According to the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (NASA) Jim Bridenstein, any country can legally extract resources on the Moon, such mining is in accordance with the provisions of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
As a confirmation of his words, he cited the example of fishing for tuna in the ocean. “When you invest the capital and effort to catch tuna in the ocean, it becomes yours, even though the ocean continues to be shared. The same principle should apply to the resources of the moon. If the United States begins to extract minerals there, this does not mean that the Earth’s satellite belongs to the United States, “Bridenstein said, quoted by RIA Novosti.