Private entities not allowed in offshore mining of uranium and thorium, Centre clarifies

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India’s plan to tap its seabed for mining atomic minerals such as uranium and thorium to fuel its nuclear energy programme will not be open for private entities, Centre said on August 6.

“The rules provide the procedure for the grant of operating rights for atomic minerals only to the government, government companies, or corporations and not to private entities,” the Ministry of Mines, which formulated the rules in consultation with the Department of Atomic Energy said in a statement.

While extraction of atomic minerals through offshore mining will take time to fructify, Moneycontrol on June 16 reported that India plans to quadruple uranium imports for its nuclear energy mission.

Objections Raised

The Ministry of Mines on July 17 published the ‘Offshore Areas Atomic Minerals Operating Rights Rules, 2025’, which is a framework for exploration and mining of such minerals from the seabed. Kerala, a state rich in offshore atomic minerals, had raised objections to the Centre’s move on concerns that it will allow participation of private sector on government nomination basis.

One of the experts, EAS Sharma, former secretary in the ministries of power and finance too had highlighted and written to the Department of Atomic Energy to restrict offshore mining of atomic minerals to the public sector alone, as even domestic mining companies are ‘exposed to FDI, permitting an indirect entry of foreign agencies’, thereby posing a threat to national security.

The Centre said even the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 2023 explicitly restricts grant of exploration licences, composite licences, or production leases for atomic minerals to government entities only, subject to prescribed conditions and threshold values notified by the Central Government.

Beach Sand Minerals

The new rules talk about mining beach sand minerals, primarily composed of monazite, ilmenite, rutile, zircon, garnet and sillimanite. Monazite is a valuable for its high concentration of rare earth elements, thorium and uranium. The presence of thorium and, less commonly, uranium makes monazite a radioactive mineral.

The coastal areas of Kerala, Orissa and Tamil Nadu are rich in beach sand minerals. Of those, Kerala is known to have the largest concentration of monazite-rich beach sands, needed for India’s nuclear energy expansion plans.

India has 25 nuclear reactors in operation in eight nuclear power plants, with a total installed capacity of 8,880 MW (8.8 GW), which the Centre wants to increase to 100 GW by 2047 as part of its National Nuclear Energy Mission.

India's nuclear program is structured around a three-stage plan designed to achieve energy independence and utilize its thorium reserves. The three stages are, 1) Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) using natural uranium, 2) Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) using plutonium, and 3) advanced reactors utilizing thorium.