India Racing to Mine Battery Metals Undersea

India is taking another step in its quest to find valuable minerals hidden in the depths of the ocean which could hold the key to a cleaner future. India applied to the International Seabed Authority (ISBA), Jamaica, for rights to explore two vast tracts in the Indian Ocean seabed that aren’t part of its jurisdiction.

1: Dimension-The global race for mineral resources

• Countries including China, Russia and India are vying to reach the huge deposits of mineral resources - cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese - that lie thousands of metres below the surface of oceans. These are used to produce renewable energy such as solar and wind power, electric vehicles and battery technology needed to battle against climate change.
• The UN-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA) has issued 31 exploration licences so far, of which 30 are active.
• If the ISA approves India's new applications, its licence count will be equal to that of Russia and one less than China. India already has two deep-sea exploration licences in the Indian Ocean.
• India’s application for two regions:
  • AN Seamount: One of these regions is a cobalt-rich crust long known as the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount (AN Seamount).
  • Carlsberg Ridge: One of India's applications seeks to explore polymetallic sulphides - chimney-like mounds near hydrothermal vents containing copper, zinc, gold and silver - in the Carlsberg Ridge of the Central Indian Ocean.
• India, China, Germany and South Korea already have exploration licences for polymetallic sulphides in the Indian Ocean ridge area.

2: Dimension-Rights for Open Ocean

• No countries can claim sovereignty over open oceans. Around 60% of the world’s seas are open ocean and though believed to be rich in a variety of mineral wealth.
• Currently no country has commercially extracted resources from open oceans.
• Countries have exclusive rights up to 200 nautical miles, and its underlying sea-bed from their borders.
• Some ocean-bound states may have a natural stretch of land, connecting their border and the edge of the deep ocean that extends beyond this 200, as part of their so-called continental shelf.
• UNCLOS-linked body, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf decides on the limits of a country’s continental shelf.

3: Dimension-Environmental Concerns

• Deep seabed is the last frontier in the planet that remains largely unstudied and untouched by humanity and mining there could cause irreparable damage, no matter how pressing the need.
• Around two dozen countries - including the UK, Germany, Brazil and Canada - are also demanding either a halt or a temporary pause on deep-sea mining, given what they say is a lack of information about the marine ecosystems in those depths.