Government is amending the Offshore Areas Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, which is open for comments from the industry.

India is looking to mine oceans, which will unlock huge opportunities and new areas of operations for Indian Industries, said Vivek Bhardwaj, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Government of India during a conference.

India is looking to mine oceans, which will unlock huge opportunities and new areas of operations for Indian Industries, said Vivek Bhardwaj, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Government of India during a conference on 16 February on the sidelines of the silver jubilee edition of the International Engineering & Technology Fair 2023, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in collaboration with Finland Chamber of Commerce in India, NSIC, and Government ministries in New Delhi. 

Government is amending the Offshore Areas Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, which is open for comments from the industry.

"We need to increase domestic exploration and we have enlisted 13 private exploration companies as the opportunities are immense. We also need to look at acquiring foreign assets. We sent a team to Argentina to identify mines for investments and we have two lithium mines and one copper mine there. Within the coming period, we will shortlist projects to invest, which will be open to the private sector,” Shri Bhardwaj said. He also urged the industry to get into organized recycling to make India the recycling hub of the world. Talking about the opportunities and possibilities in metals and mining industry, he said that the Government has proposed amendments in the MMDR Act to encourage junior miners. The Mines Secretary was speaking at a conference titled 'Vision 2047: Atmanirbharta in Minerals and Metals' to discuss the roadmap and opportunities in the metals & mining industry of India.