Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal recently announced that India has developed capabilities to undertake deepwater exploration joining the select league of nations that have set forth searching the deep domains of the ocean for oil wealth. India has developed devices to go as deep as 5000 meters or 5 km for economic exploration.
The technology has been developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai and the devices brought out by them are a Remotely Operable Vehicle, a deep sea mining machine or Underwater Crawler, and a deep sea soil testing machine or In-Situ Soil Property Measurement System. Components for the equipment have also been procured from the Experimental Design Bureau of Oceanological Engineering of Russian Academy of Sciences.
NIOT has so far been able to identify Polymetallic Nodules at depths greater than 4,000 meters in the deep sea. "These nodules contain manganese (27-30 per cent), copper (1-2 per cent), nickel (1-2 per cent) and cobalt (0.2-0.3 per cent), apart from traces of other minerals," said P.S. Goel, secretary to the ministry of earth sciences.
Since availability of copper and nickel is scarce from terrestrial resources, it would be crucial to develop deep sea mining to tap the nodules. A site of 150,000 sq. km. was allotted to India in the Central Indian Ocean Basin by the International Seabed Authority of the United Nations. The mining site is located about 2,000 km south of Kanyakumari with the nearest island being 500 km away. India is the only country to have been allotted a mining site in the Central Indian Ocean Basin, the others being located in the Pacific Ocean.
"Once fully tested, we will be able to demonstrate and study what is available at depths of 5,000 metres and more. This will help us know how the mineral wealth can be exploited," said Dr. M.A. Atmanand, project director at NIOT. Deep sea mining is a technologically challenging field as the depth of water and weather conditions are major constraints. At 5,000 metres depths, the pressure is extremely high -- 500 times the atmospheric pressure, and the seabed is extremely soft comparable to thick grease.
The technology development had cost Rs 350 million over the last few years, says Dr.S.Kathiroli, director, NIOT. The commercial exploitation of the machinery would take another couple of years, he adds. "The ROV will be able to provide drilling support and also for laying pipelines," he said. ROV can operate at depths where human beings cannot go to undertake repairs or change tools. This equipment has been successfully tested at a depth of 205 metres in October.