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India in undersea race to mine world’s battery metal
The country has applied for two new licences to explore the deep seabed in parts of the Indian Ocean.
Countries including China, Russia and India are vying to reach the huge deposits of mineral resources - cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese - that lie thousands of metres below the surface of oceans. One of India's applications seeks to explore polymetallic sulphides - chimney-like mounds near hydrothermal vents containing copper, zinc, gold and silver - in the Carlsberg Ridge of the Central Indian Ocean. "India may be ultimately seeking to project that it is a powerhouse in its own right, one that is not to be outrivalled in its own backyard, as well as to give the impression that it is not lagging behind the Chinese when it comes to the deep sea," says Pradeep Singh, who works on ocean governance at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany.
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