India to mine indian ocean seabed for gold, silver

[Lions Of Punjab]

The central government is all set to exploit 10,000 sq kms of the Indian Ocean seabed for minerals including gold, silver and platinum.

According to a top scientist, the earth sciences ministry is finalising a contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to formally enable India exploit 10,000 sq kms of the Indian Ocean seabed for minerals including gold, silver and platinum.

Director of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) S Rajan, who attended a three-day Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan at Panaji over the weekend, said the legal and technical commission to the Jamaica-based authority had also approved exploration plans submitted by India.

"Action has been initiated to formalise a contract with the ISA facilitating the initiation of a 15-year programme of mineral exploration in the allocated area," Rajan said.

The Goa-based NCAOR had been designated as the lead agency for this programme by the Union Earth Sciences ministry. The scientist said mid-ocean ridges in the central and south western parts of the Indian Ocean were rich in metals like copper, lead, zinc as well as other noble metals like gold, silver, palladium and platinum.

"The deep ocean realm along the mid-ocean ridges has kindled a lot of interest, primarily on account of the high concentration of base metals and many noble metals in them," Rajan added.

India to mine Indian Ocean seabed for gold, silver - bdnews24.com

 

[Kyubi]

Just hope that they will also consider the ecological impact of mining the sea bed. We may as well be endangering ocean ecosystem.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

In the 1970s, manganese nodules captured the interest of researchers as a possible source of rare metals such as nickel, copper and cobalt, which are also mixed in with the manganese in the strange seafloor deposits. But interest petered out because of the difficulty in mining the ocean depths and the technological advances in extracting ore on land.

Vast Bed of Metal Balls Found in Deep Sea

 

[Srinivas_K]

India is blessed with lot of sea bed under its control in IOR. India needs to explore and exploit it to become strong and make this region peaceful !

The central government is all set to exploit 10,000 sq kms of the Indian Ocean seabed for minerals including gold, silver and platinum.

According to a top scientist, the earth sciences ministry is finalising a contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to formally enable India exploit 10,000 sq kms of the Indian Ocean seabed for minerals including gold, silver and platinum.

Director of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) S Rajan, who attended a three-day Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan at Panaji over the weekend, said the legal and technical commission to the Jamaica-based authority had also approved exploration plans submitted by India.

"Action has been initiated to formalise a contract with the ISA facilitating the initiation of a 15-year programme of mineral exploration in the allocated area," Rajan said.

The Goa-based NCAOR had been designated as the lead agency for this programme by the Union Earth Sciences ministry. The scientist said mid-ocean ridges in the central and south western parts of the Indian Ocean were rich in metals like copper, lead, zinc as well as other noble metals like gold, silver, palladium and platinum.

"The deep ocean realm along the mid-ocean ridges has kindled a lot of interest, primarily on account of the high concentration of base metals and many noble metals in them," Rajan added.

India to mine Indian Ocean seabed for gold, silver - bdnews24.com

 

[Abhijeet Dey]

Does India have the technology to establish a deep underwater base? The Aquarius Reef Base is the deepest underwater habitat located 5.4 mi (8.7 km) off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Florida, United States. It is the world's only undersea research laboratory and it is operated by Florida International University. It is deployed on the ocean floor 62 ft (19 m) below the surface and next to a deep coral reef named Conch Reef.

Sensing China threat, India joins race to mine new sea patch

Sensing China threat, India joins race to mine new sea patch

India applies to explore cobalt-rich AN Seamount in Indian Ocean, amid competition with China and Sri Lanka.

www.thehindu.com

A seamount is a large submarine landform that rises from the ocean floor without reaching the water surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet, or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from the seafloor to 1,000–4,000 m (3,300–13,100 ft) in height.

The Afanasy Nikitin Seamount is 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. From an oceanic depth of about 4,800 km it rises to about 1,200 metre and — as surveys from about two decades establish — rich in deposits of cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

To be honest undersea mining should be left as it is . Can damage environment in long run

 

[maximus777]

There is possibly a military angle to it and there is more than meets the eye!