India to Scout Pacific Ocean For Critical Minerals

India will apply for licences to explore for deep-sea minerals in the Pacific Ocean as it competes to secure supplies of minerals critical for energy transition technologies.

Key points

The UN-backed International Seabed Authority (ISA) has issued 31 deep-sea exploration licences, including two for India in the Indian Ocean, but is yet to allow mining because the 36-member body is still working on regulations.
China, Russia, and some Pacific Island nations have already secured exploration licences for the Pacific Ocean.
India plans to focus on the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a vast plain between Hawaii and Mexico known to hold large volumes of polymetallic nodules containing minerals used in electric vehicles and solar panels including manganese, nickel, copper, and cobalt.
India also expects to receive two more exploration permits from the ISA in 2024 for the Indian Ocean, focused on the Carlsberg Ridge and Afanasy-Nikitin Seamount regions, known for polymetallic sulphide deposits and ferromanganese crusts.
The permits last for 15 years.
First discovered by British sailors in 1873, the potato-shaped nodules take millions of years to form.
Polymetallic sulphide deposits contain metals such as copper, gold, silver and zinc. Ferromanganese crusts are known for cobalt, nickel, manganese, platinum and rare earth elements among other resources.

International Seabed Authority (ISA)

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is an autonomous international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1994 Agreement).
ISA, which has its headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, came into existence on 16 November 1994, upon the entry into force of UNCLOS. It became fully operational as an autonomous international organization in June 1996.