Germany has applied for a license to mine raw materials in the Indian Ocean in the race for excavating valuable minerals from under the sea-bed, according to dpa. The license costs 500,000 dollars and would secure Germany exclusive access for at least 15 years to about 10,000 square kilometres south-east of Madagascar, the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources said. Researchers with the institute travelled for a third time on board a ship called Sonne, which means sun in German, to the area from October to explore for metal ores found in hydrothermal fields on deep-sea beds. Sulphides there contain large concentrations of metals that include gold, silver and large numbers of elements used to produce computers, mobile phones, televisions and wind turbines. Sea bed mining has yet to be started anywhere in the world, but a handful of countries and private companies are preparing to undertake it. Germany already holds exploration licenses in the Pacific. The projects are aimed at acquiring politically secure access to raw materials and encouraging German technological development, said Christian Reichert, the head of the institute's division on sea-bed exploration. The Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority is responsible for issuing licenses for commercial exploration of the ocean floor outside national boundaries. Other countries that have been granted licenses are China, Russia, France, South Korea and India as well as a consortium made up of Bulgaria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Slovakia. Companies from Japan, Nauru, Tonga, Kiribati, Britain and Belgium have also been granted permits.
