Parliament Approves Bill For Offshore Mining In States Including Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Parliament has passed the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023 which will allow offshore mining in different states including Odisha.

The Bill, which seeks to make amendments to the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002 (OAMDR Act), was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on August 1. The Bill will now be sent to the President for assent.

The amendment in the Act will bring major reforms by introducing auction as the method of allocation of operating rights in the offshore areas.

The OAMDR Act, 2002 came into force in 2010. However, no mining activity has been undertaken in the offshore areas till date. Hence, the Central government proposed the present Amendment Bill to bring several reforms in the offshore mining sector.

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act) was amended in January 2015 to provide for allocation of mineral concessions in onshore areas through auction. Since its implementation, 286 mineral blocks have been auctioned for grant of mining lease or composite licence.

The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over two million sq km in the country holds significant recoverable resources. The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has delineated the resources of the following minerals in the offshore areas:

• 1,53,996 million ton of lime mud within the EEZ off Gujarat and Maharashtra coasts.
• 745 million ton of construction-grade sand off Kerala coast.
• 79 million ton of heavy mineral placers in the inner-shelf and mid-shelf off Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra coasts.
• Phosphorite in the Eastern and Western continental margins.
• Polymetallic Ferromanganese (Fe-Mn) nodules and crusts in Andaman Sea and Lakshadweep Sea.