As a part of DOM, India’s flagship deep ocean mission, ‘Samudrayaan’, was initiated in 2021 by the Minister of Earth Sciences. With ‘Samudrayaan’, India is embarking on a groundbreaking crewed expedition to reach a depth of 6,000 m to the ocean bed in the central Indian Ocean. The minerals we can mine from the ocean bed in the central Indian Ocean region, allocated to us by the United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA), include copper, manganese, nickel, and cobalt. ISA has allocated a 75,000-sq.-km region in the central Indian Ocean and an additional 10,000 sq. ‘Varaha’ was able to collect the polymetallic nodules from the ocean bed during the trial.

Source: The Hindu November 01, 2023 13:18 UTC