Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1463 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1463
5	5	To allow the Secretary of the Interior to enter into memoranda of under-
6	6	standing for the purpose of scientific and technical cooperation in the
7	7	mapping of critical minerals and rare earth elements, and for other
8	8	purposes.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	APRIL10, 2025
11	11	Mr. C
12	12	OONS(for himself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, and Mr. CORNYN)
13	13	introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
14	14	Committee on Foreign Relations
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To allow the Secretary of the Interior to enter into memo-
17	17	randa of understanding for the purpose of scientific and
18	18	technical cooperation in the mapping of critical minerals
19	19	and rare earth elements, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Finding Opportunities 4
24	24	for Resource Exploration Act’’ or the ‘‘Finding ORE Act’’. 5
25	25	SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
26	26	In this Act: 7
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29	29	•S 1463 IS
30	30	(1) ALLIED FOREIGN COUNTRY .—The term ‘‘al-1
31	31	lied foreign country’’ means a country with which 2
32	32	the United States has entered into a mutual defense 3
33	33	treaty or other mutual defense agreement. 4
34	34	(2) C
35	35	RITICAL MINERAL.—The term ‘‘critical 5
36	36	mineral’’ has the meaning given the term in section 6
37	37	7002(a) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 7
38	38	1606(a)). 8
39	39	(3) I
40	40	NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 9
41	41	term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 10
42	42	meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 11
43	43	Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 12
44	44	(4) P
45	45	ARTNER FOREIGN COUNTRY .—The term 13
46	46	‘‘partner foreign country’’ means a country that is 14
47	47	a source of a critical mineral or rare earth element. 15
48	48	(5) R
49	49	ARE EARTH ELEMENT .—The term ‘‘rare 16
50	50	earth element’’ means cerium, dysprosium, erbium, 17
51	51	europium, gadolinium, holmium, lanthanum, lute-18
52	52	tium, neodymium, praseodymium, promethium, sa-19
53	53	marium, scandium, terbium, thulium, ytterbium, or 20
54	54	yttrium. 21
55	55	(6) S
56	56	ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 22
57	57	the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-23
58	58	rector of the United States Geological Survey. 24
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61	61	•S 1463 IS
62	62	SEC. 3. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH RE-1
63	63	SPECT TO THE MAPPING OF CRITICAL MIN-2
64	64	ERALS AND RARE EARTH ELEMENTS. 3
65	65	(a) M
66	66	EMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec-4
67	67	retary may enter into a memorandum of understanding 5
68	68	with 1 or more heads of agencies of partner foreign coun-6
69	69	tries with respect to scientific and technical cooperation 7
70	70	in the mapping of critical minerals and rare earth ele-8
71	71	ments. 9
72	72	(b) O
73	73	BJECTIVES.—In negotiating a memorandum of 10
74	74	understanding under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 11
75	75	seek to increase the security and resilience of international 12
76	76	supply chains for critical minerals and rare earth elements 13
77	77	by— 14
78	78	(1) committing to assisting the partner foreign 15
79	79	country through cooperative activities described in 16
80	80	subsection (c) that help the partner foreign country 17
81	81	map reserves of critical minerals and rare earth ele-18
82	82	ments; 19
83	83	(2) ensuring that private companies 20
84	84	headquartered in the United States or an allied for-21
85	85	eign country are offered the right of first refusal in 22
86	86	the further development of critical minerals and rare 23
87	87	earth elements in the partner foreign country; 24
88	88	(3) facilitating private-sector investment in the 25
89	89	exploration and development of critical minerals and 26
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92	92	•S 1463 IS
93	93	rare earth elements, including by leveraging pref-1
94	94	erential financing from entities such as the United 2
95	95	States International Development Finance Corpora-3
96	96	tion and the Export-Import Bank of the United 4
97	97	States that prioritizes projects committed to proc-5
98	98	essing minerals in the United States or an allied for-6
99	99	eign country; and 7
100	100	(4) ensuring that mapping data created through 8
101	101	the cooperative activities described in subsection (c) 9
102	102	is protected against unauthorized access by, or dis-10
103	103	closure to, governmental or private entities based in 11
104	104	countries that are not— 12
105	105	(A) a party to the memorandum of under-13
106	106	standing; or 14
107	107	(B) an allied foreign country. 15
108	108	(c) C
109	109	OOPERATIVEACTIVITIES.—The cooperative ac-16
110	110	tivities referred to in subsection (b) include— 17
111	111	(1) acquisition, compilation, analysis, and inter-18
112	112	pretation of geologic, geophysical, geochemical, and 19
113	113	spectroscopic remote sensing data; 20
114	114	(2) prospectivity mapping and mineral resource 21
115	115	assessment; 22
116	116	(3) analysis of geoscience data, including devel-23
117	117	oping derivative map products that can help more 24
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120	120	•S 1463 IS
121	121	effectively evaluate the mineral resources of the 1
122	122	partner foreign country; 2
123	123	(4) scientific collaboration to enhance the un-3
124	124	derstanding and management of the natural re-4
125	125	sources of the partner foreign country to contribute 5
126	126	to the sustainable development of the mineral re-6
127	127	sources sector of that partner foreign country; 7
128	128	(5) training and capacity building in each area 8
129	129	described in paragraphs (1) through (4); 9
130	130	(6) facilitation of education and specialized 10
131	131	training in geoscience and mineral resource manage-11
132	132	ment at institutions of higher education; 12
133	133	(7) training in relevant international standards 13
134	134	for relevant officials of the government and private 14
135	135	companies of the partner foreign country; and 15
136	136	(8) cooperation among entities of the partner 16
137	137	foreign country that are a party to the memorandum 17
138	138	of understanding and entities in the United States, 18
139	139	including Federal departments and agencies, institu-19
140	140	tions of higher education, research centers, and pri-20
141	141	vate companies. 21
142	142	(d) N
143	143	OTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary 22
144	144	shall notify Congress not later than 30 days before the 23
145	145	Secretary intends to enter into a memorandum of under-24
146	146	standing under subsection (a). 25
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149	149	•S 1463 IS
150	150	(e) COLLABORATIONWITHSECRETARY OFSTATE.— 1
151	151	The Secretary shall collaborate with the Secretary of State 2
152	152	in— 3
153	153	(1) prioritizing and selecting partner foreign 4
154	154	countries with which to enter into a memorandum of 5
155	155	understanding under subsection (a); 6
156	156	(2) negotiating a memorandum of under-7
157	157	standing under subsection (a); and 8
158	158	(3) implementing a memorandum of under-9
159	159	standing entered into under subsection (a). 10
160	160	(f) C
161	161	ONSULTATIONWITHPRIVATESECTOR.—The 11
162	162	Secretary shall consult with relevant private sector actors, 12
163	163	as the Secretary determines to be appropriate, in— 13
164	164	(1) prioritizing and selecting partner foreign 14
165	165	countries with which to enter into a memorandum of 15
166	166	understanding under subsection (a); and 16
167	167	(2) assessing how a memorandum of under-17
168	168	standing can best facilitate private sector interest in 18
169	169	pursuing the further development of critical minerals 19
170	170	and rare earth elements in accordance with the ob-20
171	171	jectives described in subsection (b). 21
172	172	Æ
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