India to seek licences to scout Pacific Ocean for critical minerals

Commercial Metals

22/07/2024 08:53

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      India to speed up search for minerals in international
waters
    

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      New Delhi awaits two more exploration permits for Indian
Ocean
    

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      India to develop technical know-how for deep-sea mining
    

  
    By Neha Arora and Mayank Bhardwaj
       NEW DELHI, July 22 (Reuters) - 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, a top government scientist told
Reuters.
    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.
    The 36-member ISA council is meeting in Jamaica this month
to negotiate the latest draft of a mining code.
    M. Ravichandran, the top scientist at India's Ministry of
Earth Sciences, said his ministry will work closely with India's
mining industry as it readies to apply next year for exploration
of seabed minerals in the Pacific.
    India's critical minerals plans in the Pacific have not been
previously reported.
    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.
    First discovered by British sailors in 1873, the
potato-shaped nodules take millions of years to form.
    RESERVOIR OF MINERALS
    Unlike China, India lacks seabed mining expertise and will
take at least three to four years before it is ready to extract
minerals from the ocean's depths, experts said.
    "We have done a lot of work on the deep sea mining
technology but not perfected (it). In that aspect, we are not
yet ready," said M. Rajeevan, former chief of India's Ministry
of Earth Sciences.
    Opponents of deep-sea mining say that not enough is known
about its impact on marine ecosystems.
    "I am not confident that current technologies and methods
can overcome the environmental concerns," said Pradeep Singh, an
ocean governance specialist at the Research Institute for
Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany.
    Some 27 countries have called for a moratorium or suspension
of all ocean mining-related activities, but some Pacific nations
including Nauru and Cook Islands favour deep-sea mining. Nauru
is expected to submit a mining license application to the ISA on
behalf of Canada's The Metals Company  TMC.O  later this year.
    India also expects to receive two more exploration permits
from the ISA this year for the Indian Ocean, focused on the
Carlsberg Ridge and Afanasy-Nikitin Seamount regions, known for
polymetallic sulphide deposits and ferromanganese crusts,
Ravichandran said. 
    The permits last for 15 years, according to the ISA website.
    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.
    India, which relies on imports of raw materials such as
copper and lithium, has listed 24 minerals as "critical" for
energy transition. It is also scouting for overseas mineral
assets to meet its rising green energy requirements.
    "This is like racing," Ravichandran said of the urgency to
seek seabed minerals.

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GRAPHIC-Clarion-Clipperton Zone    https://reut.rs/3Sh6zPC
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 (Reporting by Neha Arora and Mayank Bhardwaj; graphics by Anand
Katakam; editing by Tony Munroe and Miral Fahmy)
 ((mayank.bhardwaj@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@MayankBhardwaj9;))