Us Congress House Bill HB1865 Introduced / Bill

                    I 
119THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION H. R. 1865 
To modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals on public domain 
lands, consistent with the principles of self-initiation of mining claims, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH5, 2025 
Mr. G
RIJALVA(for himself and Mr. HUFFMAN) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals 
on public domain lands, consistent with the principles 
of self-initiation of mining claims, and for other pur-
poses. 
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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Mining Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Prevention Act of 5
2025’’. 6
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7
this Act is as follows: 8
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 
•HR 1865 IH
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions and references. 
Sec. 3. Application rules. 
TITLE I—MINERAL LEASING, EXPLORATION, AND DEVELOPMENT 
Sec. 101. Closure to entry and location. 
Sec. 102. Limitation on patents. 
Sec. 103. Prospecting licenses and hardrock leases. 
Sec. 104. Competitive leasing. 
Sec. 105. Small miner’s lease. 
Sec. 106. Land containing nonhardrock minerals; other uses. 
Sec. 107. Royalty. 
Sec. 108. Existing production. 
Sec. 109. Hardrock mining claim maintenance fee. 
Sec. 110. Effect of payments for use and occupancy of claims. 
Sec. 111. Protection of special places. 
Sec. 112. Suitability determination. 
TITLE II—CONSULTATION PROCEDURE 
Sec. 201. Requirement for consultation. 
TITLE III—ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS OF MINERAL 
EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT 
Sec. 301. General standard for hardrock mining on Federal land. 
Sec. 302. Permits. 
Sec. 303. Exploration permit. 
Sec. 304. Operations permit. 
Sec. 305. Persons ineligible for permits. 
Sec. 306. Financial assurance. 
Sec. 307. Operation and reclamation. 
Sec. 308. State law and regulation. 
TITLE IV—ABANDONED HARDROCK MINE RECLAMATION 
PROGRAM 
Sec. 401. Funds credited to the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Reclamation Pro-
gram. 
Sec. 402. Displaced material reclamation fee. 
TITLE V—ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS 
Sec. 501. Policy functions. 
Sec. 502. User fees and inflation adjustment. 
Sec. 503. Inspection and monitoring. 
Sec. 504. Citizens suits. 
Sec. 505. Administrative and judicial review. 
Sec. 506. Reporting requirements. 
Sec. 507. Enforcement. 
Sec. 508. Regulations. 
Sec. 509. Oil shale claims. 
Sec. 510. Savings clause. 
Sec. 511. Availability of public records. 
Sec. 512. Miscellaneous powers. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 
•HR 1865 IH
Sec. 513. Mineral materials. 
Sec. 514. Effective date. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS AND REFERENCES. 
1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—As used in this Act: 2
(1) The term ‘‘Abandoned Hardrock Mine Rec-3
lamation Program’’ means the program established 4
by section 40704 of the Infrastructure Investment 5
and Jobs Act (30 U.S.C. 1245). 6
(2) The term ‘‘adjacent land’’ means any land 7
not more than 2 miles from the boundary of a de-8
scribed land tract. 9
(3) The term ‘‘affiliate’’ means, with respect to 10
any person, any of the following: 11
(A) Any person that controls, is controlled 12
by, or is under common control with such per-13
son. 14
(B) Any partner of such person. 15
(C) Any person owning at least 10 percent 16
of the voting shares of such person. 17
(4) The term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 18
the term in section 3502 of title 44, United States 19
Code. 20
(5) The term ‘‘applicant’’ means any person ap-21
plying for a lease, license, or permit under this Act 22
or a modification to or a renewal of a lease, license, 23
or permit issued under this Act. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 
•HR 1865 IH
(6) The term ‘‘beneficiation’’ means the crush-1
ing and grinding of hardrock mineral ore and such 2
processes as are employed to free the mineral from 3
other constituents, including physical and chemical 4
separation techniques. 5
(7) The term ‘‘casual use’’— 6
(A) means mineral activities that do not 7
ordinarily result in any disturbance of Federal 8
land and resources; 9
(B) includes collection of geochemical, 10
rock, soil, or mineral specimens using 11
handtools, hand panning, or nonmotorized sluic-12
ing; and 13
(C) does not include— 14
(i) the use of mechanized earth-mov-15
ing equipment, suction dredging, or explo-16
sives; 17
(ii) the use of motor vehicles in areas 18
closed to off-road vehicles; 19
(iii) the construction of roads or drill 20
pads; or 21
(iv) the use of toxic or hazardous ma-22
terials. 23
(8) The term ‘‘claim holder’’ means— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 
•HR 1865 IH
(A) any person holding a mining claim, 1
millsite, or tunnel site located under the general 2
mining laws or this Act and maintained in com-3
pliance with such laws; and 4
(B) any agent of such person. 5
(9) The term ‘‘control’’ means having the abil-6
ity, directly or indirectly, to determine (without re-7
gard to whether exercised through 1 or more cor-8
porate structures) the manner in which an entity 9
conducts mineral activities, through any means, in-10
cluding— 11
(A) ownership interest; 12
(B) authority to commit the real or finan-13
cial assets of the entity; 14
(C) position as a director, officer, or part-15
ner of the entity; or 16
(D) contractual arrangement. 17
(10) The term ‘‘displaced material’’ means any 18
raw ore or waste dislodged from its location by 19
human disturbance, including from hardrock mineral 20
activities. 21
(11) The term ‘‘exploration’’— 22
(A) means creating surface disturbance, 23
other than casual use, to evaluate the type, ex-24
tent, quantity, or quality of minerals present; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 
•HR 1865 IH
(B) includes mineral activities associated 1
with sampling, drilling, and analyzing hardrock 2
mineral values; and 3
(C) does not include extraction of mineral 4
material for commercial use or sale. 5
(12) The term ‘‘Federal land’’— 6
(A) means any land, and any interest in 7
land, that is owned by the United States; and 8
(B) does not include— 9
(i) lands in the National Park System; 10
(ii) Indian lands; or 11
(iii) lands on the Outer Continental 12
Shelf. 13
(13) The term ‘‘hardrock mineral’’— 14
(A) means any mineral that was subject to 15
location under the general mining laws as of the 16
effective date of this Act, and that is not sub-17
ject to disposition under— 18
(i) the Mineral Leasing Act (30 19
U.S.C. 181 et seq.); 20
(ii) the Geothermal Steam Act of 21
1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.); 22
(iii) the Act of July 31, 1947, com-23
monly known as the Materials Act of 1947 24
(30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); or 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 
•HR 1865 IH
(iv) the Mineral Leasing Act for Ac-1
quired Lands (30 U.S.C. 351 et seq.); and 2
(B) does not include any mineral that is 3
subject to a restriction against alienation im-4
posed by the United States and is— 5
(i) held in trust by the United States 6
for any Indian or Indian Tribe, as defined 7
in section 2 of the Indian Mineral Develop-8
ment Act of 1982 (25 U.S.C. 2101); or 9
(ii) owned by any Indian or Indian 10
Tribe, as defined in that section. 11
(14) The term ‘‘Indian lands’’ means— 12
(A) lands held in trust for the benefit of 13
an Indian Tribe or Indian; 14
(B) lands held by an Indian Tribe or In-15
dian subject to a restriction by the United 16
States against alienation; or 17
(C) lands held by an Alaska Native village, 18
village corporation, or regional corporation, as 19
defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska 20
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 21
et seq.). 22
(15) The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ means any In-23
dian Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized 24
group or community, including any Alaska Native 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 
•HR 1865 IH
village, village corporation, or regional corporation, 1
as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska 2
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et 3
seq.), that is recognized as eligible for the special 4
programs and services provided by the United States 5
to Indians because of their status as Indians. 6
(16) The term ‘‘mining claim’’ means any min-7
ing claim made pursuant to— 8
(A) this Act; or 9
(B) the Mining Law of 1872 (30 U.S.C. 10
22 et seq.) before the effective date of this Act. 11
(17) The term ‘‘mineral activities’’ means any 12
activity carried out on a mining claim, millsite, or 13
tunnel site, authorized by a lease, license, or permit 14
issued under this Act, for, related to, or incidental 15
to, mineral exploration, mining, beneficiation, proc-16
essing, or reclamation activities for any hardrock 17
mineral. 18
(18) The term ‘‘National Conservation System 19
unit’’ means any unit of the National Park System, 20
National Wildlife Refuge System, National Wild and 21
Scenic Rivers System, National Wilderness Preserva-22
tion System, National Landscape Conservation Sys-23
tem, or National Trails System, or a National Con-24
servation Area, a National Recreation Area, a Wil-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 
•HR 1865 IH
derness Study Area, a National Monument, or any 1
unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System 2
or lands within the National Forest System, includ-3
ing the following: 4
(A) National Volcanic Monuments. 5
(B) Recreation Areas, Scenic Recreation 6
Areas, and Winter Recreation Areas. 7
(C) Scenic Areas, Scenic-Research Areas, 8
Scenic Highways, and National Scenic and 9
Wildlife Areas. 10
(D) National Game and Wildlife Preserves. 11
(E) Special Management, Wildlife, Con-12
servation, and Protection Areas, including bo-13
tanical, hydrological (watershed), geological, 14
historical, paleontological, and zoological areas. 15
(F) Experimental Forests, Ranges, and 16
Watersheds. 17
(G) Research Sites and Research Natural 18
Areas. 19
(H) Inventoried Roadless Area, Colorado 20
Roadless Area, and Idaho Roadless Area. 21
(I) Recommended Wilderness and Primi-22
tive Areas. 23
(19) The term ‘‘operator’’ means— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 
•HR 1865 IH
(A) any person proposing or authorized by 1
a permit issued under this Act to conduct min-2
eral activities; and 3
(B) any agent of such person. 4
(20) The term ‘‘person’’ means an individual, 5
Indian Tribe, partnership, association, society, joint 6
venture, joint stock company, firm, company, cor-7
poration, cooperative, or other organization and any 8
instrumentality of State or local government, includ-9
ing any publicly owned utility or publicly owned cor-10
poration of State or local government. 11
(21) The term ‘‘processing’’ means processes 12
downstream of beneficiation employed to prepare 13
hardrock mineral ore into a final marketable prod-14
uct, including smelting and electrolytic refining. 15
(22) The term ‘‘raw ore’’ means ore in its un-16
processed form, containing profitable amounts of a 17
hardrock mineral. 18
(23) The term ‘‘reclamation’’ means taking 19
measures following the disturbance of Federal land 20
by mineral activities to meet applicable performance 21
standards and achieve conditions required by the 22
Secretary concerned at the conclusion of such min-23
eral activities, including, where applicable— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 
•HR 1865 IH
(A) isolation, control, or removal of acid- 1
forming, toxic, or deleterious substances; 2
(B) regrading and reshaping to conform 3
with adjacent landforms, facilitate revegetation, 4
control drainage, and minimize erosion; 5
(C) rehabilitation of fisheries or wildlife 6
habitat; 7
(D) placement of growth medium and es-8
tablishment of self-sustaining revegetation; 9
(E) removal or stabilization of buildings, 10
structures, or other support facilities; 11
(F) plugging of drill holes and closure of 12
underground workings; and 13
(G) providing for post-mining monitoring, 14
maintenance, or treatment. 15
(24) The term ‘‘sacred site’’ means any specific 16
delineated location on Federal land that is identified 17
by an Indian Tribe— 18
(A) as sacred by virtue of its established 19
religious significance to, or ceremonial use by, 20
an Indian religion; or 21
(B) to be of established cultural signifi-22
cance. 23
(25) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 24
of the Interior, unless otherwise specified. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12 
•HR 1865 IH
(26) The term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 1
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture (acting 2
through the Chief of the Forest Service) with 3
respect to National Forest System land; and 4
(B) the Secretary of the Interior (acting 5
through the Director of the Bureau of Land 6
Management) with respect to other Federal 7
land. 8
(27)(A) The term ‘‘small miner’’ means a per-9
son (including all related parties thereto) that— 10
(i) holds not more than 10 mining claims, 11
millsites, or tunnel sites, or any combination 12
thereof, on Federal land; 13
(ii) is a claim holder or operator with re-14
spect to not more than 200 acres of Federal 15
land; 16
(iii) certifies to the Secretary in writing 17
that the person had annual gross income in the 18
preceding calendar year from mineral produc-19
tion in an amount less than $50,000; and 20
(iv) has performed assessment work re-21
quired under the Mining Law of 1872 (30 22
U.S.C. 22 et seq.) to maintain any mining 23
claims held by the person and all related parties 24
thereto for the assessment year ending on noon 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13 
•HR 1865 IH
of September 1 of the calendar year in which 1
payment of the claim maintenance fee was due. 2
(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), with re-3
spect to any person, the term ‘‘all related parties’’ 4
means— 5
(i) the spouse or qualifying child (as such 6
term is defined in section 152 of the Internal 7
Revenue Code of 1986) of such person; or 8
(ii) an affiliate of the person concerned. 9
(C) For purposes of subparagraph (A)(iii), the 10
dollar amount shall be applied, for a person, to the 11
aggregate of all annual gross income from mineral 12
production under all mining claims held by or as-13
signed to such person and all related parties with re-14
spect to such person, including mining claims lo-15
cated or for which a patent was issued before the ef-16
fective date of this Act. 17
(28) The term ‘‘temporary cessation’’ means a 18
halt in mineral activities for a continuous period 19
that does not exceed 5 years. 20
(29) The term ‘‘ton’’ means 2,000 pounds av-21
oirdupois (.90718 metric ton). 22
(30) The term ‘‘unnecessary or undue degrada-23
tion’’ means irreparable harm to significant sci-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14 
•HR 1865 IH
entific, cultural, or environmental resources on Fed-1
eral land. 2
(31) The term ‘‘valuable mineral deposit’’ 3
means a deposit of hardrock minerals that is of suf-4
ficient value for a prudent operator to extract, re-5
move, and market at a profit. 6
(32) The term ‘‘waste’’ means rock that must 7
be fractured and removed in order to gain access to 8
raw ore. 9
(b) R
EFERENCES TOOTHERLAWS.— 10
(1) G
ENERAL MINING LAWS .—Any reference in 11
this Act to the term ‘‘general mining laws’’ is a ref-12
erence to those Acts that generally comprise chap-13
ters 2, 12A, and 16, and sections 161 and 162, of 14
title 30, United States Code. 15
(2) A
CT OF JULY 23, 1955.—Any reference in 16
this Act to the Act of July 23, 1955, is a reference 17
to the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to amend the Act of 18
July 31, 1947 (61 Stat. 681) and the mining laws 19
to provide for multiple use of the surface of the 20
same tracts of the public lands, and for other pur-21
poses’’ (30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 22
SEC. 3. APPLICATION RULES. 23
(a) A
PPLICATION TOEXISTINGCLAIMS.—This Act 24
shall apply to any mining claim, millsite, or tunnel site 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 15 
•HR 1865 IH
located under the general mining laws before or on the 1
effective date of this Act. 2
(b) A
PPLICATION TOBENEFACTION ORPROCESSING 3
A
CTIVITIES.—This Act shall apply in the same manner 4
and to the same extent to mining claims, millsites, tunnel 5
sites, and any land included in a lease, license, or permit 6
issued under this Act used for beneficiation or processing 7
activities for any hardrock mineral. 8
TITLE I—MINERAL LEASING, EX-9
PLORATION, AND DEVELOP-10
MENT 11
SEC. 101. CLOSURE TO ENTRY AND LOCATION. 12
(a) C
LOSURE.—Except as otherwise provided in this 13
section, as of the effective date of this Act, all Federal 14
land is closed to entry and location under the general min-15
ing laws, and no new rights under the general mining laws 16
may be acquired. 17
(b) E
XISTINGCLAIMSWITHOUTPLAN OFOPER-18
ATIONS.— 19
(1) C
LAIMS WITHOUT PLAN OF OPERATIONS .— 20
Any claim under the general mining laws existing on 21
the effective date of this Act for which a plan of op-22
erations is not approved, or a notice of operations is 23
not filed, before such date shall be subject to the re-24
quirements of this Act, and may remain in effect 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 16 
•HR 1865 IH
until not later than the end of the 10-year period be-1
ginning on such date if the claim holder remains in 2
compliance with section 109, unless the claim hold-3
er— 4
(A) relinquishes the claim; or 5
(B) demonstrates eligibility for a lease and 6
requests conversion under the regulations 7
issued under subsection (d). 8
(2) S
HORTENING OF PERIOD .—The 10-year pe-9
riod referred to in paragraph (1) shall be shortened 10
to 3 years if— 11
(A) the claim is for an area that is located 12
in an area withdrawn or temporarily segregated 13
from location under the general mining laws as 14
of the effective date of this Act; or 15
(B) the claim belongs to a small miner. 16
(3) C
ONVERSION.—The Secretary concerned 17
may convert a claim described in paragraph (1) to 18
a noncompetitive mining lease pursuant to the regu-19
lations issued under subsection (d) if such Secretary 20
determines that the claim holder has shown the 21
presence of a valuable mineral deposit on the land 22
subject to such claim. 23
(4) C
LAIMS NOT CONVERTED .—Any claims de-24
scribed in paragraph (1) not converted to non-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 17 
•HR 1865 IH
competitive leases under paragraph (3) at the end of 1
the applicable period under paragraph (1) or (2) 2
shall be void. 3
(c) E
XISTINGCLAIMSWITHPLAN OF OPER-4
ATIONS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of any claim 6
under the general mining laws for which a plan of 7
operations has been approved but for which oper-8
ations have not commenced before the on the effec-9
tive date of this Act— 10
(A) during the 10-year period beginning on 11
the effective date of this Act— 12
(i) mineral activities on lands subject 13
to such claim shall be subject to such plan 14
of operations; and 15
(ii) the Secretary shall allow the oper-16
ator to make changes to such plan subject 17
to applicable law as in effect on the day 18
before the effective date of this Act if the 19
Secretary determines that the requested 20
changes are minor; and 21
(B) the operator shall bring such mineral 22
activities into compliance with this Act by the 23
end of such 10-year period. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 18 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) ACTIVITIES PENDING DECISION ON MODI -1
FICATION TO PLAN OF OPERATIONS .—If an applica-2
tion for modification of a plan of operations referred 3
to in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) has been timely submitted 4
by the claim holder and an approved plan of oper-5
ations expires before the Secretary concerned takes 6
action on such application, mineral activities and 7
reclamation may continue in accordance with the 8
terms of the expired plan of operations until the 9
Secretary concerned makes an administrative deci-10
sion on the application. 11
(3) C
ONVERSION REQUIREMENT .— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A claim described in 13
paragraph (1) may remain in effect for a period 14
of not more than 10 years. 15
(B) F
EE.—A claim described in paragraph 16
(1) that is not converted to a noncompetitive 17
lease pursuant to the regulations issued under 18
subsection (d) before the end of such period 19
shall, beginning on the first date after the end 20
of such period, be subject to a fee of $100 per 21
acre per day until such claim is converted to a 22
noncompetitive lease. 23
(d) C
ONVERSIONREGULATIONS.— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 19 
•HR 1865 IH
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 1
the effective date of this Act, the Secretary shall 2
issue regulations regarding the conversion of existing 3
mining claims to noncompetitive mining leases. 4
(2) C
ONTENT.—Such regulations shall— 5
(A) prohibit the conversion of a mining 6
claim to a mining lease by a claim holder who 7
is in violation of this Act or other State or Fed-8
eral environmental, health, or worker safety 9
laws; 10
(B) allow the Secretary to exercise discre-11
tion to include nonmineral lands within the 12
boundaries of any millsite associated with the 13
mining claim to be converted to a noncompeti-14
tive lease; 15
(C) prohibit the area in any noncompetitive 16
mining lease issued under this section from ex-17
ceeding the maximum area authorized by this 18
Act to be leased to any person; 19
(D) require the consent of the surface 20
managing agency for conversion of a mining 21
claim to a noncompetitive mining lease; 22
(E) require the financial terms of the con-23
verted noncompetitive mining lease to be the 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 20 
•HR 1865 IH
same as those provided in this Act for other 1
hardrock mining leases; and 2
(F) include any other terms the Secretary 3
considers appropriate. 4
(e) N
ATIONALENVIRONMENTAL POLICYACT.—The 5
Secretary is not required to conduct an environmental 6
analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act of 7
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to issue a noncompetitive 8
mining lease under this section, unless such noncompeti-9
tive mining lease modifies or extends the surface disturb-10
ance already authorized under a mine plan of operations 11
covering the mining claim that is converted. 12
SEC. 102. LIMITATION ON PATENTS. 13
(a) M
ININGCLAIMS.— 14
(1) D
ETERMINATIONS REQUIRED .—After the 15
effective date of this Act, no patent shall be issued 16
by the United States for any mining claim located 17
under the general mining laws unless the Secretary 18
determines that, for such mining claim— 19
(A) a patent application was filed with the 20
Secretary on or before September 30, 1994; 21
and 22
(B) all requirements established under sec-23
tions 2325 and 2326 of the Mining Law of 24
1872 (30 U.S.C. 29 and 30), in the case of a 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 21 
•HR 1865 IH
vein or lode claim, or sections 2329, 2330, 1
2331, and 2333 of that Act (30 U.S.C. 35, 36, 2
and 37), in the case of a placer claim, were 3
fully complied with by that date. 4
(2) R
IGHT TO PATENT.—If the Secretary makes 5
the determinations required under paragraph (1) for 6
any mining claim, the claim holder shall be entitled 7
to the issuance of a patent in the same manner and 8
degree to which such claim holder would have been 9
entitled to before the effective date of this Act, un-10
less such determinations are withdrawn or invali-11
dated by the Secretary or by a court of the United 12
States. 13
(b) M
ILLSITES.— 14
(1) D
ETERMINATIONS REQUIRED .—After the 15
effective date of this Act, no patent shall be issued 16
by the United States for any millsite located under 17
the general mining laws unless the Secretary deter-18
mines that, for such millsite— 19
(A) a patent application was filed with the 20
Secretary on or before September 30, 1994; 21
and 22
(B) all requirements applicable to such 23
patent application were fully complied with be-24
fore that date. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 22 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) RIGHT TO PATENT.—If the Secretary makes 1
the determinations required under paragraph (1) for 2
any millsite, the claim holder shall be entitled to the 3
issuance of a patent in the same manner and degree 4
to which such claim holder would have been entitled 5
to before the effective date of this Act, unless such 6
determinations are withdrawn or invalidated by the 7
Secretary or by a court of the United States. 8
SEC. 103. PROSPECTING LICENSES AND HARDROCK 9
LEASES. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—No person may conduct mineral 11
prospecting for commercial purposes for any hardrock 12
mineral on Federal land without a prospecting license or 13
a small miner’s lease. 14
(b) P
ROSPECTINGLICENSES.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may, under 16
such regulations as the Secretary may issue and 17
with the concurrence of the relevant surface manage-18
ment agency, grant an applicant a prospecting li-19
cense that shall give the exclusive right to prospect 20
for specified hardrock minerals on Federal land for 21
a period not longer than 2 years. 22
(2) M
AXIMUM AREA.—The area subject to a 23
prospecting license granted under paragraph (1) 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 23 
•HR 1865 IH
shall not exceed 2,560 acres of land, in reasonably 1
compact form. 2
(3) P
ROSPECTING LICENSE APPLICATION 3
FEE.—The Secretary shall charge a fee for each 4
prospecting license application to cover the costs of 5
reviewing such application. 6
(4) A
NNUAL RENTAL .—Each prospecting li-7
cense granted under paragraph (1) shall be subject 8
to annual rentals equal to $10 per acre per year. 9
(5) T
ERMS AND CONDITIONS .—A prospecting li-10
cense shall conform with the terms and conditions of 11
a comprehensive land use plan approved under— 12
(A) the Federal Land Policy and Manage-13
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 14
(B) the Forest and Rangeland Renewable 15
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 16
1600 et seq.). 17
(6) A
REAS WITHOUT APPROVED COMPREHEN -18
SIVE LAND USE PLAN .—For land covered by a 19
prospecting license for which a comprehensive land 20
use plan treating hardrock mining as a multiple-use 21
activity has not been completed, the Secretary con-22
cerned shall ensure that such land is suitable for 23
mineral activities. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 24 
•HR 1865 IH
(7) EXTENSION.—The Secretary may extend a 1
prospecting license granted under this subsection for 2
not more than additional 4 years upon a showing by 3
the licensee that— 4
(A) the licensee explored with reasonable 5
diligence and was unable to determine the exist-6
ence and workability of a valuable mineral de-7
posit covered by the license; or 8
(B) if the licensee failed to perform dili-9
gent prospecting activities, such failure was due 10
to conditions beyond the control of the licensee. 11
(c) N
ONCOMPETITIVELEASES.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Upon a showing to the satis-13
faction of the Secretary by a prospecting licensee 14
under subsection (a) that a valuable mineral deposit 15
has been discovered by the licensee within an area 16
covered by the prospecting license and with the con-17
sent of the surface agency, the licensee shall be enti-18
tled to a lease for any or all of the land included in 19
the prospecting license, as well as any nonmineral 20
lands necessary for processing or milling operations, 21
at a royalty of not less than 12.5 percent of the 22
gross value of production of hardrock minerals or 23
mineral concentrates or products derived from 24
hardrock minerals under the lease. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 25 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) RENTALS.— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Rentals for a lease 2
under this section shall be set by the Secretary 3
at not less than $10 per acre per year, with 4
rentals paid in any 1 year credited against roy-5
alties accruing for that year. 6
(B) O
PERATIONS PERMIT.—A lessee under 7
this section is not entitled to an operations per-8
mit. 9
(3) L
EASE PERIOD.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A lease under this sub-11
section shall be for a period of 20 years, with 12
the right to renew for successive periods of 10 13
years if hardrock minerals are being produced 14
in commercial quantities under the lease. 15
(B) E
XTENSION DURING NONPRODUC -16
TION.—The Secretary may issue not more than 17
1 10-year extension of a lease under this sub-18
section if hardrock minerals are not being pro-19
duced in commercial quantities at the end of 20
the primary, or any subsequent, term of such 21
lease and— 22
(i) it is in the interest of conservation 23
or reclamation maintenance; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 26 
•HR 1865 IH
(ii) the lessee shows that the lease 1
cannot be successfully operated at a profit; 2
or 3
(iii) the Secretary determines that 4
issuing such extension is appropriate. 5
(C) D
EFINITION OF COMMERCIAL QUAN -6
TITIES.—In this paragraph, the term ‘‘commer-7
cial quantities’’ means any economic amount 8
sold, bartered, or traded for profit. 9
(d) C
UMULATIVEACREAGELIMITATION.—No person 10
may take, hold, own, or control at 1 time, whether ac-11
quired directly from the Secretary under this Act or other-12
wise, hardrock mining leases or licenses for an aggregate 13
of more than 20,480 acres in any 1 State. 14
(e) R
EDUCTION OFROYALTYRATE.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 16
the Secretary— 17
(A) may reduce the royalty rate for a lease 18
under this section upon a showing by clear and 19
convincing evidence by the operator that pro-20
duction would not occur without the reduction 21
in royalty rate; and 22
(B) may reduce the royalty and rental 23
rates for a lease under this section to encourage 24
exploration for and development of critical min-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 27 
•HR 1865 IH
erals (as such term is defined in section 1
7002(a) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 2
1606(a)). 3
(2) L
IMITATION.—The Secretary may not re-4
duce the royalty rate for a lease pursuant to para-5
graph (1) to less than 6.25 percent. 6
(f) P
ROTECTION OF LAND AND OTHERRE-7
SOURCES.—The Secretary, in consultation with any appli-8
cable surface management agency, may include in any 9
lease or license issued under this Act such provisions as 10
are necessary to adequately protect land and other re-11
sources in the vicinity of the area subject to the lease or 12
license. 13
SEC. 104. COMPETITIVE LEASING. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to sections 111 and 112, 15
Federal land known to contain valuable mineral deposits 16
that is not covered by claims, licenses, or leases issued 17
under this Act may only be open to hardrock mineral ex-18
ploration or development through competitive leasing by 19
the Secretary through such methods the Secretary may 20
adopt by regulation and in such areas as the Secretary 21
may determine, including nonmineral lands the Secretary 22
considers necessary for processing or milling operations. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 28 
•HR 1865 IH
(b) LIMITATION.—The total area of land subject to 1
a competitive lease under this section shall not exceed 2
2,560 acres. 3
(c) T
ERMS ANDREQUIREMENTS.—All terms and re-4
quirements for competitive leases under this section shall 5
be the same as if the leases were issued noncompetitively 6
under section 103(c). 7
SEC. 105. SMALL MINER’S LEASE. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary may issue a small 9
miner’s lease to a qualified small miner that applies, under 10
such regulations as the Secretary may issue, including 11
conditions to require diligent development of such lease 12
and to ensure protection of surface resources and ground 13
water. 14
(b) E
XCLUSIVERIGHT.—A small miner’s lease shall 15
give the lessee the exclusive right to prospect for hardrock 16
minerals for 3 years on not more than 200 acres of contig-17
uous or noncontiguous Federal land. 18
(c) A
PPLICATIONFEE.—The Secretary shall charge 19
a reasonable application fee for a small miner’s lease 20
under this subsection (a). 21
(d) R
ENTALS.—Annual rentals for a small miner’s 22
lease issued under this section shall be $5 per acre per 23
year for the first 3 years. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 29 
•HR 1865 IH
(e) RENEWAL.—A small miner’s leases issued under 1
this section may be renewed for any number of additional 2
3-year periods. The rental for such a renewed lease shall 3
be $10 per acre per year rental charged. 4
(f) C
HALLENGE.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any individual may file a 6
challenge with the Secretary that a lessee is in viola-7
tion of the diligence terms of a small miner’s lease 8
or does not qualify as a small miner. 9
(2) R
ENEWAL WHEN SUBJECT TO CHAL -10
LENGE.—A small miner’s lease that is subject to a 11
challenge under paragraph (1) may not be renewed 12
unless the Secretary has determined that the lessee 13
is a small miner and is in compliance with all the 14
terms of the small miner’s lease. 15
(g) N
OROYALTIES.—The Secretary shall not charge 16
royalties for commercial production under a small miner’s 17
lease. 18
(h) C
ONVERSION OFEXISTINGCLAIMS.—A claim ex-19
isting on the effective date of this Act that belongs to an 20
individual that qualifies as a small miner may be converted 21
to a small miner’s lease under the same terms and condi-22
tions that apply to a small miner’s lease under this sec-23
tion, except that such lease— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 30 
•HR 1865 IH
(1) shall not be subject to rental during the pri-1
mary term of the lease; 2
(2) shall be subject to a rental of $5 per acre 3
per year for the first 3-year renewal of the lease; 4
and 5
(3) shall be subject to a rental of $10 per acre 6
per year for any subsequent 3-year renewal of the 7
lease. 8
(i) L
IMITATIONS.—A small miner’s lease— 9
(1) may only be held by the primary lease hold-10
er, a spouse thereof, or a direct descendent thereof; 11
(2) may not be sold or transferred, other than 12
to a spouse or direct descendent of the primary lease 13
holder; and 14
(3) is subject to all permitting requirements 15
under this Act. 16
(j) C
ONVERSION TOHARDROCKMINERALLEASE.— 17
(1) I
N GENERAL.—If, with regard to a small 18
miner’s lease, the lessee does not qualify as a small 19
miner at the time such lessee applies for a renewal 20
of such lease, such lessee shall not be eligible to 21
renew such lease, but shall be eligible for a non-22
competitive hardrock mineral lease issued under sec-23
tion 103(c). 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 31 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) ROYALTIES.—Notwithstanding section 1
103(c)(1), royalties under a small miner’s lease con-2
verted to a hardrock mineral lease under this sub-3
section shall only be due on the gross income that 4
exceeds $50,000 annually or the amount of gross in-5
come specified by the Secretary as of the time such 6
noncompetitive lease is issued. 7
SEC. 106. LAND CONTAINING NONHARDROCK MINERALS; 8
OTHER USES. 9
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In issuing licenses and leases 10
under this Act for land that contains deposits of coal or 11
other nonhardrock minerals, the Secretary shall reserve to 12
the United States such nonhardrock minerals for disposal 13
under applicable laws. 14
(b) O
THERUSES OFLICENSED AND LEASED 15
L
ANDS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall issue 17
regulations to allow for other uses of the land cov-18
ered by a prospecting license under this Act, includ-19
ing leases for other minerals, if such other uses 20
would not unreasonably interfere with operations 21
under the prospecting license. 22
(2) T
ERMS AND CONDITIONS .—The Secretary 23
shall include in each prospecting license issued under 24
section 103(b) such terms and conditions as the Sec-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 32 
•HR 1865 IH
retary determines necessary to avoid unreasonable 1
interference with other uses occurring on, or other 2
leases of, the licensed land. 3
(3) L
EASES.—The Secretary shall include in 4
leases issued under this Act stipulations to allow for 5
simultaneous operations under other leases for the 6
same land. 7
SEC. 107. ROYALTY. 8
(a) E
XISTINGPRODUCTION.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Production of hardrock min-10
erals, mineral concentrates, or products derived from 11
hardrock minerals on Federal land under an oper-12
ations permit from which valuable hardrock minerals 13
were produced in commercial quantities before the 14
effective date of this Act, other than production 15
under a small miner’s lease, shall be subject to a 16
royalty established by the Secretary of not less than 17
8 percent of the gross value of such production. 18
(2) A
DDITIONAL FEDERAL LAND .—Production 19
of hardrock minerals, mineral concentrates, or prod-20
ucts derived from hardrock minerals on Federal land 21
added through a plan modification to an operations 22
permit that is submitted after the effective date of 23
this Act shall be subject to a royalty established by 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 33 
•HR 1865 IH
the Secretary for such lease of not less than 12.5 1
percent of the gross value such production. 2
(b) L
IABILITY.—The claim holder or lessee, or any 3
operator to whom the claim holder or lessee has assigned 4
the obligation to make royalty payments under the claim 5
or lease and any person who controls such claim or lease 6
holder or operator, shall be liable for payment of such roy-7
alties. 8
(c) D
ISPOSITION.—Of the revenues collected under 9
this title, including rents, royalties, claim maintenance 10
fees, interest charges, fines, and penalties— 11
(1) 25 percent shall be paid to the State within 12
the boundaries of which the leased, licensed, or 13
claimed lands, or operations subject to such interest 14
charges, fines, or penalties are or were located; and 15
(2) the remainder shall be made available to 16
carry out, to remain available until expended without 17
fiscal year limitation, the Abandoned Hardrock Mine 18
Reclamation Program. 19
(d) D
UTIES OFCLAIMHOLDERS, LESSEES, OPERA-20
TORS, ANDTRANSPORTERS.— 21
(1) R
EGULATION.—The Secretary shall issue 22
regulations regarding the time and manner in which 23
a person who is required to make a royalty payment 24
under this section shall— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 34 
•HR 1865 IH
(A) make such payment; and 1
(B) notify the Secretary of any assignment 2
that such person may have made of the obliga-3
tion to make any royalty or other payment 4
under a mining claim or lease under this title. 5
(2) W
RITTEN INSTRUMENT .—Any person pay-6
ing royalties under this section shall file a written 7
instrument, together with the first royalty payment, 8
affirming that such person is responsible for making 9
proper payments for all amounts due for all time pe-10
riods for which such person has a payment responsi-11
bility. 12
(3) A
DDITIONAL AMOUNTS .—Such responsi-13
bility for the periods referred to in paragraph (2) 14
shall include any and all additional amounts billed 15
by the Secretary and determined to be due by final 16
agency or judicial action. 17
(4) J
OINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY .—Any per-18
son liable for royalty payments under this section 19
who assigns any payment obligation shall remain 20
jointly and severally liable for such royalty pay-21
ments. 22
(5) O
BLIGATIONS.—A person conducting min-23
eral activities shall— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 35 
•HR 1865 IH
(A) develop and comply with the site secu-1
rity provisions in the operations permit de-2
signed to protect from theft the hardrock min-3
erals, concentrates, or products derived there-4
from that are produced or stored on the area 5
subject to a mining claim or lease, and such 6
provisions shall conform with such minimum 7
standards as the Secretary may issue by regula-8
tion, taking into account the variety of cir-9
cumstances on areas subject to mining claims 10
and leases; and 11
(B) not later than the fifth business day 12
after production begins anywhere on an area 13
subject to a mining claim or lease, or produc-14
tion resumes after more than 90 days after pro-15
duction was suspended, notify the Secretary, in 16
the manner prescribed by the Secretary, of the 17
date on which such production has begun or re-18
sumed. 19
(6) R
EQUIRED DOCUMENTATION .—The Sec-20
retary may by regulation require any person engaged 21
in transporting a hardrock mineral, concentrate, or 22
product derived therefrom to carry on his or her per-23
son, in his or her vehicle, or in his or her immediate 24
control, documentation showing, at a minimum, the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 36 
•HR 1865 IH
amount, origin, and intended destination of the 1
hardrock mineral, concentrate, or product derived 2
therefrom in such circumstances as the Secretary 3
determines appropriate. 4
(e) R
ECORDKEEPING AND REPORTINGREQUIRE-5
MENTS.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.— 7
(A) R
EQUIREMENT.—A claim holder or 8
lessee, operator, or other person directly in-9
volved in developing, producing, processing, 10
transporting, purchasing, or selling hardrock 11
minerals, concentrates, or products derived 12
therefrom, subject to this Act, through the 13
point of royalty computation shall establish and 14
maintain any records, make any reports, and 15
provide any information that the Secretary may 16
reasonably require for the purposes of imple-17
menting this section or determining compliance 18
with regulations or orders under this section. 19
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.— 20
(i) R
ECORDS.—Records described in 21
subparagraph (A) shall include periodic re-22
ports, records, documents, and other data. 23
(ii) R
EPORTS.—Reports described in 24
subparagraph (A) may include pertinent 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 37 
•HR 1865 IH
technical and financial data relating to the 1
quantity, quality, composition volume, 2
weight, and assay of all minerals extracted 3
from the mining claim or lease. 4
(2) A
VAILABILITY FOR INSPECTION .—Upon the 5
request of any officer or employee duly designated 6
by the Secretary to conduct an audit or investigation 7
pursuant to this section, the appropriate records, re-8
ports, or information that may be required by this 9
section shall be made available for inspection and 10
duplication by such officer or employee. 11
(3) F
ORFEITURE.—Failure by a claim holder or 12
lessee, operator, or other person referred to in para-13
graph (1)(A) to cooperate with an audit or investiga-14
tion under paragraph (2), provide data required by 15
the Secretary, or grant access to information may, 16
at the discretion of the Secretary, result in involun-17
tary forfeiture of the claim or lease. 18
(4) M
AINTENANCE OF RECORDS .— 19
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Records required by 20
the Secretary under this section shall be main-21
tained for 7 years after release of financial as-22
surance under section 306 unless the Secretary 23
notifies the operator that the Secretary has ini-24
tiated an audit or investigation involving such 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 38 
•HR 1865 IH
records and that such records must be main-1
tained for a longer period. 2
(B) A
UDIT OR INVESTIGATION .—In any 3
case when an audit or investigation is under-4
way, records shall be maintained until the Sec-5
retary releases the operator of the obligation to 6
maintain such records. 7
(f) A
UDITS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 9
to conduct such audits of all claim holders or lessees, 10
operators, transporters, purchasers, processors, or 11
other persons directly or indirectly involved in the 12
production or sale of minerals covered by this Act, 13
as the Secretary determines necessary for the pur-14
poses of ensuring compliance with the requirements 15
of this section. 16
(2) A
VAILABILITY OF INFORMATION .—For pur-17
poses of performing such audits, the Secretary shall, 18
at reasonable times and upon request, have access 19
to, and may copy, all books, papers, and other docu-20
ments that relate to compliance with any provision 21
of this section by any person. 22
(g) C
OOPERATIVEAGREEMENTS.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 24
to enter into cooperative agreements with the Sec-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 39 
•HR 1865 IH
retary of Agriculture to share information con-1
cerning the royalty management of hardrock min-2
erals, concentrates, or products derived therefrom to 3
carry out inspection, auditing, investigation, or en-4
forcement (not including the collection of royalties, 5
civil or criminal penalties, or other payments) activi-6
ties under this section, and to carry out any other 7
activity described in this section. 8
(2) S
ECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE .—Except as 9
provided in paragraph (3), and pursuant to a coop-10
erative agreement entered into under paragraph (1), 11
the Secretary of Agriculture shall, upon request, 12
have access to all royalty accounting information in 13
the possession of the Secretary with respect to the 14
production, removal, or sale of hardrock minerals, 15
concentrates, or products derived therefrom from 16
claims or leases on land open to mineral exploration 17
and production under this Act. 18
(3) C
ONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION .— 19
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Trade secrets, propri-20
etary information, and other confidential infor-21
mation protected from disclosure under section 22
552 of title 5, United States Code, shall be 23
made available by the Secretary to other Fed-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 40 
•HR 1865 IH
eral agencies as necessary to ensure compliance 1
with this Act and other Federal laws. 2
(B) P
ROTECTION OF INFORMATION .—The 3
Secretary, the Secretary of Agriculture, and 4
other Federal officials shall ensure that the in-5
formation described in subparagraph (A) is pro-6
vided protection in accordance with the require-7
ments of that section. 8
(h) I
NTEREST ANDSUBSTANTIALUNDERREPORTING 9
A
SSESSMENTS.— 10
(1) P
AYMENTS NOT RECEIVED .— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of mining 12
claims or leases where royalty payments are not 13
received by the Secretary on the date that such 14
payments are due, the Secretary shall charge 15
interest on such underpayments at the same in-16
terest rate as the rate applicable under section 17
6621(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 18
1986. 19
(B) C
OMPUTATION.—In the case of an un-20
derpayment, interest shall be computed and 21
charged only on the amount of the deficiency 22
and not on the total amount. 23
(2) U
NDERREPORTING.—If there is any under-24
reporting of royalty owed on production from a 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 41 
•HR 1865 IH
claim or lease for any production month by any per-1
son liable for royalty payments under this section, 2
the Secretary shall assess a penalty of not more 3
than 25 percent of the amount of the under-4
reporting. 5
(3) S
ELF-REPORTING.—The Secretary may 6
waive or reduce the assessment under paragraph (2) 7
if the person liable for royalty payments under this 8
section corrects the underreporting before the later 9
of— 10
(A) the date such person receives notice 11
from the Secretary that an underreporting may 12
have occurred; and 13
(B) the date that is 90 days after the ef-14
fective date of this Act. 15
(4) W
AIVER.—The Secretary shall waive any 16
portion of an assessment under paragraph (2) at-17
tributable to that portion of the underreporting for 18
which the person responsible for paying the royalty 19
demonstrates that such person— 20
(A) had written authorization from the 21
Secretary to report royalty on the value of the 22
production on the basis on which it was re-23
ported; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 42 
•HR 1865 IH
(B) had substantial authority for reporting 1
royalty on the value of the production on the 2
basis on which it was reported; 3
(C) previously had notified the Secretary, 4
in such manner as the Secretary may by regula-5
tion issue, of relevant reasons or facts affecting 6
the royalty treatment of specific production 7
which led to the underreporting; or 8
(D) meets any other exception which the 9
Secretary may, by regulation, establish. 10
(5) A
BANDONED HARDROCK MINE RECLAMA -11
TION PROGRAM.—All penalties collected under this 12
subsection shall be shall be made available to carry 13
out, to remain available until expended without fiscal 14
year limitation, the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Rec-15
lamation Program. 16
(6) U
NDERREPORTING DEFINED .—In this sub-17
section, the term ‘‘underreporting’’ means the dif-18
ference between the royalty on the value of the pro-19
duction that should have been reported and the roy-20
alty on the value of the production which was re-21
ported, if the value that should have been reported 22
is greater than the value that was reported. 23
(i) E
XPANDEDROYALTYOBLIGATIONS.—Each per-24
son liable for royalty payments under this section shall 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 43 
•HR 1865 IH
be jointly and severally liable for royalty on all hardrock 1
minerals, concentrates, or products derived therefrom that 2
are lost or wasted from a mining claim or lease if such 3
loss or waste is due to negligence on the part of any person 4
or due to the failure to comply with this section. 5
(j) F
AILURETOCOMPLYWITHROYALTYREQUIRE-6
MENTS.—Any person who fails to comply with the require-7
ments of this section shall be liable for a civil penalty 8
under section 109 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty 9
Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1719) to the same 10
extent as if the claim or lease maintained in compliance 11
with this Act were a lease under such Act. 12
(k) G
ROSSINCOMEFROMMININGDEFINED.—In 13
this section, for any hardrock mineral, the term ‘‘gross 14
income from mining’’ has the meaning given the term 15
‘‘gross income’’ in section 613(c) of the Internal Revenue 16
Code of 1986. 17
(l) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—Royalties under this Act shall 18
take effect with respect to the production of hardrock min-19
erals after the effective date of this Act, but any royalty 20
payments attributable to production during the first 12 21
calendar months after the effective date of this Act shall 22
be payable at the expiration of such 12-month period. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 44 
•HR 1865 IH
SEC. 108. EXISTING PRODUCTION. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The claim holder of a mining 2
claim located or converted under this Act for which min-3
eral activities have commenced under an approved plan of 4
operations as of the effective date of this Act shall have 5
the exclusive right of possession and use of the land sub-6
ject to such mining claim for mineral activities, including 7
the right of ingress and egress to such land for mineral 8
activities, subject to the rights of the United States under 9
this Act and other applicable Federal law. 10
(b) T
ERMINATION.—The rights of the claim holder 11
under subsection (a) shall terminate upon completion of 12
mineral activities on such land to the satisfaction of the 13
Secretary. 14
SEC. 109. HARDROCK MINING CLAIM MAINTENANCE FEE. 15
(a) F
EE.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.— 17
(A) R
EQUIRED FEES.— 18
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided 19
in section 2511(e)(2) of the Energy Policy 20
Act of 1992 (30 U.S.C. 242(e)(2)) and as 21
otherwise provided in this Act, for each 22
unpatented mining claim, millsite, or tun-23
nel site on Federal land, whether located 24
before or on the effective date of this Act, 25
each such claimant shall pay to the Sec-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 45 
•HR 1865 IH
retary, on or before September 1 of each 1
year, a claim maintenance fee of $200 per 2
claim to hold such unpatented mining 3
claim, millsite, or tunnel site for the as-4
sessment year beginning at noon the fol-5
lowing day. 6
(ii) F
EE IN PLACE OF ASSESSMENT 7
WORK.—A claim maintenance fee paid 8
under clause (i) shall be in lieu of the as-9
sessment work requirement in the Mining 10
Law of 1872 (30 U.S.C. 28 et seq.) and 11
the related filing requirements in sections 12
314(a) and (c) of the Federal Land Policy 13
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 14
1744(a) and (c)). 15
(B) F
EE ADJUSTMENTS.—Any adjustment 16
to a fee under this subsection made under sec-17
tion 502 shall begin to apply in the first assess-18
ment year which begins after the adjustment is 19
made. 20
(C) E
XCEPTION FOR SMALL MINERS .— 21
Subparagraph (A) and the assessment work re-22
quirement in the Mining Law of 1872 (30 23
U.S.C. 28 et seq.) shall not apply with respect 24
to a small miner’s lease. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 46 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) RECLAMATION PROGRAM .—Moneys received 1
under this subsection that are not otherwise allo-2
cated for the administration of this Act by the Sec-3
retary shall be made available to carry out, to re-4
main available until expended without fiscal year 5
limitation, the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Reclama-6
tion Program. 7
(b) C
O-OWNERSHIP.—The co-ownership provisions of 8
the Mining Law of 1872 (30 U.S.C. 28 et seq.) shall re-9
main in effect except that the annual claim maintenance 10
fee under subsection (a), where applicable, shall replace 11
applicable assessment requirements and expenditures 12
under that Act. 13
(c) F
AILURETOPAY.—Failure to pay the claim 14
maintenance fee under subsection (a) in a timely manner 15
shall conclusively constitute a forfeiture of the unpatented 16
mining claim, millsite, or tunnel site by the claimant and 17
the claim, millsite, or tunnel site shall be deemed null and 18
void by operation of law. 19
(d) O
THERREQUIREMENTS.— 20
(1) R
EQUIRED FILINGS.—Nothing in this sec-21
tion shall change or modify the requirements of sec-22
tion 314(b) of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-23
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1744(b)) or the re-24
quirements of section 314(c) of that Act (43 U.S.C. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 47 
•HR 1865 IH
1744(c)) related to filings required by section 314(b) 1
of that Act (43 U.S.C. 1744(b)), which remain in ef-2
fect. 3
(2) M
INING LAW OF 1872.—Section 2324 of the 4
Mining Law of 1872 (30 U.S.C. 28) is amended by 5
inserting ‘‘or section 103(a) of the Mining Waste, 6
Fraud, and Abuse Prevention Act of 2025’’ after 7
‘‘Act of 1993’’. 8
SEC. 110. EFFECT OF PAYMENTS FOR USE AND OCCUPANCY 9
OF CLAIMS. 10
Except as otherwise provided in section 101, timely 11
payment of the claim maintenance fee required by section 12
109 or any related law relating to the use of Federal land, 13
asserts the authority of the claimant to use and occupy 14
the Federal land concerned for prospecting and explo-15
ration, consistent with the requirements of this Act and 16
other applicable law. 17
SEC. 111. PROTECTION OF SPECIAL PLACES. 18
(a) P
ROTECTION OFNATIONALPARKSYSTEMUNITS 19
ANDNATIONALMONUMENTS.—No agency may authorize 20
any mineral activity that would impair the land or re-21
sources of a unit of the National Park System or a na-22
tional monument, including— 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 48 
•HR 1865 IH
(1) any diminution of the affected land, includ-1
ing wildlife, scenic assets, water resources, air qual-2
ity, and acoustic qualities; or 3
(2) other changes that would impair a the expe-4
rience of a citizen at the National Park System unit 5
or a national monument. 6
(b) P
ROTECTION OFNATIONALCONSERVATIONSYS-7
TEMUNITS.—In order to protect the resources and values 8
of National Conservation System units, the Secretary, as 9
appropriate, shall use authority under this Act and other 10
applicable law to the fullest extent necessary to prevent 11
mineral activities that could have an adverse impact on 12
the resources or values for which such units were estab-13
lished. 14
(c) L
ANDSNOTOPEN TOMINING.—Notwithstanding 15
any other provision of law and subject to valid existing 16
rights, no agency shall authorize mineral activities within 17
any of the following areas: 18
(1) Sacred sites. 19
(2) Wilderness study areas. 20
(3) Habitat designated as critical habitat under 21
section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 22
U.S.C. 1533). 23
(4) Areas of critical environmental concern (as 24
such term is defined in section 103 of the Federal 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 49 
•HR 1865 IH
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 1
U.S.C. 1702)). 2
(5) Units of the National Conservation System. 3
(6) Areas designated for inclusion in the Na-4
tional Wild and Scenic Rivers System pursuant to 5
the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1271 et 6
seq.), areas designated for potential addition to such 7
system pursuant to section 5(a) of that Act (16 8
U.S.C. 1276(a)), and areas determined to be eligible 9
for inclusion in such system pursuant to section 5(d) 10
of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1276(d)). 11
(7) Inventoried Roadless Areas under the 12
Roadless Area Conservation Rule, part 294 of title 13
36, Code of Federal Regulations, Colorado Roadless 14
Areas, or Idaho Roadless Areas. 15
SEC. 112. SUITABILITY DETERMINATION. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In accordance with subsection (b), 17
the Secretary concerned shall make each determination of 18
whether land is suitable for mineral activities that is re-19
quired by this Act. 20
(b) S
UITABILITY.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned 22
shall consider land suitable for mineral activities if 23
the Secretary concerned finds that such mineral ac-24
tivities would not result in unnecessary or undue 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 50 
•HR 1865 IH
degradation to a special characteristic described in 1
paragraph (2) of such land that cannot be prevented 2
by the imposition of conditions in the permit re-3
quired for such activities under title III. 4
(2) S
PECIAL CHARACTERISTICS .—For purposes 5
of paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall con-6
sider each of the following to be a special char-7
acteristic: 8
(A) The existence of a significant water re-9
source or supply in or associated with such 10
land, including any aquifer or aquifer recharge 11
area. 12
(B) The presence on such land, or any ad-13
jacent land, of a publicly owned place that is 14
listed on, or determined by the Secretary to be 15
eligible for listing on, the National Register of 16
Historic Places. 17
(C) The designation of all or any portion 18
of such land, or any adjacent land, as a Na-19
tional Conservation System unit. 20
(D) The designation of all or any portion 21
of such land, or any adjacent land, as critical 22
habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 23
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 51 
•HR 1865 IH
(E) The designation of all or any portion 1
of such land, or any adjacent land, as a class 2
I area under section 162 of the Clean Air Act 3
(42 U.S.C. 7472). 4
(F) The presence of such other resource 5
values as the Secretary concerned may by regu-6
lation specify, determined based upon field test-7
ing, evaluation, or credible information that 8
verifies such values. 9
(G) The designation of such land, or adja-10
cent land, as a Research Natural Area. 11
(H) The presence on such land, or any ad-12
jacent land, of a sacred site. 13
(I) The presence or designation of such 14
land adjacent to land not open to mining pursu-15
ant to section 111. 16
(3) P
UBLIC COMMENT.—A determination under 17
this subsection of suitability for mineral activities 18
shall be made after publication of notice and an op-19
portunity for submission of public comment for a pe-20
riod of not less than 60 days. 21
(4) I
NCLUSION IN FEDERAL LAND USE PLAN .— 22
Any determination made in accordance with this 23
subsection with respect to land shall be incorporated 24
into each Federal land use plan applicable to such 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 52 
•HR 1865 IH
land, at the time such Federal land use plan is 1
adopted, revised, or significantly amended pursuant 2
to any Federal law other than this Act. 3
(c) C
HANGEREQUEST.—The Secretary concerned 4
shall, by regulation, provide an opportunity for any person 5
to request a change in determination for any Federal land 6
found suitable under subsection (a). 7
(d) E
XISTINGOPERATIONS.—Nothing in this section 8
shall be construed to affect land on which mineral activi-9
ties were being conducted on the effective date of this Act 10
under an approved plan of operations or under notice. 11
TITLE II—CONSULTATION 12
PROCEDURE 13
SEC. 201. REQUIREMENT FOR CONSULTATION. 14
Agencies shall conduct meaningful timely consulta-15
tion with Indian Tribes following the procedures of the 16
President’s Memorandum of Uniform Standards for Trib-17
al Consultation, issued on November 30, 2022, before un-18
dertaking any mineral activities that may have a direct, 19
indirect, or cumulative impact on— 20
(1) the land, including allotted, ceded, or tradi-21
tional land, or interests in such land of an Indian 22
Tribe or member of an Indian Tribe; 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 53 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) Tribal land, cultural practices, resources, or 1
access to traditional areas of cultural or religious 2
importance; 3
(3) any part of any Federal land that shares a 4
border with Indian country, as such term is defined 5
in section 1151 of title 18, United States Code; 6
(4) the protected rights of an Indian Tribe, 7
whether or not such rights are enumerated in a trea-8
ty, including water, hunting, gathering, and fishing 9
rights; 10
(5) the ability of an Indian Tribe to govern or 11
provide services to members of the Indian Tribe; 12
(6) the relationship between the Federal Gov-13
ernment and an Indian Tribe; or 14
(7) the trust responsibility of the Federal Gov-15
ernment to an Indian Tribe. 16
TITLE III—ENVIRONMENTAL 17
CONSIDERATIONS OF MIN-18
ERAL EXPLORATION AND DE-19
VELOPMENT 20
SEC. 301. GENERAL STANDARD FOR HARDROCK MINING ON 21
FEDERAL LAND. 22
Notwithstanding section 302(b) of the Federal Land 23
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1732(b)), 24
the first section of the Act of June 4, 1897 (16 U.S.C. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 54 
•HR 1865 IH
478), and the National Forest Management Act of 1976 1
(16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.), and in accordance with this title 2
and applicable law, unless expressly stated otherwise in 3
this Act, the Secretary shall ensure that mineral activities 4
on any Federal land that is subject to a mining claim, 5
millsite, tunnel site, or any authorization issued under title 6
I of this Act are carefully controlled to prevent unneces-7
sary or undue degradation of Federal land and resources. 8
SEC. 302. PERMITS. 9
(a) P
ERMITSREQUIRED.—No person may engage in 10
mineral activities on Federal land that may cause a dis-11
turbance of surface resources, including land, air, ground 12
water and surface water, and fish and wildlife, unless a 13
permit is issued to such person under this title authorizing 14
such activities. 15
(b) C
ASUALUSE.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 16
a permit under this title shall not be required for mineral 17
activities that are a casual use of the Federal land. 18
(c) N
ATIONALENVIRONMENTAL POLICYACT.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary and the Sec-20
retary of Agriculture shall conduct the permit proc-21
esses under this Act in accordance with the timing 22
and other requirements under section 102 of the Na-23
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 24
4332). 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 55 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) COORDINATION.—To the extent practicable, 1
the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture shall 2
coordinate the permit process. 3
SEC. 303. EXPLORATION PERMIT. 4
(a) A
UTHORIZEDEXPLORATIONACTIVITY.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A person may apply for an 6
exploration permit for any mining claim, license, or 7
lease authorizing the applicant to remove a reason-8
able amount of the hardrock minerals, as defined in 9
the license or lease or established in such regulations 10
as the Secretary shall issue, from the area that is 11
subject to the mining claim, license, or lease, respec-12
tively, for analysis, study, and testing. 13
(2) L
IMITATION.—Such permit shall not au-14
thorize the applicant to remove any mineral for sale 15
nor to conduct any activities other than those re-16
quired for exploration for hardrock minerals and rec-17
lamation. 18
(b) P
ERMITAPPLICATIONREQUIREMENTS.—To 19
apply for an exploration permit under this section, a per-20
son shall submit to the Secretary concerned an application 21
for such permit in a manner determined satisfactory by 22
the Secretary concerned, which shall include— 23
(1) an exploration plan; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 56 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) a reclamation plan for the proposed explo-1
ration; and 2
(3) such documentation as is necessary to en-3
sure compliance with applicable Federal and State 4
environmental laws and regulations. 5
(c) R
ECLAMATIONPLANREQUIREMENTS.—The rec-6
lamation plan required to be included in a permit applica-7
tion under subsection (b) shall include such provisions as 8
may be jointly issued by the Secretary and the Secretary 9
of Agriculture by regulation, including the following re-10
quirements: 11
(1) The applicant has demonstrated that pro-12
posed reclamation can be accomplished. 13
(2) The proposed exploration activities and con-14
dition of the land after the completion of exploration 15
activities and final reclamation will conform with the 16
land use plan applicable to the area subject to min-17
eral activities. 18
(3) The area subject to the proposed explo-19
ration permit is not included within an area listed 20
in section 111. 21
(4) The applicant has demonstrated that the 22
exploration plan and reclamation plan will be in 23
compliance with the requirements of this Act and all 24
other applicable Federal requirements, and any 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 57 
•HR 1865 IH
State requirements agreed to by the Secretary con-1
cerned. 2
(5) The applicant has demonstrated that the re-3
quirements of section 306 will be met. 4
(6) The applicant is eligible to receive a permit 5
under section 305. 6
(d) T
ERM OFPERMIT.—An exploration permit shall 7
be for a stated term, which shall be— 8
(1) not greater than that necessary to accom-9
plish the proposed exploration; and 10
(2) in no case for more than 10 years. 11
(e) P
ERMITMODIFICATION.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An exploration permit holder 13
may, during the term of the exploration permit, sub-14
mit to the Secretary concerned an application to 15
modify such permit. 16
(2) A
PPROVAL OF MODIFICATION .—To approve 17
a proposed modification to the permit, the Secretary 18
concerned shall make the same determinations as 19
are required in the case of an original permit, except 20
that the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture 21
may specify by joint regulation the extent to which 22
requirements for initial exploration permits under 23
this section shall apply to applications to modify an 24
exploration permit based on whether the Secretary 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 58 
•HR 1865 IH
concerned determines such modifications are signifi-1
cant or minor. 2
(f) T
RANSFER, ASSIGNMENT, ORSALE OFRIGHTS.— 3
(1) P
RIOR WRITTEN APPROVAL .—No transfer, 4
assignment, or sale of rights granted by an explo-5
ration permit issued under this section may be made 6
without the prior written approval of the Secretary 7
concerned. 8
(2) A
PPROVAL.—The Secretary concerned shall 9
allow an exploration permit holder to transfer, as-10
sign, or sell rights under such permit to a successor, 11
if the Secretary concerned finds in writing that the 12
successor— 13
(A) is eligible to receive a permit under 14
section 304; 15
(B) has submitted evidence of financial as-16
surance satisfactory under section 306; and 17
(C) meets any other requirements specified 18
by the Secretary concerned. 19
(3) A
SSUMED LIABILITY.—The successor in in-20
terest shall assume the liability and reclamation re-21
sponsibilities established by the existing exploration 22
permit and shall conduct the mineral activities in 23
full compliance with this Act, and the terms and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 59 
•HR 1865 IH
conditions of the exploration permit as in effect at 1
the time of transfer, assignment, or sale. 2
(4) F
EE.—Each application for approval of an 3
exploration permit transfer, assignment, or sale pur-4
suant to this subsection shall be accompanied by a 5
fee payable to the Secretary concerned in such 6
amount as may be established by the Secretary con-7
cerned, which shall be equal to the actual or antici-8
pated cost to the Secretary concerned of reviewing 9
and approving or disapproving such transfer, assign-10
ment, or sale, as determined by the Secretary con-11
cerned. 12
SEC. 304. OPERATIONS PERMIT. 13
(a) O
PERATIONSPERMIT.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A person that is in compli-15
ance with this Act may apply to the Secretary con-16
cerned for an operations permit authorizing the per-17
son to carry out mineral activities on— 18
(A) any valid mining claim, millsite, tunnel 19
site, or lease issued under this Act; and 20
(B) such additional Federal land as the 21
Secretary concerned may determine is necessary 22
to conduct the proposed mineral activities, if 23
the operator— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 60 
•HR 1865 IH
(i) obtains a right-of-way permit for 1
use of such additional lands under title V 2
of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-3
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1761 et 4
seq.); and 5
(ii) agrees to pay all fees required 6
under that title for such permit. 7
(2) T
ERMS AND CONDITIONS .—The Secretary 8
concerned shall include in each permit issued under 9
this section such terms and conditions as the Sec-10
retary concerned determines necessary to carry out 11
this title. 12
(b) P
ERMITAPPLICATIONREQUIREMENTS.—To 13
apply for an operations permit under this section, a person 14
shall submit to the Secretary concerned an application for 15
such permit in a manner determined satisfactory by the 16
Secretary concerned, which shall include site characteriza-17
tion data, an operations plan, a reclamation plan, moni-18
toring plans, long-term maintenance plans, to the extent 19
necessary, and such documentation as necessary to ensure 20
compliance with applicable Federal and State environ-21
mental laws and regulations. If the proposed mineral ac-22
tivities will be carried out in conjunction with mineral ac-23
tivities on adjacent non-Federal land, information on the 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 61 
•HR 1865 IH
location and nature of such operations may be required 1
by the Secretary. 2
(c) P
ERMITISSUANCE ORDENIAL.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—After providing for public 4
participation pursuant to subsection (i), the Sec-5
retary concerned shall issue an operations permit if 6
the Secretary concerned makes each of the following 7
determinations in writing, and shall deny an oper-8
ations permit if the Secretary concerned finds that 9
the application and applicant do not fully meet the 10
following requirements: 11
(A) The permit application, including the 12
site characterization data, operations plan, and 13
reclamation plan, are complete, accurate, and 14
sufficient to develop a good understanding of 15
the anticipated impacts of the mineral activities 16
and the effectiveness of proposed mitigation and 17
control of such mineral activities. 18
(B) The applicant has demonstrated that 19
the proposed reclamation in the operations and 20
reclamation plans can be and is likely to be ac-21
complished by the applicant and will not cause 22
unnecessary or undue degradation. 23
(C) The condition of the land subject to 24
the operations permit, including the fish and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 62 
•HR 1865 IH
wildlife resources and habitat contained there-1
on, will be fully reclaimed after the completion 2
of mineral activities. 3
(D) The area subject to the proposed plan 4
is not listed in section 111 or otherwise ineli-5
gible for mineral activities. 6
(E) The proposed operation has been de-7
signed to prevent material damage to the hy-8
drologic balance outside the land subject to the 9
operations permit. 10
(F) The applicant will fully comply with 11
the requirements of section 306 before the initi-12
ation of operations. 13
(G) Neither the applicant nor operator (or 14
any subsidiary or affiliate the applicant or oper-15
ator) is ineligible to receive a permit under sec-16
tion 305. 17
(H) The reclamation plan demonstrates 18
that 10 years after the end of mineral activities 19
under the operations permit, no treatment of 20
surface or ground water for carcinogens or tox-21
ins will be required to meet water quality stand-22
ards at the point of discharge. 23
(2) C
ONSULTATION WITH ENVIRONMENTAL 24
PROTECTION AGENCY .—With respect to any activi-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 63 
•HR 1865 IH
ties specified in the reclamation plan referred to in 1
subsection (b) that constitute a removal or remedial 2
action under section 101 of the Comprehensive Envi-3
ronmental Response, Compensation, and Liability 4
Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601), the Secretary con-5
cerned shall consult with the Administrator of the 6
Environmental Protection Agency before the 7
issuance of an operations permit, who shall ensure 8
that the reclamation plan does not require activities 9
that would increase the costs or likelihood of re-10
moval or remedial actions under the that Act (42 11
U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) or corrective actions under the 12
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.). 13
(d) T
ERM OFPERMIT; RENEWAL.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL .—An operations permit 15
shall— 16
(A) be for an initial term not longer than 17
the shorter of— 18
(i) the period necessary to accomplish 19
the proposed mineral activities subject to 20
the permit; and 21
(ii) the length of time remaining on 22
the hardrock mining lease of the applicant; 23
(B) be renewed for additional 10-year peri-24
ods if— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 64 
•HR 1865 IH
(i) the operation subject to the permit 1
is in compliance with the requirements of 2
this Act and other applicable law; and 3
(ii) the hardrock mining lease of the 4
applicant has been renewed for that 10- 5
year period; and 6
(C) expire 5 years after the commencement 7
of a temporary cessation unless, before the expi-8
ration of the 5 years, the operator has filed 9
with the Secretary concerned a request for ap-10
proval to resume operations. 11
(2) F
AILURE TO COMMENCE MINERAL ACTIVI -12
TIES.—Failure by the operator to commence mineral 13
activities not later than 2 years after the date sched-14
uled in an operations permit shall require a modi-15
fication of the permit if the Secretary concerned de-16
termines that modifications are necessary to comply 17
with section 111. 18
(e) P
ERMITMODIFICATION.— 19
(1) A
PPLICATION.—An operator may, during 20
the term of the operations permit, submit to the 21
Secretary concerned an application to modify such 22
permit or the operations plan or reclamation plan 23
associated with such permit. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 65 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) MODIFICATION BY SECRETARY CON -1
CERNED.— 2
(A) I
N GENERAL.—At any time, the Sec-3
retary concerned may require reasonable modi-4
fication to any operations plan or reclamation 5
plan upon a determination that the require-6
ments of this Act cannot be met if the plan is 7
followed as approved, which shall be based on 8
a written finding and subject to public notice 9
and hearing requirements established by the 10
Secretary concerned. 11
(B) W
AIVER OF PUBLIC NOTICE AND 12
HEARING.—The Secretary concerned may waive 13
the public notice and hearing requirements 14
under subparagraph (A) in the case of immi-15
nent threat to health, safety, or the environ-16
ment. 17
(3) U
NANTICIPATED EVENTS OR CONDI -18
TIONS.—A permit modification is required before 19
changes are made to the approved operations plan, 20
or if unanticipated events or conditions exist on the 21
land subject to the permit, including in the case of— 22
(A) development of acid or toxic drainage; 23
(B) loss of springs or water supplies; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 66 
•HR 1865 IH
(C) water quantity, water quality, or other 1
resulting water impacts that are significantly 2
different than those predicted in the application 3
for the operations permit; 4
(D) the need for long-term water treat-5
ment; 6
(E) significant reclamation difficulties or 7
reclamation failure; 8
(F) the discovery of significant scientific or 9
biological resources that were not addressed in 10
the original plan; 11
(G) the discovery of property eligible for 12
listing on the National Register of Historic 13
Places; or 14
(H) the discovery of a hazard to public 15
safety. 16
(f) T
EMPORARYCESSATION OFOPERATIONS.— 17
(1) S
ECRETARIAL APPROVAL REQUIRED .—An 18
operator conducting mineral activities under an op-19
erations permit in effect under this title may not 20
temporarily cease mineral activities for a period of 21
more than 180 days unless the Secretary concerned 22
has approved such temporary cessation or unless the 23
temporary cessation is permitted under the original 24
operations permit. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 67 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) PREVIOUSLY ISSUED OPERATIONS PER -1
MITS.—An operator that temporarily ceases mineral 2
activities for a period of more than 90 days under 3
an operations permit issued before the effective date 4
of this Act shall submit, before the expiration of 5
such 90-day period, a complete application for tem-6
porary cessation of operations to the Secretary con-7
cerned for approval unless the temporary cessation 8
is permitted under the original operations permit. 9
(3) R
EQUIRED INFORMATION .— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—To apply for an ap-11
proval of temporary cessation of operations, an 12
operator shall submit to the Secretary con-13
cerned such information required under sub-14
section (b) and any other provisions prescribed 15
by the Secretary concerned to minimize impacts 16
on human health, the environment, or property 17
eligible for listing on the National Register of 18
Historic Places. 19
(B) I
NSPECTION.—After receipt of a com-20
plete application for temporary cessation of op-21
erations, the Secretary concerned shall conduct 22
an inspection of the area for which temporary 23
cessation of operations has been requested. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 68 
•HR 1865 IH
(4) CONDITIONS FOR APPROVAL .—The Sec-1
retary concerned may approve an application for 2
temporary cessation of operations if such Secretary 3
determines the following: 4
(A) The methods for securing surface fa-5
cilities and restricting access to the land subject 6
to the operations permit, or relevant portions 7
thereof, will effectively protect against hazards 8
to the health and safety of the public and fish 9
and wildlife or damage to property eligible for 10
listing on the National Register of Historic 11
Places. 12
(B) Reclamation is in compliance with the 13
approved reclamation plan, except in those 14
areas specifically designated in the application 15
for temporary cessation of operations for which 16
a delay in meeting such standards is necessary 17
to facilitate the resumption of operations. 18
(C) The amount of financial assurance 19
filed with the permit application is sufficient to 20
ensure completion of the reclamation activities 21
identified in the approved reclamation plan in 22
the event of forfeiture. 23
(D) Any outstanding notices of violation 24
and cessation orders incurred in connection 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 69 
•HR 1865 IH
with the plan for which temporary cessation is 1
being requested are either stayed pursuant to 2
an administrative or judicial appeal proceeding 3
or are in the process of being abated to the sat-4
isfaction of the Secretary concerned. 5
(g) P
ERMITREVIEWS.—The Secretary concerned 6
shall review each operations permit issued under this sec-7
tion every 10 years during the term of such operations 8
permit, and before approving the resumption of operations 9
under subsection (f), the Secretary concerned shall require 10
the operator to take such actions as the Secretary con-11
cerned deems necessary to ensure that mineral activities 12
conform to the operations permit, including adjustment of 13
financial assurance requirements. 14
(h) T
RANSFER, ASSIGNMENT, ORSALE OF 15
R
IGHTS.— 16
(1) W
RITTEN APPROVAL.—No transfer, assign-17
ment, or sale of rights granted by an operations per-18
mit under this section may be made without the 19
prior written approval of the Secretary concerned. 20
(2) C
ONDITIONS OF APPROVAL .—The Secretary 21
concerned may allow a permit holder to transfer, as-22
sign, or sell rights under the permit to a successor, 23
if the Secretary concerned finds, in writing, that the 24
successor— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 70 
•HR 1865 IH
(A) has submitted all required information 1
and is eligible to receive a permit in accordance 2
with section 305; 3
(B) has submitted evidence of financial as-4
surance satisfactory under section 306; and 5
(C) meets any other requirements specified 6
by the Secretary concerned. 7
(3) A
SSUMED LIABILITY.—The successor de-8
scribed in paragraph (2) shall assume the liability 9
and reclamation responsibilities established by the 10
existing operations permit and shall conduct the 11
mineral activities in full compliance with this Act 12
and the terms and conditions of the operations per-13
mit as in effect at the time of transfer, assignment, 14
or sale. 15
(4) F
EE.—Each application for approval of an 16
operations permit transfer, assignment, or sale pur-17
suant to this subsection shall be accompanied by a 18
fee payable to the Secretary concerned in such 19
amount as may be established by the Secretary con-20
cerned, which shall be equal to the actual or antici-21
pated cost of reviewing and approving or dis-22
approving such transfer, assignment, or sale, as de-23
termined by the Secretary concerned. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00070 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 71 
•HR 1865 IH
(i) PUBLICPARTICIPATION.—The Secretary and the 1
Secretary of Agriculture shall jointly issue regulations to 2
ensure transparency and public participation in permit de-3
cisions required under this Act, consistent with any re-4
quirements that apply to such decisions under section 102 5
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 6
U.S.C. 4332). 7
SEC. 305. PERSONS INELIGIBLE FOR PERMITS. 8
(a) C
URRENTVIOLATIONS.—Unless corrective action 9
has been taken in accordance with subsection (c), no per-10
mit under this title may be issued, transferred, assigned, 11
or sold to an applicant if the applicant or any agent of 12
the applicant, the operator (if different from the appli-13
cant), any claim or lease holder (if different from the ap-14
plicant) of the claim, license, or lease concerned, or any 15
affiliate of the applicant is in violation of the following: 16
(1) This Act. 17
(2) An applicable State or Federal toxic sub-18
stance, solid waste, air, water quality, or fish and 19
wildlife conservation law or regulation at any site 20
where mining, beneficiation, or processing activities 21
are occurring or have occurred. 22
(3) The Surface Mining Control and Reclama-23
tion Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.) at any 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00071 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 72 
•HR 1865 IH
site where surface coal mining operations are occur-1
ring or have occurred. 2
(b) S
USPENSION.—The Secretary concerned shall 3
suspend a permit, in whole or in part, if the Secretary 4
concerned determines that any of the entities described in 5
subsection (a) were in violation of any requirement de-6
scribed in subsection (a) at the time such permit was 7
issued. 8
(c) C
ORRECTION.— 9
(1) R
EINSTATEMENT.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-11
cerned may issue or reinstate a permit under 12
this title if the applicant submits proof that— 13
(i) the violation under subsection (a) 14
or (b) has been corrected or is in the proc-15
ess of being corrected to the satisfaction of 16
the Secretary concerned and the regulatory 17
authority involved; or 18
(ii) the violator has filed, and is pur-19
suing at the time of such submission, a di-20
rect administrative or judicial appeal to 21
contest the existence of the violation. 22
(B) A
PPEAL OF RELATIONSHIP TO AFFIL -23
IATE.—An appeal of the relationship of an ap-24
plicant to an affiliate shall not constitute a di-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00072 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 73 
•HR 1865 IH
rect administrative or judicial appeal to contest 1
the existence of the violation under subpara-2
graph (A)(ii). 3
(2) C
ONDITIONAL APPROVAL .— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A permit that is issued 5
or reinstated based upon proof submitted under 6
this subsection shall be conditionally issued or 7
conditionally reinstated, respectively. 8
(B) S
USPENSION; REVOCATION.—The Sec-9
retary concerned shall suspend or revoke a per-10
mit that is conditionally issued or conditionally 11
reinstated if the relevant violation is not suc-12
cessfully abated or is upheld on appeal. 13
(d) P
ATTERN OFWILLFULVIOLATION.—No permit 14
may be issued under this Act to any applicant if there 15
is a demonstrated pattern of willful violations of the envi-16
ronmental protection requirements of this Act by the ap-17
plicant, an affiliate of the applicant, or the operator or 18
claim, license, or lease holder if different than the appli-19
cant. 20
SEC. 306. FINANCIAL ASSURANCE. 21
(a) F
INANCIALASSURANCEREQUIRED.— 22
(1) F
ORM OF ASSURANCE .—After a permit is 23
issued under this title and before any exploration or 24
operations begin under the relevant permit, the oper-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00073 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 74 
•HR 1865 IH
ator shall file with the Secretary concerned evidence 1
of financial assurance payable to the United States, 2
which shall be provided in the form of a surety bond, 3
letters of credit, certificates of deposit, or cash. 4
(2) C
OVERED ACTIVITIES.—The financial assur-5
ance required under paragraph (1) shall cover all 6
land within the initial permit area and all affected 7
waters that may require restoration, treatment, or 8
other management as a result of mineral activities, 9
and shall be extended to cover all land and water 10
added to the permit area pursuant to any permit 11
modification made under section 303(e) or 304(e) or 12
affected by mineral activities within the permit area. 13
(b) A
MOUNT.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The amount of the financial 15
assurance required under this section shall be suffi-16
cient to ensure the completion of reclamation satis-17
fying the requirements of this Act if the work were 18
to be performed by the Secretary concerned, or by 19
a third-party contractor hired by the Secretary con-20
cerned, in the event of forfeiture, including the con-21
struction and maintenance costs for any treatment 22
facilities necessary to meet Federal and State envi-23
ronmental requirements. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00074 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 75 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) CALCULATION.—The calculation of the 1
amount under paragraph (1) shall take into account 2
the maximum estimated cost of reclamation, as de-3
termined by the best available science, and adminis-4
trative costs associated with a government agency 5
reclaiming the site. 6
(c) D
URATION.—The financial assurance required 7
under this section shall be held for the duration of the 8
mineral activities and for an additional period sufficient 9
to cover the responsibility of the operator for reclamation, 10
long-term maintenance, and effluent treatment as speci-11
fied in subsection (g). 12
(d) A
DJUSTMENTS.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned 14
may adjust the amount of the financial assurance 15
required under this section and the terms of the ac-16
ceptance of the financial assurance as needed as the 17
land subject to the relevant permit is increased or 18
decreased, the costs of reclamation or treatment 19
change, or pursuant to section 304(f), but the finan-20
cial assurance shall otherwise be in compliance with 21
this section. 22
(2) R
EVIEW.—The Secretary concerned shall 23
review the financial assurance every 3 years and as 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00075 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 76 
•HR 1865 IH
part of the permit application review under section 1
304(g). 2
(e) R
ELEASE.—The Secretary concerned may, upon 3
request, after consultation with the Administrator of the 4
Environmental Protection Agency, notice and opportunity 5
for public comment, and inspection by the Secretary con-6
cerned, release, in whole or in part, the financial assurance 7
required under this section if the Secretary concerned 8
makes both of the following determinations: 9
(1) Reclamation or restoration covered by the 10
financial assurance has been accomplished as re-11
quired by this Act. 12
(2) The terms and conditions of any other ap-13
plicable Federal requirements, and State require-14
ments applicable pursuant to cooperative agreements 15
under section 308, have been fulfilled. 16
(f) R
ELEASESCHEDULE.—The release referred to in 17
subsection (e) shall be according to the following schedule: 18
(1) After the operator has completed any re-19
quired backfilling, regrading, and drainage control of 20
an area subject to mineral activities and covered by 21
the financial assurance, and has commenced revege-22
tation on the regraded areas subject to mineral ac-23
tivities in accordance with the approved reclamation 24
plan, that portion of the total financial assurance se-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00076 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 77 
•HR 1865 IH
cured for the area subject to mineral activities at-1
tributable to the completed activities may be re-2
leased, except that sufficient financial assurance 3
must be retained to address other required reclama-4
tion needs and to ensure the long-term success of 5
the revegetation. 6
(2) After the operator has successfully com-7
pleted all remaining mineral activities and reclama-8
tion activities and all requirements of the operations 9
plan and the reclamation plan, and all other require-10
ments of this Act have been fully met, the remaining 11
portion of the financial assurance may be released. 12
During the period following release of the financial assur-13
ance as specified in paragraph (1), until the remaining 14
portion of the financial assurance is released as provided 15
in paragraph (2), the operator shall be required to comply 16
with the relevant permit issued under this title. 17
(g) E
FFLUENT.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 19
307(b)(2)(D), where any discharge or other water- 20
related condition resulting from mineral activities re-21
quires treatment in order to meet applicable effluent 22
limitations and water quality standards, the finan-23
cial assurance shall include the estimated cost of 24
maintaining such treatment for the projected period 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00077 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 78 
•HR 1865 IH
that will be needed after the cessation of mineral ac-1
tivities. 2
(2) R
ELEASE OF FINANCIAL ASSURANCE .—The 3
portion of the financial assurance attributable to 4
such estimated cost of treatment shall not be re-5
leased until such discharge has ceased for a period 6
of 5 years, as determined by ongoing monitoring and 7
testing, or, if the discharge continues, until the oper-8
ator has met all applicable effluent limitations and 9
water quality standards for 5 full years without 10
treatment. 11
(h) E
NVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS.—If the Secretary 12
concerned determines, after final release of a financial as-13
surance, that an environmental hazard resulting from the 14
mineral activities exists, or the terms and conditions of 15
the exploration permit or operations permit of this Act 16
were not fulfilled at the time of such release, the Secretary 17
concerned shall issue an order under section 507 requiring 18
the claim holder or operator (or any person who controls 19
the claim holder or operator) to correct the condition such 20
that applicable laws and regulations and any conditions 21
from the operations plan are met. 22
SEC. 307. OPERATION AND RECLAMATION. 23
(a) G
ENERALRULE.— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00078 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 79 
•HR 1865 IH
(1) IN GENERAL.—An operator shall reclaim 1
land subject to mineral activities carried out under 2
a permit issued under this title to a condition capa-3
ble of supporting— 4
(A) the uses which such land was capable 5
of supporting before surface disturbance by the 6
operator; or 7
(B) other beneficial uses which conform to 8
applicable land use plans as determined by the 9
Secretary concerned. 10
(2) C
ONTEMPORANEOUS RECLAMATION .—Rec-11
lamation shall proceed as contemporaneously as 12
practicable with the conduct of mineral activities, 13
and in the case of a cessation of mineral activities 14
beyond that provided for as a temporary cessation 15
under this Act, reclamation activities shall begin im-16
mediately. 17
(b) O
PERATION ANDRECLAMATIONSTANDARDS.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary and the Sec-19
retary of Agriculture shall jointly issue regulations 20
that establish operations and reclamation standards 21
for mineral activities permitted under this Act and 22
may determine whether outcome-based performance 23
standards or technology-based design standards are 24
most appropriate. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00079 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 80 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) INCLUSIONS.—The regulations required 1
under paragraph (1) shall address the following: 2
(A) Segregation, protection, and replace-3
ment of topsoil or other suitable growth me-4
dium, and the prevention, where possible, of soil 5
contamination. 6
(B) Maintenance of the stability of all sur-7
face areas. 8
(C) Control of sediments to prevent erosion 9
and manage drainage. 10
(D) Minimization of the formation and mi-11
gration of acidic, alkaline, metal-bearing, or 12
other deleterious leachate. 13
(E) Reduction of the visual impact of min-14
eral activities to the surrounding topography, 15
including as necessary pit backfill. 16
(F) Establishment of a diverse, effective, 17
and permanent vegetative cover of the same 18
seasonal variety native to the area affected by 19
mineral activities, and equal in extent of cover 20
to the natural vegetation of the area. 21
(G) Design and maintenance of leach oper-22
ations, impoundments, and excess waste accord-23
ing to standard engineering standards to 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00080 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 81 
•HR 1865 IH
achieve and maintain stability and reclamation 1
of the site. 2
(H) Removal of structures and roads and 3
sealing of drill holes. 4
(I) Restoration of, or mitigation for, fish 5
and wildlife habitat disturbed by mineral activi-6
ties. 7
(J) Preservation of cultural, paleontolog-8
ical, and cave resources. 9
(K) Prevention and suppression of fire 10
within the area affected by mineral activities. 11
(c) S
URFACE ORGROUNDWATERWITHDRAWALS.— 12
The Secretary concerned shall work with State and local 13
governments with authority over the allocation and use of 14
surface and ground water in the area around the mine 15
site as necessary to ensure that any surface or ground 16
water withdrawals made as a result of mineral activities 17
approved under this title do not cause undue degradation. 18
(d) S
PECIALRULE.—Reclamation activities for a 19
mining claim, license, or lease that has been forfeited, re-20
linquished, or lapsed, or a plan that has expired or been 21
revoked or suspended, shall continue subject to review and 22
approval by the Secretary concerned. 23
SEC. 308. STATE LAW AND REGULATION. 24
(a) S
TATELAW.— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00081 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 82 
•HR 1865 IH
(1) RECLAMATION, LAND USE, ENVIRON-1
MENTAL, AND PUBLIC HEALTH STANDARDS .—Any 2
reclamation, land use, environmental, or public 3
health protection standard or requirement in State 4
law that meets or exceeds the requirements of this 5
Act shall not be construed to be inconsistent with 6
any such standard. 7
(2) B
ONDING REQUIREMENTS .—Any bonding 8
standard or requirement in State law that meets or 9
exceeds the requirements of this Act shall not be 10
construed to be inconsistent with such requirements. 11
(3) I
NSPECTION STANDARDS .—Any inspection 12
standard or requirement in State law that meets or 13
exceeds the requirements of this Act shall not be 14
construed to be inconsistent with such requirements. 15
(b) A
PPLICABILITY OF OTHERSTATEREQUIRE-16
MENTS.— 17
(1) E
NVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS .—Nothing in 18
this Act may be construed to affect any toxic sub-19
stance, solid waste, or air or water quality standard 20
or requirement of any State, local, or Tribal law that 21
may be applicable to mineral activities on land sub-22
ject to this Act. 23
(2) W
ATER RESOURCES.—Nothing in this Act 24
may be construed to affect the right of any person 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00082 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 83 
•HR 1865 IH
to enforce or protect, under applicable law, the inter-1
est of such person in water resources affected by 2
mineral activities on land subject to this Act. 3
(c) C
OOPERATIVEAGREEMENTS.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A State may enter into a co-5
operative agreement with the Secretary concerned 6
for the purpose of the Secretary concerned applying 7
such standards and requirements referred to in sub-8
sections (a) and (b) to mineral activities or reclama-9
tion on land subject to this Act. 10
(2) C
OMMON REGULATORY FRAMEWORK .— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a proposed mineral 12
activity would affect land not subject to this 13
Act in addition to land subject to this Act, in 14
order to approve a plan of operations, the Sec-15
retary concerned shall enter into a cooperative 16
agreement with the State that establishes a 17
common regulatory framework consistent with 18
the requirements of this Act for the purposes of 19
such plan of operations. 20
(B) A
UTHORITY OF FEDERAL GOVERN -21
MENT.—Any common regulatory framework es-22
tablished under subparagraph (A) may not ne-23
gate the authority of the Federal Government 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00083 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 84 
•HR 1865 IH
to independently inspect mines and operations 1
and bring enforcement actions for violations. 2
(3) N
OTICE AND PUBLIC COMMENT .—The Sec-3
retary concerned may not enter into a cooperative 4
agreement with a State under this section until after 5
notice in the Federal Register and opportunity for 6
public comment and hearing. 7
(d) P
RIORAGREEMENTS.—Any cooperative agree-8
ment between the Secretary concerned and a State, or po-9
litical subdivision thereof, relating to the management of 10
mineral activities on land subject to this Act that was in 11
existence on the effective date of this Act may only con-12
tinue in force until 1 year after the effective date of this 13
Act, during which such period the Secretary concerned 14
and the State shall review the terms of such agreement 15
or other understanding and make changes that are nec-16
essary to be consistent with this Act. 17
TITLE IV—ABANDONED 18
HARDROCK MINE RECLAMA-19
TION PROGRAM 20
SEC. 401. FUNDS CREDITED TO THE ABANDONED 21
HARDROCK MINE RECLAMATION PROGRAM. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The following amounts shall be 23
made available to carry out, to remain available until ex-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00084 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 85 
•HR 1865 IH
pended without fiscal year limitation, the Abandoned 1
Hardrock Mine Reclamation Program: 2
(1) All moneys collected pursuant to sections 3
502 and 506. 4
(2) All fees received under section 5
304(a)(1)(B). 6
(3) All gifts contributed under subsection 7
(b)(1). 8
(4) All amounts deposited in the Abandoned 9
Hardrock Mine Reclamation Program under title I. 10
(5) All amounts displaced material reclamation 11
fees paid under section 402. 12
(b) D
ONATIONS.— 13
(1) A
CCEPTANCE.—The Secretary may accept a 14
gift of money, to remain available until expended 15
without fiscal year limitation, to carry out the Aban-16
doned Hardrock Mine Reclamation Program. 17
(2) R
EJECTION.—The Secretary may reject a 18
gift under paragraph (1) if such rejection is in the 19
interest of the Federal Government. 20
SEC. 402. DISPLACED MATERIAL RECLAMATION FEE. 21
(a) I
MPOSITION OFFEE.—Except as provided in sub-22
section (g), each operator conducting mineral activities 23
shall pay to the Secretary a displaced material reclamation 24
fee of 7 cents per ton of displaced material. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00085 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 86 
•HR 1865 IH
(b) PAYMENTDEADLINE.—An operator shall pay the 1
reclamation fee required by subsection (a) with respect to 2
each calendar year beginning with the first calendar year 3
that begins after the effective date of this Act not later 4
than March 1 of the succeeding year. 5
(c) S
UBMISSION OF STATEMENT.—Each operator 6
conducting mineral activities shall submit to the Secretary 7
a statement of the amount of displaced material produced 8
during mineral activities carried out during the preceding 9
calendar year, the accuracy of which shall be sworn to by 10
the operator and notarized. 11
(d) C
RIMINALPENALTY.—Any corporate officer, 12
agent, or director of an operator conducting mineral ac-13
tivities, and any other person acting on behalf of such a 14
person, who knowingly makes any false statement, rep-15
resentation, or certification, or knowingly fails to make 16
any statement, representation, or certification required 17
under this section with respect to such mineral activities 18
shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more 19
than $10,000 for deposit in the Abandoned Hardrock 20
Mine Reclamation Program. 21
(e) C
IVILACTION TORECOVERFEE.—Any portion 22
of the reclamation fee required under subsection (a) that 23
is not properly or promptly paid pursuant to this section 24
shall be recoverable, with statutory interest, from the op-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00086 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 87 
•HR 1865 IH
erator, in any court of competent jurisdiction in any action 1
at law to compel payment of debts. 2
(f) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section requires a re-3
duction in, or otherwise affects, any similar fee required 4
under any law or regulation of any State. 5
(g) E
XEMPTION.—The fee under this section shall 6
not apply for a small miner’s lease. 7
TITLE V—ADDITIONAL 8
PROVISIONS 9
SEC. 501. POLICY FUNCTIONS. 10
(a) M
INERALSPOLICY.—Section 101 of the Mining 11
and Minerals Policy Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 21a) is 12
amended— 13
(1) by inserting ‘‘and to ensure that mineral ex-14
traction and processing do not cause unnecessary or 15
undue degradation of the natural and cultural re-16
sources of the public lands’’ after ‘‘activities’’; and 17
(2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘It shall 18
also be the responsibility of the Secretary of Agri-19
culture to carry out the policy provisions of para-20
graphs (1) and (2) of this section.’’. 21
(b) M
INERALDATA.—Section 5(e)(3) of the National 22
Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development 23
Act of 1980 (30 U.S.C. 1604(e)(3)) is amended by insert-24
ing before the period the following: ‘‘, except that for Na-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00087 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 88 
•HR 1865 IH
tional Forest System lands, the Secretary of Agriculture 1
shall promptly initiate actions to improve the availability 2
and analysis of mineral data in Federal land-use decision-3
making’’. 4
SEC. 502. USER FEES AND INFLATION ADJUSTMENT. 5
(a) U
SERFEES.—The Secretary and the Secretary 6
of Agriculture may each establish and collect from persons 7
subject to the requirements of this Act such user fees as 8
may be necessary to reimburse the United States for ex-9
penses incurred in the administration of such require-10
ments. Fees may be assessed and collected under this sec-11
tion only in such manner as may reasonably be expected 12
to result in an aggregate amount of the fees collected dur-13
ing any fiscal year which does not exceed the aggregate 14
amount of administrative expenses referred to in this sec-15
tion. 16
(b) A
DJUSTMENT OFUSERFEES.— 17
(1) I
NFLATION.—The Secretary shall adjust the 18
user fees established by this section, and all claim 19
maintenance fees, rental rates, penalty amounts, and 20
other dollar amounts established in this Act, to re-21
flect changes in the Consumer Price Index published 22
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Depart-23
ment of Labor every 3 years after the effective date 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00088 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 89 
•HR 1865 IH
of this Act, or more frequently if the Secretary de-1
termines an adjustment to be reasonable. 2
(2) N
OTICE.—The Secretary shall provide claim 3
holders, license holders, and lease holders notice of 4
any adjustment made under this subsection not later 5
than July 1 of the year in which the adjustment is 6
made. 7
(3) A
PPLICABILITY.—A fee adjustment under 8
this subsection shall begin to apply the calendar year 9
following the calendar year in which it is made. 10
SEC. 503. INSPECTION AND MONITORING. 11
(a) I
NSPECTIONS.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned 13
shall conduct inspections of mineral activities so as 14
to ensure compliance with the requirements of this 15
Act. 16
(2) F
REQUENCY.— 17
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-18
cerned shall establish a frequency of inspections 19
for mineral activities conducted under a permit 20
issued under title III, but in no event shall such 21
inspection frequency be less than 1 complete in-22
spection per calendar quarter or, in the case of 23
a permit for which the Secretary concerned ap-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00089 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 90 
•HR 1865 IH
proves an application under section 304(f), 2 1
per calendar quarter. 2
(B) F
REQUENCY AFTER REVEGETATION .— 3
After revegetation has been completed in ac-4
cordance with a reclamation plan, the Secretary 5
concerned shall conduct 2 complete inspections 6
annually. 7
(C) S
EASONAL MINERAL ACTIVITIES .—The 8
Secretary concerned may modify the inspection 9
frequency for mineral activities that are con-10
ducted on a seasonal basis. 11
(D) T
ERMINATION.—Inspections shall con-12
tinue under this subsection until final release of 13
financial assurance. 14
(3) B
Y REQUEST.— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Any person that has 16
reason to believe such person is or may be ad-17
versely affected by mineral activities due to any 18
violation of the requirements of a permit ap-19
proved under this Act may request an inspec-20
tion under this section of such mineral activi-21
ties. 22
(B) R
EVIEW PERIOD.—Not later than 30 23
business days after the date the Secretary con-24
cerned receives a request under subparagraph 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00090 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 91 
•HR 1865 IH
(A), the Secretary concerned shall determine 1
whether the request states a reason to believe 2
that a violation exists. 3
(C) I
MMINENT THREAT .—If, in a request 4
submitted under subparagraph (A), a person al-5
leges and provides reason to believe that an im-6
minent threat to the environment or danger to 7
the health or safety of the public exists, sub-8
paragraph (B) shall not apply and the inspec-9
tion shall be conducted immediately. 10
(D) N
OTIFICATION.—The Secretary con-11
cerned shall notify the person that submitted a 12
request under subparagraph (A) when an in-13
spection is conducted pursuant to such request, 14
and such person may accompany the Secretary 15
concerned during the inspection. 16
(E) L
IABILITY.—The Secretary concerned 17
shall not incur any liability for granting a re-18
quest to allow any person to accompany such 19
Secretary concerned under subparagraph (D). 20
(F) A
NONYMITY.—If a person that sub-21
mits a request under subparagraph (A) or (C) 22
requests that the identity of such person remain 23
confidential, the Secretary concerned shall keep 24
such information confidential unless such per-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00091 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 92 
•HR 1865 IH
son accompanies the Secretary concerned dur-1
ing the inspection under subparagraph (D). 2
(G) P
ROCEDURES.—The Secretary and the 3
Secretary of Agriculture shall jointly issue regu-4
lations to establish procedures for the review 5
of— 6
(i) any decision by an authorized rep-7
resentative of such Secretaries not to carry 8
out an inspection under this paragraph; or 9
(ii) any refusal by such authorized 10
representative to ensure that remedial ac-11
tions are taken with respect to any alleged 12
violation. 13
(H) W
RITTEN STATEMENT .—The Sec-14
retary concerned shall give a person that sub-15
mits a request under subparagraph (A) a writ-16
ten statement of the reasons for the final dis-17
position of the request. 18
(b) M
ONITORING.— 19
(1) M
ONITORING SYSTEM.— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-21
cerned shall require all operators to develop and 22
maintain a monitoring and evaluation system 23
that shall identify compliance with all require-24
ments of a permit issued under this Act. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00092 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 93 
•HR 1865 IH
(B) ADDITIONAL MONITORING .—The Sec-1
retary concerned may require an operator to 2
conduct additional monitoring as necessary to 3
ensure compliance with the reclamation and 4
other environmental standards of this Act. Such 5
monitoring and evaluation system described in 6
subparagraph (A) and any additional moni-7
toring required by this subparagraph is subject 8
to the approval of the Secretary. 9
(2) R
EPORTING REQUIREMENTS .— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—An operator shall file 11
reports with the Secretary concerned, on a fre-12
quency and containing such information as de-13
termined by the Secretary concerned, regarding 14
the results of the monitoring and evaluation 15
system, except that if the monitoring and eval-16
uation system shows a violation of the require-17
ments of a permit issued under this Act, the 18
operator shall immediately report such violation 19
to the Secretary concerned. 20
(B) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary con-21
cerned shall evaluate the reports submitted pur-22
suant to this paragraph, and, based on such re-23
ports and any necessary inspection, shall take 24
enforcement action pursuant to section 506. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00093 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 94 
•HR 1865 IH
(C) MAINTENANCE OF REPORTS ; AVAIL-1
ABILITY TO PUBLIC.—The Secretary concerned 2
and each operator shall both maintain each re-3
port submitted by such operator under this 4
paragraph and make each such report available 5
to the public. 6
(3) F
AILURE TO REPORT.—If an operator fails 7
to file a report as required under this section such 8
failure shall constitute a violation of this Act and 9
subject the operator to enforcement action pursuant 10
to section 506. 11
SEC. 504. CITIZENS SUITS. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 13
(c), any person may commence a civil action to compel 14
compliance— 15
(1) against any person that is alleged to be in 16
violation of this Act or any term or condition of any 17
lease, license, or permit issued under this Act; or 18
(2) against the Secretary concerned if the Sec-19
retary concerned failed to perform any act or duty 20
under this Act, or to issue any regulation under this 21
Act, required by this Act. 22
(b) D
ISTRICTCOURTJURISDICTION.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The United States district 24
courts shall have jurisdiction over an action brought 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00094 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 95 
•HR 1865 IH
under this section, without regard to the amount in 1
controversy or the citizenship of the parties, includ-2
ing actions brought to apply any civil penalty under 3
this Act. 4
(2) A
GENCY ACTION UNREASONABLY DE -5
LAYED.—The United States district courts shall 6
have jurisdiction to compel agency action unreason-7
ably delayed, except that an action to compel agency 8
action reviewable under section 505 may only be 9
filed in a United States district court within the cir-10
cuit in which such action would be reviewable under 11
section 505. 12
(c) E
XCEPTIONS.— 13
(1) N
OTICE.—No action may be commenced 14
under subsection (a) before the end of the 60-day 15
period beginning on the date the plaintiff has given 16
notice in writing of such alleged violation to the al-17
leged violator and the Secretary concerned, except 18
that any such action may be brought immediately 19
after such notification if the violation complained of 20
constitutes an imminent threat to the environment 21
or to the health or safety of the public or to property 22
eligible for listing on the National Register of His-23
toric Places. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00095 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 96 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) ONGOING LITIGATION.—No action may be 1
brought against any person other than the Secretary 2
concerned under subsection (a)(1) if the Secretary 3
concerned has commenced and is diligently pros-4
ecuting a civil or criminal action in a court of the 5
United States to require compliance. 6
(3) E
XCEPTION.—No action may be commenced 7
under subsection (a)(2) against the Secretary con-8
cerned to review any regulation issued, or any per-9
mit issued or denied, by the Secretary concerned if 10
such regulation or permit issuance or denial is judi-11
cially reviewable under section 505 or under any 12
other provision of law at any time after such 13
issuance or denial is final. 14
(d) V
ENUE.—Venue of all actions brought under this 15
section shall be determined in accordance with section 16
1391 of title 28, United States Code. 17
(e) C
OSTS.—The court, in issuing any final order in 18
any action brought pursuant to this section, may award 19
costs of litigation (including attorney and expert witness 20
fees) to any party whenever the court determines such 21
award is appropriate. The court may, if a temporary re-22
straining order or preliminary injunction is sought, require 23
the filing of a bond or equivalent security in accordance 24
with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00096 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 97 
•HR 1865 IH
(f) SAVINGSCLAUSE.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Nothing in this section shall 2
restrict any right which any person (or class of per-3
sons) may have under chapter 7 of title 5, United 4
States Code, under this section, or under any other 5
statute or common law to bring an action to seek 6
any relief against the Secretary or the Secretary of 7
Agriculture or against any other person, including 8
any action for any violation of this Act or of any 9
regulation or permit issued under this Act or for any 10
failure to act as required by law. 11
(2) J
URISDICTION.—Nothing in this section 12
shall affect the jurisdiction of any court under any 13
provision of title 28, United States Code, including 14
any action for any violation of this Act or of any 15
regulation or permit issued under this Act or for any 16
failure to act as required by law. 17
SEC. 505. ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDICIAL REVIEW. 18
(a) R
EVIEW BYSECRETARYCONCERNED.— 19
(1) N
OTICE OF VIOLATION.—Any person issued 20
a notice of violation or cessation order under section 21
507, or any person having an interest which is or 22
may be adversely affected by such notice or order, 23
may apply to the Secretary concerned for review of 24
such notice or order not later than 30 days after re-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00097 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 98 
•HR 1865 IH
ceipt thereof, or as the case may be, not later than 1
30 days after such notice or order is modified, va-2
cated, or terminated. 3
(2) R
EVIEW OF PENALTY.—Any person that is 4
subject to a penalty assessed under section 507 may 5
apply to the Secretary concerned for review of the 6
assessment not later than 45 days of notification of 7
such penalty. 8
(3) T
HIRD-PARTY REQUESTS.—Any person may 9
apply to the Secretary concerned for review of a de-10
cision under this subsection not later than 30 days 11
after such decision is issued. 12
(4) S
TAYS PENDING REVIEW .—Pending a re-13
view by the Secretary concerned or resolution of an 14
administrative appeal, final decisions (except en-15
forcement actions under section 507) shall be 16
stayed. 17
(5) P
UBLIC HEARING.—The Secretary con-18
cerned shall provide an opportunity for public hear-19
ing at the request of any party to a review under 20
paragraph (1). The filing of an application for re-21
view under this subsection shall not operate as a 22
stay of any order or notice issued under section 507. 23
(6) W
RITTEN DECISION.— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00098 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 99 
•HR 1865 IH
(A) IN GENERAL.—For any review under 1
this subsection, the Secretary concerned shall 2
make findings of fact and shall issue a written 3
decision incorporating therein an order 4
vacating, affirming, modifying, or terminating 5
the notice, order, or decision, or with respect to 6
an assessment, the amount of penalty that is 7
warranted. 8
(B) D
EADLINE.—Where an application for 9
review under this subsection concerns a ces-10
sation order issued under section 506, the Sec-11
retary concerned shall, unless temporary relief 12
has been granted by the Secretary concerned 13
under paragraph (7), issue the written decision 14
not later than the later of— 15
(i) 30 days after the date of the re-16
ceipt of the application for review; and 17
(ii) 30 days after the conclusion of 18
any hearing referred to in paragraph (5). 19
(7) T
EMPORARY RELIEF.— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Pending completion of 21
any review under this subsection, the person 22
that submitted an application for review under 23
paragraph (1) may file with the Secretary con-24
cerned a written request that the Secretary con-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00099 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 100 
•HR 1865 IH
cerned grant temporary relief from any order 1
issued under section 507 including a detailed 2
statement of the basis for such relief. 3
(B) D
ECISION.—The Secretary concerned 4
shall expeditiously issue an order or decision 5
granting or denying an application for tem-6
porary relief submitted under subparagraph 7
(A). 8
(C) L
IMITATION.—The Secretary con-9
cerned may grant temporary relief under sub-10
paragraph (B) under such conditions as they 11
may prescribe only if the Secretary concerned 12
determines that such relief will not adversely af-13
fect the health or safety of the public or cause 14
imminent environmental harm to land, air, or 15
water resources. 16
(8) S
AVINGS CLAUSE.—The availability of re-17
view under this subsection shall not be construed to 18
limit the operation of rights under section 504. 19
(b) J
UDICIALREVIEW.— 20
(1) C
OURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF 21
COLUMBIA.—Any final action by the Secretary or 22
the Secretary of Agriculture in issuing regulations to 23
implement this Act, or any other final actions consti-24
tuting rulemaking to implement this Act, shall be 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00100 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 101 
•HR 1865 IH
subject to judicial review only in a United States 1
Court of Appeals for a circuit in which an affected 2
State is located or within the District of Columbia. 3
(2) P
ETITION FOR REVIEW.—A petition for re-4
view of any action subject to judicial review under 5
this subsection shall be filed not later than 60 days 6
after the date of such action, or after such date if 7
the petition is based solely on grounds arising after 8
the 60th day. Any such petition may be made by any 9
person that commented or otherwise participated in 10
the rulemaking or any person that may be adversely 11
affected by the action of the Secretary or the Sec-12
retary of Agriculture. 13
(3) S
TANDARD OF REVIEW .—Final agency ac-14
tion under this subsection, including such final ac-15
tion on those matters described under subsection 16
(a), shall be subject to judicial review in accordance 17
with paragraph (4) and pursuant to section 1391 of 18
title 28, United States Code, not later than 60 days 19
after the date of such final action. Any action sub-20
ject to judicial review under this subsection shall be 21
affirmed unless the court concludes that such action 22
is arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise inconsistent 23
with law. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00101 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 102 
•HR 1865 IH
(4) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—The availability of judi-1
cial review established in this subsection shall not be 2
construed to limit the operations of rights under sec-3
tion 504. 4
(5) R
ECORD.—The court shall hear any petition 5
or complaint filed under this subsection solely on the 6
record made before the Secretary concerned. The 7
court may affirm or vacate any order or decision or 8
may remand the proceedings to the Secretary con-9
cerned for such further action as it may direct. 10
(6) C
OMMENCEMENT OF A PROCEEDING NOT A 11
STAY.—The commencement of a proceeding under 12
this section shall not, unless specifically ordered by 13
the court, operate as a stay of the action, order, or 14
decision of the Secretary concerned. 15
(c) C
OSTS.—Whenever a proceeding occurs under 16
subsection (a) or (b), at the request of any person, a sum 17
equal to the aggregate amount of all costs and expenses 18
(including attorney fees) as determined by the Secretary 19
concerned or the court to have been reasonably incurred 20
by such person for or in connection with participation in 21
such proceedings, including any judicial review of the pro-22
ceeding, may be assessed against either party as the court, 23
in the case of judicial review, or the Secretary concerned 24
in the case of administrative proceedings, deems appro-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00102 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 103 
•HR 1865 IH
priate if it is determined that such party prevailed in 1
whole or in part, achieving some success on the merits, 2
and that such party made a substantial contribution to 3
a full and fair determination of the issues. 4
SEC. 506. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 5
(a) R
EPORT TOSECRETARYCONCERNED.—An oper-6
ator engaging in any mineral activities on Federal land 7
or on Indian land shall submit to the Secretary concerned 8
an annual report, in a time and manner prescribed by the 9
Secretary concerned, describing the total amount (in met-10
ric tons) and value of hardrock minerals produced through 11
such mineral activities, including the total amount and 12
value of any hardrock minerals produced from a mine par-13
tially located on either Federal land or Indian land, 14
disaggregated by hardrock mineral and by percentage ex-15
tracted from Federal land and percentage extracted from 16
Indian land. 17
(b) F
AILURETOREPORT.—Any person that fails to 18
comply with the requirements of subsection (a) shall be 19
subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $25,000 per day 20
during which such failure continues, which may be as-21
sessed by the Secretary concerned. 22
(c) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—The Secretary shall an-23
nually submit to Congress a report providing the following 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00103 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 104 
•HR 1865 IH
information for each hardrock mine located on Federal 1
land or on Indian land: 2
(1) The data submitted for such mine under 3
subsection (a). 4
(2) The name of the operator of such mine. 5
(3) The State in which such mine is located. 6
(4) The Bureau of Land Management field of-7
fice with jurisdiction over such mine. 8
(5) Whether such mine is located on Federal 9
land. 10
(6) Whether such mine is located on Indian 11
land. 12
(d) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 13
effective date of this Act, the Secretary shall issue such 14
regulations as are necessary to carry out this section. 15
SEC. 507. ENFORCEMENT. 16
(a) O
RDERS.— 17
(1) N
OTICE OF VIOLATION.— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If the Secretary con-19
cerned determines that any person is in viola-20
tion of any environmental protection require-21
ment or any regulation issued by the Secretary 22
concerned to implement this Act, such the Sec-23
retary concerned shall issue to such person a 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00104 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 105 
•HR 1865 IH
notice of violation describing the violation and 1
the corrective measures to be taken. 2
(B) T
IME TO ABATE.—A person issued a 3
notice of violation under subparagraph (A) shall 4
abate such violation within a time period deter-5
mined by the Secretary concerned which shall 6
not exceed 30 days. 7
(C) E
XTENSION OF TIME TO ABATE .—The 8
Secretary concerned may, upon a showing of 9
good cause by the person issued a notice of vio-10
lation under subparagraph (A), extend the pe-11
riod of time under subparagraph (B). 12
(D) C
ONTINUED VIOLATION.—If, upon the 13
expiration of the time period under subpara-14
graph (B), including any extension under sub-15
paragraph (C), the Secretary concerned finds 16
that the person issued a notice of violation 17
under subparagraph (A) has not abated such 18
violation, the Secretary concerned shall imme-19
diately order a cessation of all mineral activities 20
or the portion thereof relevant to the violation. 21
(2) O
RDER FOR IMMEDIATE CESSATION .—If the 22
Secretary concerned determines that any condition 23
or practice exists, or that any person is in violation 24
of any requirement under a permit issued under this 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00105 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 106 
•HR 1865 IH
Act, and such condition, practice, or violation is 1
causing, or can reasonably be expected to cause ei-2
ther of the following, the Secretary concerned shall 3
immediately order a cessation of all mineral activi-4
ties or the portion thereof relevant to the condition, 5
practice, or violation: 6
(A) An imminent danger to the health or 7
safety of the public. 8
(B) Significant, imminent environmental 9
harm to land, air, water, or fish or wildlife re-10
sources. 11
(3) D
URATION.— 12
(A) T
ERMINATION.—A cessation order 13
issued pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) shall 14
remain in effect until the Secretary concerned 15
determines that the condition, practice, or viola-16
tion has been abated or until such order is 17
modified, vacated, or terminated by the Sec-18
retary concerned. In any such order, the Sec-19
retary concerned shall determine the steps nec-20
essary to abate the violation in the most expedi-21
tious manner possible and shall include the nec-22
essary measures in such order. 23
(B) F
INANCIAL ASSURANCES .—The Sec-24
retary concerned shall require appropriate fi-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00106 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 107 
•HR 1865 IH
nancial assurances to ensure that the abate-1
ment obligations are met when issuing a ces-2
sation order under this section. 3
(C) A
UTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY CON -4
CERNED.—Any notice or order issued pursuant 5
to paragraph (1) or (2) may be modified, va-6
cated, or terminated by the Secretary con-7
cerned. Any person to whom any such notice or 8
order is issued shall be entitled to a hearing on 9
the record. 10
(4) A
LTERNATIVE ENFORCEMENT ACTION .— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If, 30 days after the 12
notice of violation referred to in paragraph 13
(1)(A) is issued, the required abatement has 14
not occurred, the Secretary concerned shall take 15
such alternative enforcement action against the 16
claim holder, license holder, lease holder, or op-17
erator (or any person who controls the claim 18
holder, license holder, lease holder, or operator) 19
as will most likely bring about such required 20
abatement in the most expeditious manner pos-21
sible, which may include seeking appropriate in-22
junctive relief to bring about abatement. 23
(B) E
ARLIER ALTERNATIVE ENFORCE -24
MENT ACTION.—Nothing in this paragraph 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00107 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 108 
•HR 1865 IH
shall preclude the Secretary concerned from 1
taking alternative enforcement action before the 2
expiration of the 30-day period described in 3
subparagraph (A). 4
(5) F
AILURE OR DEFAULT.— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a claim holder, li-6
cense holder, lease holder, or operator (or any 7
person who controls the claim holder, license 8
holder, lease holder, or operator) fails to abate 9
a violation or defaults on the terms of a permit 10
issued under this Act, the Secretary concerned 11
shall forfeit the financial assurance required 12
under section 306 as necessary to ensure abate-13
ment and reclamation under this Act. 14
(B) R
ECLAMATION BY SURETY .—The Sec-15
retary concerned may prescribe conditions 16
under which a surety may perform reclamation 17
in accordance with section 307 in lieu of for-18
feiture under subparagraph (A). 19
(6) P
ENDING REVIEW .—The Secretary con-20
cerned shall not cause forfeiture of financial assur-21
ance while administrative or judicial review is pend-22
ing. 23
(7) L
IABILITY IN THE EVENT OF FOR -24
FEITURE.—In the event of forfeiture, the claim hold-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00108 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 109 
•HR 1865 IH
er, license holder, lease holder, operator, or any affil-1
iate thereof, as determined appropriate by the Sec-2
retary by regulation, shall be jointly and severally 3
liable for any remaining reclamation obligations 4
under this Act. 5
(b) C
OMPLIANCE.—The Secretary concerned may re-6
quest that the Attorney General institute a civil action for 7
relief, including a permanent or temporary injunction or 8
restraining order and any other appropriate enforcement 9
order, including the imposition of civil penalties, in the 10
United States district court for the district in which the 11
mineral activities are located, whenever a person— 12
(1) violates, fails, or refuses to comply with any 13
order issued by the Secretary concerned under sub-14
section (a); or 15
(2) interferes with, hinders, or delays the Sec-16
retary concerned in carrying out an inspection under 17
section 503. 18
Such court shall have jurisdiction to provide such relief 19
as may be appropriate. Any relief granted by such court 20
to enforce an order under paragraph (1) shall continue 21
in effect until the completion or final termination of all 22
proceedings for review of such order unless the court 23
granting such relief sets it aside. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00109 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 110 
•HR 1865 IH
(c) DELEGATION.—Notwithstanding any other provi-1
sion of law, the Secretary may utilize personnel of the Of-2
fice of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to 3
ensure compliance with the requirements of this Act. 4
(d) P
ENALTIES.— 5
(1) F
AILURE TO COMPLY WITH REQUIREMENTS 6
OF A PERMIT.— 7
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A person who fails to 8
comply with any requirement of a permit issued 9
under this Act or any regulation issued to im-10
plement this Act shall be liable for a penalty of 11
not more than $25,000 per violation. 12
(B) S
EPARATE VIOLATIONS.—Each day of 13
violation may be deemed a separate violation 14
for purposes of a penalty assessment under this 15
paragraph. 16
(2) F
AILURE TO COMPLY WITH A CESSATION 17
ORDER.—A person who fails to correct a violation 18
for which a cessation order has been issued under 19
subsection (a) within the period permitted for cor-20
rection of such violation shall be assessed a civil pen-21
alty of not less than $1,000 per violation for each 22
day during which such failure continues. 23
(3) P
ENALTIES FOR DIRECTORS , OFFICERS, 24
AND AGENTS.—Whenever a corporation is in viola-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00110 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 111 
•HR 1865 IH
tion of a requirement of a permit issued under this 1
Act or any regulation issued to implement this Act 2
or fails or refuses to comply with an order issued 3
under subsection (a), any director, officer, or agent 4
of such corporation who knowingly authorized, or-5
dered, or carried out such violation, failure, or re-6
fusal shall be subject to the same penalties as may 7
be imposed upon a person described in paragraph 8
(1). 9
(e) S
USPENSIONS ORREVOCATIONS.—The Secretary 10
concerned shall suspend or revoke a permit issued under 11
title II, in whole or in part, if the operator— 12
(1) knowingly made or knowingly makes any 13
false, inaccurate, or misleading material statement 14
in any mining claim, notice of location, application, 15
record, report, plan, or other document filed or re-16
quired to be maintained under this Act; 17
(2) fails to abate a violation covered by a ces-18
sation order issued under subsection (a); 19
(3) fails to comply with an order of the Sec-20
retary concerned; 21
(4) refuses to permit an audit pursuant to this 22
Act; 23
(5) fails to maintain an adequate financial as-24
surance under section 306; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00111 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 112 
•HR 1865 IH
(6) fails to pay claim maintenance fees, rentals, 1
or other moneys due and owing under this Act; or 2
(7) with regard to plans conditionally approved 3
under section 305(c)(2)— 4
(A) fails to abate a violation to the satis-5
faction of the Secretary concerned; or 6
(B) the validity of the violation is upheld 7
on the appeal which formed the basis for the 8
conditional approval. 9
(f) F
ALSESTATEMENTS; TAMPERING.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A person who knowingly car-11
ries out any of the following actions shall, upon an 12
initial conviction, be fined not more than $10,000, 13
imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both, and, 14
upon a subsequent conviction, be fined not more 15
than $20,000, imprisoned for not more than 4 years, 16
or both: 17
(A) Make a false material statement, rep-18
resentation, or certification in, or omit or con-19
ceal material information from, or unlawfully 20
alter, any mining claim, notice of location, ap-21
plication, record, report, plan, or other docu-22
ments filed or required to be maintained under 23
this Act. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00112 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 113 
•HR 1865 IH
(B) Falsify, tamper with, render inac-1
curate, or fail to install any monitoring device 2
or method required to be maintained under this 3
Act. 4
(2) S
EPARATE VIOLATIONS.—Each day of con-5
tinuing violation may be deemed a separate violation 6
for purposes of penalty assessment under paragraph 7
(1). 8
(g) M
INERALACTIVITIESWITHOUT APERMIT.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A person that knowingly 10
carries out any of the following actions shall, upon 11
an initial conviction, be fined not less than $5,000 12
and not more than $50,000, imprisoned for not 13
more than 3 years, or both, and, upon a subsequent 14
conviction, be fined not less than $10,000, impris-15
oned for not more than 6 years, or both: 16
(A) Engage in mineral activities without a 17
permit required under title II. 18
(B) Violate any other requirement of a 19
permit issued under this Act, or any condition 20
or limitation thereof. 21
(2) S
EPARATE VIOLATIONS.—Each day of con-22
tinuing violation shall be deemed a separate violation 23
for purposes of penalty assessment under paragraph 24
(1). 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00113 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 114 
•HR 1865 IH
(h) KNOWING ANDWILLFULVIOLATIONS.—A person 1
that knowingly and willfully commits an act for which a 2
civil penalty is provided in subsection (g)(1)(A) shall, upon 3
conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than 4
$50,000, or by imprisonment for not more than 2 years, 5
or both. 6
(i) P
ERSONDEFINED.—In this section, the term 7
‘‘person’’ includes any officer, agent, or employee of a per-8
son. 9
SEC. 508. REGULATIONS. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary and the Secretary 11
of Agriculture shall issue such regulations as are necessary 12
to implement this Act. 13
(b) R
EGULATIONSAFFECTINGFORESTSERVICE.— 14
Not later than 1 year after the effective date of this Act, 15
the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture shall jointly 16
issue regulations implementing titles II and III and this 17
title that affect the Forest Service. 18
SEC. 509. OIL SHALE CLAIMS. 19
Section 2511(f) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (30 20
U.S.C. 242(f); Public Law 102–486) is amended— 21
(1) by striking ‘‘as prescribed by the Sec-22
retary’’; and 23
(2) by inserting before the period the following: 24
‘‘in the same manner as required by title II of the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00114 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 115 
•HR 1865 IH
Mining Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Prevention Act of 1
2025’’. 2
SEC. 510. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 3
(a) S
PECIALAPPLICATION OFMININGLAWS.—Noth-4
ing in this Act shall be construed to— 5
(1) repeal or modify any Federal law, regula-6
tion, order, or land use plan in effect before the ef-7
fective date of this Act that prohibits or restricts the 8
application of the general mining laws, including 9
laws that provide for special management criteria for 10
operations under the general mining laws as in ef-11
fect before the effective date of this Act, to the ex-12
tent such laws provide for protection of natural and 13
cultural resources and the environment greater than 14
required under this Act; 15
(2) apply to or limit mineral investigations, 16
studies, or other mineral activities conducted by any 17
Federal or State agency acting in the governmental 18
capacity of such agency pursuant to other authority; 19
or 20
(3) affect or limit any assessment, investigation, 21
evaluation, or listing pursuant to the Comprehensive 22
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabil-23
ity Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) or the 24
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 3251 et seq.). 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00115 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 116 
•HR 1865 IH
(b) CLAIMSCONVERTED TO LEASES.—Any Federal 1
law described in subsection (a) shall remain in force and 2
effect with respect to claims converted to leases under this 3
Act. 4
(c) E
FFECT ONOTHERFEDERALLAWS.— 5
(1) G
ENERAL MINING LAWS .—The provisions of 6
this Act shall supersede the general mining laws. 7
(2) O
THER LAWS.—Except for the general min-8
ing laws, nothing in this Act shall be construed to 9
supersede, modify, amend, or repeal any provision of 10
Federal law not expressly superseded, modified, 11
amended, or repealed by this Act. 12
(3) E
NVIRONMENTAL LAWS .—Nothing in this 13
Act shall be construed to alter, affect, amend, mod-14
ify, or change, directly or indirectly, any law which 15
refers to and provides authorities or responsibilities 16
for, or is administered by, the Administrator of the 17
Environmental Protection Agency, including— 18
(A) the Federal Water Pollution Control 19
Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); 20
(B) the National Environmental Policy Act 21
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); 22
(C) title XIV of the Public Health Service 23
Act (the Safe Drinking Water Act) (42 U.S.C. 24
300f et seq.); 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00116 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 117 
•HR 1865 IH
(D) the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et 1
seq.); 2
(E) the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 3
(42 U.S.C. 13101 et seq.); 4
(F) the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 5
U.S.C. 2601 et seq.); 6
(G) the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 7
Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.); 8
(H) the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 9
Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); 10
(I) the Motor Vehicle Information and 11
Cost Savings Act (15 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.); 12
(J) the Federal Hazardous Substances Act 13
(15 U.S.C. 1261 et seq.); 14
(K) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 15
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 16
(L) the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 17
U.S.C. 2011 et seq.); 18
(M) the Noise Control Act of 1972 (42 19
U.S.C. 4901 et seq.); 20
(N) the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 21
U.S.C. 6901 et seq.); 22
(O) the Comprehensive Environmental Re-23
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 24
1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.); 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00117 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 118 
•HR 1865 IH
(P) the Superfund Amendments and Reau-1
thorization Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–499; 2
100 Stat. 1613); 3
(Q) the Ocean Dumping Act (33 U.S.C. 4
1401 et seq.); 5
(R) the Environmental Research, Develop-6
ment, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 7
1978 (42 U.S.C. 4365); 8
(S) the Pollution Prosecution Act of 1990 9
(42 U.S.C. 4321 note; Public Law 101–593); 10
(T) the Federal Facilities Compliance Act 11
of 1992 (Public Law 102–386; 106 Stat. 12
1505); and 13
(U) any statute containing an amendment 14
to any of such Acts. 15
(4) F
EDERAL INDIAN LAW .—Nothing in this 16
Act shall be construed to modify or affect any provi-17
sion of— 18
(A) the Native American Graves Protection 19
and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.); 20
(B) the American Indian Religious Free-21
dom Act (42 U.S.C. 1996); 22
(C) the National Historic Preservation Act 23
(16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.); 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00118 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 119 
•HR 1865 IH
(D) the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 1
of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.); or 2
(E) the Archaeological Resources Protec-3
tion Act of 1979 (16 U.S.C. 470aa et seq.). 4
(d) S
OVEREIGNIMMUNITY OF INDIANTRIBES.— 5
Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to waive the 6
sovereign immunity of any Indian Tribe. 7
SEC. 511. AVAILABILITY OF PUBLIC RECORDS. 8
Copies of records, reports, inspection materials, or in-9
formation obtained by the Secretary or the Secretary of 10
Agriculture under this Act shall be made immediately 11
available to the public, consistent with section 552 of title 12
5, United States Code, in central and sufficient locations 13
in the county, multicounty, and State area of mineral ac-14
tivities or reclamation and on the internet so that such 15
information is conveniently available to residents in the 16
area proposed or approved for mineral activities. 17
SEC. 512. MISCELLANEOUS POWERS. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary concerned, in car-19
rying out the duties of the Secretary concerned under this 20
Act, may conduct any investigation, inspection, or other 21
inquiry and may conduct, after notice, any hearing or 22
audit, that is necessary and appropriate to carry out such 23
duties. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00119 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 120 
•HR 1865 IH
(b) ANCILLARYPOWERS.—In connection with any 1
hearing, inquiry, investigation, or audit under this Act, the 2
Secretary concerned may carry out any of the following 3
actions: 4
(1) Require, by special or general order, any 5
person to submit in writing such affidavits and an-6
swers to questions as the Secretary concerned may 7
reasonably prescribe, which submission shall be 8
made within such reasonable period and under oath 9
or otherwise, as may be necessary. 10
(2) Administer oaths. 11
(3) Require by subpoena the attendance and 12
testimony of witnesses and the production of all 13
books, papers, records, documents, matter, and ma-14
terials as the Secretary concerned may request. 15
(4) Order testimony to be taken by deposition 16
before any person that is designated by the Sec-17
retary concerned and that has the power to admin-18
ister oaths, and compel testimony and the produc-19
tion of evidence in the same manner as authorized 20
under paragraph (3) of this subsection. 21
(5) Pay witnesses the same fees and mileage as 22
are paid in like circumstances in the courts of the 23
United States. 24
(c) E
NFORCEMENT.— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00120 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 121 
•HR 1865 IH
(1) IN GENERAL.—In cases of refusal to obey 1
a subpoena served upon any person under this sec-2
tion, the United States district courts for any dis-3
trict in which such person is found, resides, or 4
transacts business, upon application by the Attorney 5
General at the request of the Secretary concerned 6
and after notice to such person, shall have jurisdic-7
tion to issue an order requiring such person to ap-8
pear and produce documents before the Secretary 9
concerned. 10
(2) F
AILURE TO OBEY.—Any failure to obey an 11
order issued under paragraph (1) may be punished 12
by the court that issued such order as contempt 13
thereof and the person subject to such order shall be 14
subject to a penalty of not more than $10,000 per 15
day. 16
(d) E
NTRY ANDACCESS.—Without advance notice 17
and upon presentation of appropriate credentials, the Sec-18
retary concerned— 19
(1) shall have the right of entry to, upon, and 20
through the site of any claim, license, lease, mineral 21
activities, or any premises in which any records re-22
quired to be maintained under this Act are located; 23
(2) may, at reasonable times and without delay, 24
have access to records, inspect any monitoring 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00121 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 122 
•HR 1865 IH
equipment, and review any method of operation re-1
quired under this Act; 2
(3) may engage in any work and do all things 3
necessary or expedient to implement and administer 4
the provisions of this Act; 5
(4) may, on any mining claim, license, or lease 6
maintained in compliance with this Act, stop and in-7
spect any motorized form of transportation that the 8
Secretary concerned has probable cause to believe is 9
carrying hardrock minerals, concentrates, or prod-10
ucts derived therefrom from a claim site for the pur-11
pose of determining whether the operator of such ve-12
hicle has documentation related to such hardrock 13
minerals, concentrates, or products derived there-14
from as required by law, if such documentation is 15
required under this Act; and 16
(5) may, if accompanied by a appropriate law 17
enforcement officer, or an appropriate law enforce-18
ment officer alone, stop and inspect any motorized 19
form of transportation which is not on a claim site 20
if the Secretary concerned or the appropriate law en-21
forcement officer has probable cause to believe such 22
vehicle is carrying hardrock minerals, concentrates, 23
or products derived therefrom from a claim site, li-24
cense, or lease on Federal land or allocated to such 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00122 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 123 
•HR 1865 IH
claim site, license, or lease for the purpose of deter-1
mining whether the operator of such vehicle has the 2
documentation required by law, if such documenta-3
tion is required under this Act. 4
SEC. 513. MINERAL MATERIALS. 5
(a) D
ETERMINATIONS.—Section 3 of the Act of July 6
23, 1955, commonly known as the Surface Resources Act 7
of 1955 (30 U.S.C. 611), is amended— 8
(1) by striking ‘‘No’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) No’’; 9
(2) by inserting ‘‘mineral materials, including’’ 10
after ‘‘varieties of’’; 11
(3) by striking ‘‘or cinders’’ and inserting ‘‘cin-12
ders, and clay,’’; and 13
(4) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(b)(1) Subject to valid existing rights, after the date 15
of the enactment of the Mining Waste, Fraud, and Abuse 16
Prevention Act of 2025, notwithstanding the reference to 17
common varieties in subsection (a) and to the exception 18
to such term relating to a deposit of materials with some 19
property giving it distinct and special value, all deposits 20
of mineral materials referred to in such subsection, includ-21
ing the block pumice referred to in such subsection, shall 22
be subject to disposal only under the terms and conditions 23
of the Materials Act of 1947 (30 U.S.C. 601–603). 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00123 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 124 
•HR 1865 IH
‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ‘valid 1
existing rights’ means that a mining claim located for any 2
such mineral material— 3
‘‘(A) had and still has some property giving it 4
the distinct and special value referred to in sub-5
section (a), or as the case may be, met the definition 6
of block pumice referred to in such subsection; 7
‘‘(B) was properly located and maintained 8
under the general mining laws before the date of the 9
enactment of the Mining Waste, Fraud, and Abuse 10
Prevention Act of 2025; and 11
‘‘(C) was supported by a discovery of a valuable 12
mineral deposit within the meaning of the general 13
mining laws as in effect immediately before the date 14
of the enactment of the Mining Waste, Fraud, and 15
Abuse Prevention Act of 2025.’’. 16
(b) M
INERALMATERIALSDISPOSALCLARIFICA-17
TION.—Section 4 of the Act of July 23, 1955, commonly 18
known as the Surface Resources Act of 1955 (30 U.S.C. 19
612), is amended— 20
(1) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘and mineral 21
material’’ after ‘‘vegetative’’; and 22
(2) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘and mineral 23
material’’ after ‘‘vegetative’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00124 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 125 
•HR 1865 IH
(c) CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 1 of the 1
Act of July 31, 1947, entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the 2
disposal of materials on the public lands of the United 3
States’’ (30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by striking 4
‘‘common varieties of’’ in the first sentence. 5
(d) S
HORTTITLES.— 6
(1) S
URFACE RESOURCES .—The Act of July 7
23, 1955, is amended by adding at the end the fol-8
lowing: 9
‘‘S
EC. 8. This Act may be cited as the ‘Surface Re-10
sources Act of 1955’.’’. 11
(2) M
INERAL MATERIALS.—The Act of July 31, 12
1947, entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the disposal of 13
materials on the public lands of the United States’’ 14
(30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 15
end the following: 16
‘‘S
EC. 5. This Act may be cited as the ‘Materials Act 17
of 1947’.’’. 18
(e) R
EPEALS.—Subject to valid existing rights, the 19
following are repealed: 20
(1) The Act of August 4, 1892, commonly 21
known as the Building Stone Act (chapter 375; 27 22
Stat. 348; 30 U.S.C. 161). 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00125 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 126 
•HR 1865 IH
(2) The Act of January 31, 1901, commonly 1
known as the Saline Placer Act (chapter 186; 31 2
Stat. 745; 30 U.S.C. 162). 3
SEC. 514. EFFECTIVE DATE. 4
This Act shall take effect on the date of the enact-5
ment of this Act, except as otherwise provided in this Act. 6
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:16 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00126 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1865.IH H1865
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB