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The Ministry of Earth Sciences and the National Institute of Ocean Technology held an Industry Outreach Workshop on 'Deep Sea Mining - Business Opportunities and Strategic Importance' at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, with EY as knowledge partner and NITI Aayog associated.
India holds an exclusive International Seabed Authority exploration contract over 75,000 sq km of the Central Indian Ocean Basin, estimated to hold roughly 366 to 380 million tonnes of polymetallic nodules.
India is the first nation to hold two exploration contracts for polymetallic sulphides, the more recent one covering the Carlsberg Ridge.
Under the Rs 4,077 crore Deep Ocean Mission, NIOT has demonstrated indigenous deep-sea mining crawler systems at depths beyond 5,000 metres in the Indian Ocean.
A White Paper on Deep Sea Mining is planned; commercial mining of nodules in international waters can begin only once the ISA issues its Exploitation Code.
Launched by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in September 2021 with an outlay of Rs 4,077 crore, to explore deep-ocean resources, develop deep-sea technologies and support the Blue Economy.
Key: Six components covering deep-sea mining and a manned submersible, ocean climate change advisory services, deep-sea biodiversity, deep-ocean survey and exploration, energy and freshwater from the ocean, and an advanced marine station for ocean biology. NIOT has demonstrated mining crawler systems beyond 5,000 metres depth.
The manned submersible component of the Deep Ocean Mission, developing a self-propelled vehicle to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 metres for deep-ocean exploration.
Key: Matsya-6000 is being built at NIOT, Chennai, with a titanium alloy personnel sphere, designed for 12 hours of normal operation extendable to 96 hours in an emergency.
Approved by the Union Cabinet in January 2025 to build a resilient value chain for critical minerals, from exploration and mining through processing to recovery from end-of-life products.
Key: Administered by the Ministry of Mines for 2024-25 to 2030-31, with an outlay of Rs 16,300 crore plus an expected Rs 18,000 crore of PSU investment, coordinated by an Empowered Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. India's list of critical minerals, drawn up in November 2022, names 30 minerals, of which 24 sit in Part D of Schedule I of the MMDR Act, 1957.
Develops India's indigenous deep-sea technology, including the mining crawler and the Matsya-6000 submersible; co-host of the workshop.
The autonomous body through which States Parties to UNCLOS organise and control mineral-related activity in the Area, on behalf of humankind as a whole; it awards exploration contracts and must issue the Exploitation Code before commercial mining can start.
Associated with the workshop as the government's policy think tank, linking deep-sea mineral strategy to India's wider critical-mineral and energy-transition planning.
Nodules are potato-sized lumps that sit loose on the abyssal plain and are rich in manganese, nickel, cobalt and copper. Sulphides form as mineral chimneys around hydrothermal vents on mid-ocean ridges and carry copper, zinc, gold and silver. India's nodule contract is in the Central Indian Ocean Basin; its sulphide contracts are on ridges.
Simple Analogy: Nodules are pebbles lying on a plain; sulphides are deposits built up at a hot spring.
Part XI defines 'the Area' — the seabed, ocean floor and subsoil beyond the limits of national jurisdiction — as the common heritage of humankind, and creates the International Seabed Authority to administer its mineral resources.
The instrument under which the ISA actually came into existence on 16 November 1994, reworking Part XI's deep-seabed mining regime to make it acceptable to industrialised states.
The mining regulations the ISA must adopt before commercial exploitation of nodules in international waters can begin. Until it is issued, India's contracts permit exploration only — the single most important limit on the workshop's commercial ambitions.
Part D of Schedule I lists 24 of India's 30 identified critical minerals, the domestic counterpart to the seabed effort under the National Critical Mineral Mission.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Developments and Applications; Economy > Resource Security
General Awareness > Science and Government Missions
Consider the following statements: 1. The Global Ocean Commission grants licences for seabed exploration and mining in international waters. 2. India has received licences for seabed mineral exploration in international waters. 3. 'Rare earth minerals' are present on seafloor in international waters. Which of the statements given above are correct?
Answer: 2 and 3 only
Under UNCLOS Part XI, the seabed and ocean floor and their subsoil beyond national jurisdiction, declared the common heritage of humankind and administered by the ISA.
The ISA's pending set of regulations governing commercial mining in the Area; until it is adopted, contractors may only explore.
An integrated chain running from seabed extraction through offshore engineering and metallurgy to downstream battery manufacturing.