Critical minerals are non-fuel mineral or mineral material essential to the economic or national security of the U.S. and which has a supply chain vulnerable to disruption. Critical minerals are essential to high-tech applications in medical, defense, and energy industries. Progress in the energy transition is especially vulnerable to critical mineral supply insecurity- especially green technologies such as wind farms, energy storage, and electric vehicles. Common marine minerals such as polymetallic nodules and polymetallic crusts are enriched in critical mineral content, such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, rare earth elements, and other metals. A few key major contractors well known for their success in the deepwater oil and gas sector are investing, designing, building, and testing deepwater mineral harvesting systems including executing a major test on at the NORI D mine site in the Eastern Pacific in 2022 2023. This panel will discuss why a secure critical mineral supply is important to successfully bridging the energy transition and how much US domestic and global supply could ultimately come from the deep marine resource as well as the immediate and mid-term challenges