Offshore mineral blocks auction
Also called: Offshore Areas Mineral Act · Topic: Mineral Resources of India: Distribution and Conservation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The offshore mineral blocks auction sells rights to mine minerals under the sea around India. The Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act 2023 made these auctions possible. They can cover India's territorial waters (the sea closest to the coast), its continental shelf (the shallow seabed that runs out from the land) and its Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ (the wider sea where India alone may use resources). The aim is to use sea-floor minerals such as sand, lime mud and polymetallic nodules. Polymetallic nodules are potato-sized lumps rich in manganese, nickel, copper and cobalt.
Example
The first round of 13 blocks was put up for auction in November 2024. It included construction sand off Kollam in Kerala, lime mud off Gujarat, and polymetallic nodules and crusts off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Fishers in Kerala protested because they feared harm to the sea and to their livelihood.
Don't confuse with
- ISA exploration contract in the Central Indian Ocean Basin: this lets India explore polymetallic nodules over 75,000 sq km in the deep sea beyond any country's control. The International Seabed Authority grants it, and India has held it since 2002. Offshore block auctions cover only India's own waters, and India runs them.