department earlier this week that a stop-work order issued a month ago had been lifted, allowing construction to continue.

The company had called the halt “unprecedented and in our view unlawful” but hadn’t taken legal action. But the decision had alarmed the industry and developers have been reassessing major energy and mining projects across the U.S., questioning which other projects might be targeted.

Global Wind Energy Council CEO Ben Backwell said the council was pleased to see Empire Wind restarted, noting that the project represents a $5 billion investment in the U.S. economy, providing 1,500 jobs.

Backwell pointed out that such projects require policy consistency and certainty if they are going to deliver infrastructure needed to meet the electricity demands of a growing economy.

"Empire Wind and other U.S. offshore wind farms under construction are examples of new infrastructure investment, driving $40 billion of supply chain investment across 40 states, providing 56,000 jobs," he said.

The U.S. and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are in talks over a possible minerals deal that would see the former providing security assistance to the latter in exchange for some of the country’s natural resources. But charities are warning that any investment in the DRC comes with the risk of encouraging forced labor and child mining in the country, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Yusuf Khan writes.

Nonprofits such as the Fair Cobalt Alliance and academics have warned that if investment does flow into the DRC from the U.S. as part of an effort to secure minerals, it would likely raise rates of artisanal and small-scale mining, or ASM, in the country.

Artisanal mining refers to the informal sector of the industry where metals and minerals are extracted using crude equipment and often by hand on the sides of mining concessions. In places like the DRC, child laborers often make up part of that workforce, which as a whole is estimated at 2 million strong in the country.

For the U.S., pushing investment into the country would mean spurring the informal sector, and with it the prospect of metals being mined by children, according to those familiar with Congolese mining.

• War-Torn Congo Has a Deal for Trump: Kick Out Rebels, Get Minerals
• While War Rages, Congo’s Neighbors Smuggle Out Its Mineral Wealth
• Dangerous Cobalt Mines in Congo Pose Challenges for Big Tech

After the U.S. set tariffs on China last month, China tightened restrictions on the export of rare-earth materials, those 17 metallic elements considered critical for making electric cars, smartphones and missiles. This is worrying U.S. manufacturers including Tesla and redoubling their hunt for non-China alternatives, the WSJ's Samantha Pearson and Jon Emont report.

China mines some 70% of the world’s rare earths. But its 90% share of processing for rare earths mined around the world is what really concerns officials from other countries working to secure their supply.

Now interest is growing in alternatives. Canada’s Aclara Resources is opening a rare-earths mine in Brazil to supply a processing plant it plans to build in the U.S. It has also signed an agreement to supply rare earths to VAC, a German company building a factory in South Carolina with $94 million in Pentagon funding to make magnets for clients including GM.

Brazil has the world’s second-largest rare-earth reserves after China, some 21 million tons, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That represents more than a fifth of known reserves—more than 10 times those in the U.S.

• China Loosens Grip on Magnet Exports, Relieving Carmakers
• The Rare-Earth Mineral That Has the EV Industry in a Panic
• How China Beat the U.S. to Become Top in Rare-Earths Refining

Deep-sea mining—off-limits in international waters since 1982—has the backing of the Trump administration. Ocean scientists are racing to determine whether marine life can coexist with machines that rake their habitat for undersea treasure, the WSJ's Eric Niiler writes.

A 2023 survey of marine life in the proposed mining area by the Natural History Museum of London found that 90% of marine creatures living near the nodules are new species, challenging the idea that the vast mining area is an ecological wasteland.

Conservationists say that sea mining will destroy this bottom-dwelling sea life, while mud and debris from the mining process will disturb shallower parts of the ocean.

More recently, a team from the U.K.’s National Oceanography Center discovered that marine life is returning to areas of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone that underwent similar tests in 1979, suggesting that the environmental impact might be limited to the mining site.

• Trump Signs Executive Order Calling for U.S. Deep-Sea Mining
• A Miner Goes Bust, Another Goes Solo as Progress on Rules Stalls
• From the Deep Sea to D.C.—How China Fears Have Put Ocean-Floor Mining on Washington’s Radar

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WSJ Pro Sustainable Business gives you an inside look at how companies are tackling sustainability. Send comments to bureau chief Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com and reporters Clara Hudson at clara.hudson@wsj.com and Yusuf Khan at yusuf.khan@wsj.com. Follow us on LinkedIn at wsjperry, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.