The “Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023” brings substantial changes to regulations governing mineral development in offshore areas. This analysis delves into each amendment’s implications and the Act’s broader impact on mineral resource management.

President has given assent to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Amendment Act, 2023. With this, the Central government is empowered to auction mines and ramp up production of 26 critical minerals in India.

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023 was taken up for consideration and passed by the Lok Sabha on on 28.7.2023. This bill proposes to empower the Central government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite licence for 26 critical minerals in the country.

India has proposed opening up offshore mining or deep-sea mining of non-atomic minerals or poly-metallic nodules to private companies. Production leases are to be granted only through competitive bidding.

The Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2023 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 26, 2023. The Bill proposes to omit at least six previously mentioned atomic minerals from a list of 12 which cannot be commercially mined.

The energy transition requires a dramatic increase in the supply of critical materials, yet their supplies chains remain vulnerable to a range of geopolitical risks. While there is no scarcity of reserves for energy transition minerals, global capabilities for mining and refining them are limited.

The inaugural edition of the Critical Minerals Market Review provides a major update on the investment, market, technology and policy trends of the critical minerals sector in 2022 and an an initial reading of the emerging picture for 2023.

The Union Minister of Coal & Mines has unveiled India's first-ever report on “Critical Minerals for India” identifying a list of 30 critical minerals. India has taken a significant step towards enhancing its strategic resource security by officially releasing its first-ever critical minerals list.

The global move towards achieving net zero emissions will increase demand for low-carbon and clean technologies such as wind turbines, solar photovoltaics, electric vehicles and energy storage. However, the production of these technologies depends heavily on a few geographically concentrated minerals with limited availability.

The Government of Kerala on March 31, 2023 published the Kerala Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Storage and Transportation) Amendment Rules, 2023 to further amend the Kerala Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Storage and Transportation) Rules, 2015. These Rules shall come into force on April 01, 2023.