Washington, D.C., Nov. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The miners of the future may not carry pickaxes. They may not even be human. In Texas, they swim.
Researchers at Texas A&M University are building tiny, fish-like robots designed to hunt for lithium in seawater. The robots are activated by light, so they can swim through the water and seek out lithium ions. Once their job is done, they’re pulled back out with magnets.
The project, led by Dr. Shiren Wang and Dr. Jenny Qiu, is backed by a $1 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s one of 19 critical minerals projects the agency funded. It’s still early research, not a working mine. But it shows how far America is now willing to go to secure the metal inside every battery.
In a recent free presentation, former White House and Federal Reserve advisor Jim Rickards argues that America is entering a new era for minerals. “We haven’t seen a REAL mining boom in our lifetime,” he says. “And now, it’s about to happen, once again.”
A Mine Without a Mountain
Why go to all this trouble? Because of scale.
Lithium in seawater is extremely diluted, about 0.2 parts per million. But the oceans are so vast that the total amount far exceeds all known reserves on land. The challenge has always been collecting it efficiently.
That’s where the robot fish come in. Instead of waiting for lithium to flow into a filter, they actively chase it down. Dr. Qiu describes it as an alternative to “traditional mining that digs up land or pumps brine from underground and requires massive amounts of energy.”
From Claim Stakes to Chemistry
Rickards takes viewers back to the laws that launched America’s great resource rushes.
Under the Homestead Act of 1862, he explains, settlers could claim 160 acres of public land for $18. Then came the Mining Law of 1872. “Back then, anyone could make a claim,” Rickards says. “All you had to do was pay $2 to $5 per acre… and do a minimal amount of work.”
So many people cashed in, he says, that “a phrase was invented to describe it: ‘rags to riches.’”
Those booms took covered wagons and back-breaking labor. Rickards says this one is different. “You don’t have to ‘move’ anywhere to take advantage of this opportunity,” he says.
Robot fish take that idea even further. Today’s prospectors wear lab coats, and the claim is a chemical process.
Won’t a Flood of New Minerals Hurt the Dollar?
Back when gold was money, every big strike expanded the money supply and pushed up prices. Could a modern mineral rush do the same?
Rickards says no. “Today, there’s not a single currency on earth that’s backed by anything of real or lasting value,” he says. In his view, the next mineral rush is about industry, not money printing.
The New Frontier
Robot fish in the ocean. Federal money behind lithium research. A country rethinking where its critical minerals come from.
The next great American resource story may look nothing like the gold rushes of the past. Rickards’ presentation looks back at those booms, then asks what a new one could mean today, and who’s best positioned when it arrives.
About This Presentation
America’s last great mineral rushes built cities and fortunes. Jim Rickards believes the next one is starting now. In The American Birthright, his free presentation, he connects America’s resource history to today’s race for critical minerals. He also explains what he thinks it could mean for the value of the nation’s untapped deposits. Watch here.
About Jim Rickards
Jim Rickards’ career tracks some of the biggest moments in modern American finance. In the 1980s, he helped the U.S. end the Iranian Hostage Crisis. In the 1990s, Alan Greenspan called on him to help contain a $1.9 trillion banking crisis. In 2007, he testified before the U.S. Treasury, warning of the financial crisis to come. Today, he’s known for connecting geopolitics, resources and markets.
Derek Warren Public Relations Manager Paradigm Press Group Email: dwarren@paradigmpressgroup.com
