118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 2925
AN ACT
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
•HR 2925 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mining Regulatory 2
Clarity Act of 2024’’. 3
SEC. 2. USE OF MINING CLAIMS FOR ANCILLARY ACTIVI-4
TIES. 5
Section 10101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation 6
Act of 1993 (30 U.S.C. 28f) is amended by adding at the 7
end the following: 8
‘‘(e) S
ECURITY OFTENURE.— 9
‘‘(1) C
LAIMANT RIGHTS.— 10
‘‘(A) D
EFINITION OF OPERATIONS .—In 11
this paragraph, the term ‘operations’ means— 12
‘‘(i) with respect to a locatable min-13
eral, any activity or work carried out in 14
connection with— 15
‘‘(I) prospecting; 16
‘‘(II) exploration; 17
‘‘(III) discovery and assessment; 18
‘‘(IV) development; 19
‘‘(V) extraction; or 20
‘‘(VI) processing; 21
‘‘(ii) the reclamation of an area dis-22
turbed by an activity described in clause 23
(i); and 24
‘‘(iii) any activity reasonably incident 25
to an activity described in clause (i) or (ii), 26 3
•HR 2925 EH
regardless of whether that incidental activ-1
ity is carried out on a mining claim, in-2
cluding the construction and maintenance 3
of any road, transmission line, pipeline, or 4
any other necessary infrastructure or 5
means of access on public land for a sup-6
port facility. 7
‘‘(B) R
IGHTS TO USE, OCCUPATION, AND 8
OPERATIONS.—A claimant shall have the right 9
to use and occupy to conduct operations on 10
public land, with or without the discovery of a 11
valuable mineral deposit, if— 12
‘‘(i) the claimant makes a timely pay-13
ment of— 14
‘‘(I) the location fee required by 15
section 10102; and 16
‘‘(II) the claim maintenance fee 17
required by subsection (a); or 18
‘‘(ii) in the case of a claimant who 19
qualifies for a waiver of the claim mainte-20
nance fee under subsection (d)— 21
‘‘(I) the claimant makes a timely 22
payment of the location fee required 23
by section 10102; and 24 4
•HR 2925 EH
‘‘(II) the claimant complies with 1
the required assessment work under 2
the general mining laws. 3
‘‘(2) F
ULFILLMENT OF FEDERAL LAND POLICY 4
AND MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1976 .—A claimant that 5
fulfills the requirements of this section and section 6
10102 shall be deemed to satisfy any requirements 7
under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 8
of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) for the payment 9
of fair market value to the United States for the use 10
of public land and resources pursuant to the general 11
mining laws. 12
‘‘(3) S
AVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub-13
section— 14
‘‘(A) diminishes any right (including a 15
right of entry, use, or occupancy) of a claimant; 16
‘‘(B) creates or increases any right (includ-17
ing a right of exploration, entry, use, or occu-18
pancy) of a claimant on lands that are not open 19
to location under the general mining laws; 20
‘‘(C) modifies any provision of law or any 21
prior administrative action withdrawing lands 22
from location or entry; 23
‘‘(D) limits the right of the Federal Gov-24
ernment to regulate mining and mining-related 25 5
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activities (including requiring claim validity ex-1
aminations to establish the discovery of a valu-2
able mineral deposit) in areas withdrawn from 3
mining (including under— 4
‘‘(i) the general mining laws; 5
‘‘(ii) the Federal Land Policy and 6
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 7
et seq.); 8
‘‘(iii) the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 9
1131 et seq.); 10
‘‘(iv) sections 100731 through 100737 11
of title 54, United States Code (commonly 12
referred to as the ‘Mining in the Parks 13
Act’); 14
‘‘(v) the Endangered Species Act of 15
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); or 16
‘‘(vi) division A of subtitle III of title 17
54, United States Code (commonly re-18
ferred to as the ‘National Historic Preser-19
vation Act’)); or 20
‘‘(E) restores any right (including a right 21
of entry, use, or occupancy, or right to conduct 22
operations) of a claimant that existed prior to 23
the date that the lands were closed to or with-24
drawn from location under the general mining 25 6
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laws and that has been extinguished by such 1
closure or withdrawal.’’. 2
Passed the House of Representatives May 8, 2024.
Attest:
Clerk. 118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 2925
AN ACT
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.