Adani, the Indian company involved in the West Terminal development at the Colombo Port and the controversial wind power project in Mannar, is also engaged in a third project here – proposed mining for valuable minerals in Sri Lanka’s ocean bed.
According to a high official associated with the negotiations, the Adani Group has stepped in to form a joint venture with a Taiwanese company Umicore Taiwan to exploit the cobalt reserves.
This deal has not been finalised as negotiations are still ongoing.
Sri Lanka is contemplating to harness substantial benefits in partnering with India in its expedition to find valuable minerals concealed in the depths of the Indian Ocean after the settlement of sea bed mining rights issue between the two countries, informed sources confirmed.
The country has gained an extension of the limits of its continental shelf from 200 nautical miles, the general limit to the continental shelf, as per the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Following an application submitted to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in 2009.
At present it has exclusive rights of 200 nautical miles from the shore as the exclusive economic zone to exploit the area cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts’ in the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount in the Central Indian Ocean, for economic purposes without hindering international shipping traffic.
India has also claimed its continental shelf up to 350 nautical miles from its border but awaits official recognition to carry out sea bed explorations.
Without waiting till the finalisation of negotiations to form a strategic partnership between the two countries to settle the dispute, India has submitted an application to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) on January 18, 2024 to explore ‘cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts’ at the Seamount, official documents showed.
It has been turned down by the ISA as Afanasy Nikitin Seamount lies within an area under the jurisdiction of Sri Lanka and it was notified to Indian authorities.
The Indian authorities have failed to send any reply to ISA’s notification in time for it to be considered during the ISA’s 29th Session of the Legal and Technical Commission held on March 12, 2024.
India’s application is still on hold and it is up to the two countries to mutually settle the matter and inform the ISA to receive the licence to begin sea bed exploration
Chinese vessels surveillance in the Sri Lankan territorial waters has prompted India to claim the rights to explore the Indian Ocean Seabed beyond its Jurisdiction, including Cobalt-Rich Afanasy Nikitin Seamount (AN Seamount) coming under the authority of Sri Lanka.
The Seamount has a rare metal Cobalt deposit worth billions of dollars as this metal is essential for various commercial, industrial, and military applications, particularly in rechargeable batteries.⍐
Sunday, June 30, 2024 By Bandula Sirimanna 
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