India, Aug. 20 -- The ministry of earth sciences (MoES) has launched the Deep Ocean Mission (DoM) to explore the mineral wealth in the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction through two exploration contracts with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in the Indian Ocean, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

MoS for earth sciences Jitendra Singh said the first exploration contract, signed in 2002, covers polymetallic nodules in a 75,000 sq km block in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. Another, signed in 2016, involves polymetallic sulphides (PMS) exploration in a 10,000 sq km area along the Indian Ocean Ridge.

Polymetallic nodules contain metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt, while PMS deposits include copper, zinc,...