IB
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118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 2925
To amend the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 to provide for
security of tenure for use of mining claims for ancillary activities, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL27, 2023
Mr. A
MODEI(for himself and Mrs. PELTOLA) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
M
ARCH7, 2024
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
MAY1, 2024
Recommitted to the Committee on Natural Resources
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 27, 2023]
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HR 2925 RH1S
A BILL
To amend the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993
to provide for security of tenure for use of mining claims
for ancillary activities, and for other purposes.
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HR 2925 RH1S
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mining Regulatory Clar-4
ity Act of 2024’’. 5
SEC. 2. USE OF MINING CLAIMS FOR ANCILLARY ACTIVI-6
TIES. 7
Section 10101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation 8
Act of 1993 (30 U.S.C. 28f) is amended by adding at the 9
end the following: 10
‘‘(e) S
ECURITY OFTENURE.— 11
‘‘(1) C
LAIMANT RIGHTS.— 12
‘‘(A) D
EFINITION OF OPERATIONS.—In this 13
paragraph, the term ‘operations’ means— 14
‘‘(i) with respect to a locatable min-15
eral, any activity or work carried out in 16
connection with— 17
‘‘(I) prospecting; 18
‘‘(II) exploration; 19
‘‘(III) discovery and assessment; 20
‘‘(IV) development; 21
‘‘(V) extraction; or 22
‘‘(VI) processing; 23
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HR 2925 RH1S
‘‘(ii) the reclamation of an area dis-1
turbed by an activity described in clause 2
(i); and 3
‘‘(iii) any activity reasonably incident 4
to an activity described in clause (i) or (ii), 5
regardless of whether that incidental activ-6
ity is carried out on a mining claim, in-7
cluding the construction and maintenance 8
of any road, transmission line, pipeline, or 9
any other necessary infrastructure or means 10
of access on public land for a support facil-11
ity. 12
‘‘(B) R
IGHTS TO USE, OCCUPATION, AND OP-13
ERATIONS.—A claimant shall have the right to 14
use and occupy to conduct operations on public 15
land, with or without the discovery of a valuable 16
mineral deposit, if— 17
‘‘(i) the claimant makes a timely pay-18
ment of— 19
‘‘(I) the location fee required by 20
section 10102; and 21
‘‘(II) the claim maintenance fee 22
required by subsection (a); or 23
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HR 2925 RH1S
‘‘(ii) in the case of a claimant who 1
qualifies for a waiver of the claim mainte-2
nance fee under subsection (d)— 3
‘‘(I) the claimant makes a timely 4
payment of the location fee required by 5
section 10102; and 6
‘‘(II) the claimant complies with 7
the required assessment work under the 8
general mining laws. 9
‘‘(2) F
ULFILLMENT OF FEDERAL LAND POLICY 10
AND MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1976 .—A claimant that ful-11
fills the requirements of this section and section 10102 12
shall be deemed to satisfy any requirements under the 13
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 14
(43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) for the payment of fair mar-15
ket value to the United States for the use of public 16
land and resources pursuant to the general mining 17
laws. 18
‘‘(3) S
AVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub-19
section— 20
‘‘(A) diminishes any right (including a 21
right of entry, use, or occupancy) of a claimant; 22
‘‘(B) creates or increases any right (includ-23
ing a right of exploration, entry, use, or occu-24
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HR 2925 RH1S
pancy) of a claimant on lands that are not open 1
to location under the general mining laws; 2
‘‘(C) modifies any provision of law or any 3
prior administrative action withdrawing lands 4
from location or entry; 5
‘‘(D) limits the right of the Federal Govern-6
ment to regulate mining and mining-related ac-7
tivities (including requiring claim validity ex-8
aminations to establish the discovery of a valu-9
able mineral deposit) in areas withdrawn from 10
mining (including under— 11
‘‘(i) the general mining laws; 12
‘‘(ii) the Federal Land Policy and 13
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et 14
seq.); 15
‘‘(iii) the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 16
1131 et seq.); 17
‘‘(iv) sections 100731 through 100737 18
of title 54, United States Code (commonly 19
referred to as the ‘Mining in the Parks 20
Act’); 21
‘‘(v) the Endangered Species Act of 22
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); or 23
‘‘(vi) division A of subtitle III of title 24
54, United States Code (commonly referred 25
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HR 2925 RH1S
to as the ‘National Historic Preservation 1
Act’)); or 2
‘‘(E) restores any right (including a right of 3
entry, use, or occupancy, or right to conduct op-4
erations) of a claimant that existed prior to the 5
date that the lands were closed to or withdrawn 6
from location under the general mining laws and 7
that has been extinguished by such closure or 8
withdrawal.’’. 9
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TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 2925 A BILL
To amend the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
of 1993 to provide for security of tenure for use
of mining claims for ancillary activities, and for
other purposes.
M
AY
2, 2024
Recommitted to the Committee on Natural Resources
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