India deepens quest for seabed minerals

The Indian government has recently approved the proposal of Ministry of Earth Sciences for a ‘Deep Ocean Mission’, with a view to explore deep ocean for resources and develop deep sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), deep-sea mining is the process of retrieving mineral deposits from the deep sea, which is at a depth of 200 metres below the ocean and covers about 65 per cent of the earth’s surface.

The government’s official statement highlights that oceans, which cover 70% of the globe, remain a key part of our life. About 95% of the deep ocean remains unexplored. For India, with its three sides surrounded by the oceans and around 30% of the country’s population living in coastal areas, ocean is a major economic factor supporting fisheries and aquaculture, tourism, livelihoods and blue trade. Oceans are also storehouse of food, energy, minerals, medicines, modulator of weather and climate and underpin life on Earth.

Considering importance of the oceans on sustainability, the United Nations (UN) has declared the decade, 2021-2030 as the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. India has a unique maritime position. Its 7517 km long coastline is home to nine coastal states and 1382 islands. The Government of India’s Vision of New India by 2030 enunciated in February 2019 highlighted the Blue Economy as one of the ten core dimensions of growth. The Blue Economy stands for the economic opportunities that are related to marine ecosystems and oceans.

As a report from Mongabay-India states, India had an early start in this field. India has been among the pioneer countries to work on deep-sea exploration of minerals. It started at least 40 years ago, in January 1981, when the Indian Research Vessel Gaveshani recovered the first polymetallic nodule samples from the Indian Ocean.

Polymetallic nodules contain valuable minerals such as manganese, iron, nickel, copper, cobalt and others. But mining for those will not be easy as the technologies required for deep-sea mining have strategic implications and are not commercially available

The Deep Ocean Mission consists of six major components.

First, the development of technologies for deep sea mining, and manned submersibles. Only a very few countries have acquired this capability. An Integrated Mining System will be also developed for mining polymetallic nodules from 6000 metres depth in the central Indian Ocean. This component will help the Blue Economy priority area of exploring and harnessing of deep sea minerals and energy.

Second, the development of ocean climate change advisory services. A suite of observations and models will be developed to understand and provide future projections of important climate variables on seasonal to decadal time scales under this proof of concept component. This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of coastal tourism.

Third, technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity. Bio-prospecting of deep sea flora and fauna including microbes and studies on sustainable utilization of deep sea bio-resources will be the main focus. This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of Marine Fisheries and allied services.

Fourth, deep ocean survey and exploration. The primary objective of this component is to explore and identify potential sites of multi-metal hydrothermal sulphides mineralization along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges. This component will additionally support the Blue Economy priority area of deep sea exploration of ocean resources.

Fifth, energy and freshwater from the ocean. Studies and detailed engineering design for offshore ocean thermal energy conversion powered desalination plant are envisaged in this proof of concept proposal. This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of off-shore energy development.

Finally, sixth, advanced marine station for ocean biology. This is aimed at development of human capacity and enterprise in ocean biology and engineering and will support the Blue Economy priority area of Marine Biology, Blue trade and Blue manufacturing.

As countries across the world including India gear up to mine the deep seabed for minerals, there is a growing number of organizations across the world that are seeking a moratorium or pause to such plans until marine biodiversity concerns are assessed and addressed. The IUCN stresses that the concern is that the scraping of the seafloor and pollution from mining processes can wipe out entire species – many of which are yet to be discovered. It says the environmental impact assessments, effective regulation and mitigation strategies are needed to limit the impacts of deep-sea mining.