India applies for mining in Indian Ocean

• Context (TH): India applied to the International Seabed Authority (ISBA) for rights to explore Afanasy Nikitin Seamount and Carlsberg ridge in the Indian Ocean seabed.
• These patches are not part of India’s exclusive jurisdiction.

Afanasy Nikitin Seamount

• Cobalt-rich crust and a structural feature (400 km long and 150 km wide) in the Central Indian Basin, located about 3,000 km away from India’s coast.
• It is rich in deposits of cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper.
• Sri Lanka has already claimed rights to the region.
• China is also undertaking reconnaissance in this region.

Carlsberg Ridge

• It is a mid-oceanic ridge area spanning 3,00,000 square km.
• Location: South of Arabian Sea and northeast of Somali basin in the Central Indian Ocean.
• India has applied for investigation for polymetallic sulphides in this region.

Rights over Ocean Resources

Exploration rights

• Specific to areas that are part of the open ocean, meaning the ocean — whose air, surface and sea-bed — where no countries can claim sovereignty.
• If a region isn’t classified as part of a country’s continental shelf, it is considered ‘high sea’.
• Such a region is open to any country approaching the ISBA and asking permission to explore.
• Currently, no country has commercially extracted resources from open oceans.

Exclusive rights

• Countries have exclusive rights up to 200 nautical miles and their underlying seabed.
• Extended continental shelf claims are to be supported with detailed scientific rationale, complete with underwater maps and surveys (Can go up to 350 nautical miles).
• Bay of Bengal countries can apply a different set of criteria to make claims on the extent of their continental shelf.
  • Using this, Sri Lanka has claimed up to 500 nautical miles (including Afanasy Nikitin Seamount).

For more details, visit > Deep Sea Mining.