| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 598 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To establish a mineral and mining innovation program within the Department |
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| 6 | 6 | | of Energy to advance domestic mineral resources, economic growth, and |
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| 7 | 7 | | national security, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY13, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. H |
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| 11 | 11 | | ICKENLOOPER(for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following |
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| 12 | 12 | | bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and |
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| 13 | 13 | | Natural Resources |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To establish a mineral and mining innovation program within |
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| 16 | 16 | | the Department of Energy to advance domestic mineral |
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| 17 | 17 | | resources, economic growth, and national security, and |
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| 18 | 18 | | for other purposes. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unearth Innovation 4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Act’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. MINERAL AND MINING INNOVATION INITIATIVE. 6 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (a) D |
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| 26 | 26 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 30 | 30 | | (1) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (2) I |
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| 35 | 35 | | NITIATIVE.—The term ‘‘initiative’’ means 5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | the mineral and mining innovation initiative estab-6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | lished under subsection (b). 7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (3) M |
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| 39 | 39 | | INING UNIVERSITY.—The term ‘‘mining 8 |
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| 40 | 40 | | university’’ means an institution of higher education 9 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Edu-10 |
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| 42 | 42 | | cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) with a min-11 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ing, metallurgical, geological, or mineral engineering 12 |
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| 44 | 44 | | program accredited by the Accreditation Board for 13 |
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| 45 | 45 | | Engineering and Technology, Inc. 14 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (4) S |
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| 47 | 47 | | ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15 |
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| 48 | 48 | | the Secretary of Energy. 16 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (b) E |
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| 50 | 50 | | STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 17 |
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| 51 | 51 | | the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es-18 |
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| 52 | 52 | | tablish an initiative within the Department of Energy, the 19 |
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| 53 | 53 | | purposes of which are— 20 |
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| 54 | 54 | | (1) to support the research, development, de-21 |
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| 55 | 55 | | ployment, and commercialization of emerging tech-22 |
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| 56 | 56 | | nologies and practices suitable for responsibly identi-23 |
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| 57 | 57 | | fying, characterizing, mining, extracting, processing, 24 |
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| 58 | 58 | | recycling, and reprocessing the minerals required 25 |
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| 61 | 61 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 62 | 62 | | across multiple industries in the United States to 1 |
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| 63 | 63 | | advance domestic mineral resources, circularity, eco-2 |
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| 64 | 64 | | nomic growth, national security, and other goals, as 3 |
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| 65 | 65 | | determined by the Secretary; 4 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (2) to accelerate the research, development, and 5 |
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| 67 | 67 | | integration of advanced technologies, data analytics, 6 |
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| 68 | 68 | | responsible mining and mineral recovery practices, 7 |
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| 69 | 69 | | advanced techniques for separation or processing fa-8 |
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| 70 | 70 | | cilities to minimize human impacts, and extractive 9 |
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| 71 | 71 | | processes intended to minimize environmental im-10 |
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| 72 | 72 | | pact, increase per-unit productivity, optimize re-11 |
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| 73 | 73 | | source utilization, and promote technology adapta-12 |
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| 74 | 74 | | tion, community engagement, and social acceptance 13 |
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| 75 | 75 | | of mining; and 14 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (3) to coordinate with the National Institute of 15 |
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| 77 | 77 | | Occupational Safety and Health of the Centers for 16 |
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| 78 | 78 | | Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Sur-17 |
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| 79 | 79 | | face Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and the 18 |
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| 80 | 80 | | Mine Safety and Health Administration of the De-19 |
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| 81 | 81 | | partment of Labor on safety and mining innovation. 20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | (c) D |
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| 83 | 83 | | UTIES.— 21 |
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| 84 | 84 | | (1) I |
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| 85 | 85 | | N GENERAL.—In carrying out the initia-22 |
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| 86 | 86 | | tive, the Secretary, in coordination with the Sec-23 |
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| 87 | 87 | | retary of the Interior, shall identify, study, evaluate, 24 |
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| 88 | 88 | | test, and demonstrate hard rock mineral mining, un-25 |
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| 91 | 91 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 92 | 92 | | conventional mineral recovery, refining, and proc-1 |
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| 93 | 93 | | essing technologies and practices to improve— 2 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (A) identification of new potential domestic 3 |
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| 95 | 95 | | mineral resources and trends; 4 |
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| 96 | 96 | | (B) characterization and mapping of do-5 |
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| 97 | 97 | | mestic mineral resources; 6 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (C) statistical capabilities of the United 7 |
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| 99 | 99 | | States, with respect to domestic and global min-8 |
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| 100 | 100 | | eral resources; 9 |
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| 101 | 101 | | (D) environmental performance of mining 10 |
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| 102 | 102 | | and mineral recovery, including— 11 |
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| 103 | 103 | | (i) reducing air emissions and improv-12 |
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| 104 | 104 | | ing water management; 13 |
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| 105 | 105 | | (ii) improving energy efficiency; and 14 |
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| 106 | 106 | | (iii) minimizing tailings and other 15 |
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| 107 | 107 | | waste, mining footprint, and environmental 16 |
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| 108 | 108 | | impact; 17 |
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| 109 | 109 | | (E) efficiency and productivity of mining, 18 |
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| 110 | 110 | | including co-mineral and byproduct recovery, 19 |
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| 111 | 111 | | mineral processing, and resource utilization; 20 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (F) data collection, analytics, and sharing; 21 |
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| 113 | 113 | | (G) mine safety; 22 |
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| 114 | 114 | | (H) mine reclamation, remediation, and 23 |
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| 115 | 115 | | reuse; 24 |
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| 118 | 118 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 119 | 119 | | (I) community engagement, consultation 1 |
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| 120 | 120 | | with Indian Tribes, and social perception of 2 |
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| 121 | 121 | | mining; 3 |
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| 122 | 122 | | (J) emerging and new technologies for 4 |
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| 123 | 123 | | mineral recovery from unconventional sources; 5 |
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| 124 | 124 | | (K) training and education for the mining 6 |
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| 125 | 125 | | workforce; and 7 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (L) the usable lifespan of products con-8 |
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| 127 | 127 | | taining critical minerals through reuse, 9 |
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| 128 | 128 | | repurposing, and repairability. 10 |
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| 129 | 129 | | (2) R |
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| 130 | 130 | | ESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AREAS OF 11 |
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| 131 | 131 | | FOCUS.—In carrying out the initiative, the Sec-12 |
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| 132 | 132 | | retary, in coordination with the Secretary of the In-13 |
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| 133 | 133 | | terior, shall focus research, development, deploy-14 |
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| 134 | 134 | | ment, and commercialization activities in areas re-15 |
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| 135 | 135 | | lated to— 16 |
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| 136 | 136 | | (A) mineral exploration, discovery, and 17 |
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| 137 | 137 | | characterization science and technology, includ-18 |
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| 138 | 138 | | ing— 19 |
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| 139 | 139 | | (i) geophysical surveys; 20 |
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| 140 | 140 | | (ii) geochemical surveys; 21 |
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| 141 | 141 | | (iii) uncrewed survey platforms, in-22 |
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| 142 | 142 | | cluding uncrewed aerial vehicles; 23 |
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| 145 | 145 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 146 | 146 | | (iv) proximal sensing, including auto-1 |
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| 147 | 147 | | matic spectroscopic scanning of drilling 2 |
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| 148 | 148 | | cores; 3 |
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| 149 | 149 | | (v) characterizing mine waste, includ-4 |
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| 150 | 150 | | ing mine-influenced water; and 5 |
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| 151 | 151 | | (vi) other advanced technologies; 6 |
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| 152 | 152 | | (B) mineral production and mine remedi-7 |
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| 153 | 153 | | ation and closure, including— 8 |
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| 154 | 154 | | (i) advanced drilling, sampling, and 9 |
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| 155 | 155 | | extraction technologies; 10 |
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| 156 | 156 | | (ii) mine design, including innovations 11 |
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| 157 | 157 | | that maximize resource use, environmental 12 |
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| 158 | 158 | | benefit, and end uses of land; 13 |
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| 159 | 159 | | (iii) digital mining solutions; 14 |
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| 160 | 160 | | (iv) in-situ mineral recovery and other 15 |
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| 161 | 161 | | advanced extraction techniques; 16 |
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| 162 | 162 | | (v) processing techniques, including— 17 |
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| 163 | 163 | | (I) geometallurgy; 18 |
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| 164 | 164 | | (II) beneficiation; 19 |
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| 165 | 165 | | (III) extraction from increasingly 20 |
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| 166 | 166 | | low-grade ores and deeper mines; 21 |
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| 167 | 167 | | (IV) co-mineral and byproduct 22 |
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| 168 | 168 | | recovery; 23 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (V) multimineral refining; 24 |
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| 170 | 170 | | (VI) whole rock processing; and 25 |
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| 173 | 173 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 174 | 174 | | (VII) greenhouse gas reduction 1 |
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| 175 | 175 | | and sequestration; and 2 |
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| 176 | 176 | | (vi) remediation techniques, includ-3 |
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| 177 | 177 | | ing— 4 |
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| 178 | 178 | | (I) reclamation; 5 |
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| 179 | 179 | | (II) tailings and waste manage-6 |
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| 180 | 180 | | ment; and 7 |
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| 181 | 181 | | (III) extraction and reprocessing 8 |
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| 182 | 182 | | of valued materials from waste on 9 |
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| 183 | 183 | | abandoned mine land and at active 10 |
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| 184 | 184 | | and inactive mine sites; 11 |
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| 185 | 185 | | (C) critical mineral recycling technologies, 12 |
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| 186 | 186 | | including battery recycling; 13 |
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| 187 | 187 | | (D) social acceptance of mining and min-14 |
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| 188 | 188 | | eral processes, technologies, and projects, in-15 |
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| 189 | 189 | | cluding— 16 |
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| 190 | 190 | | (i) research to identify perspectives 17 |
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| 191 | 191 | | and priorities of communities local to pro-18 |
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| 192 | 192 | | spective mining sites; 19 |
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| 193 | 193 | | (ii) research to identify strategies for 20 |
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| 194 | 194 | | community engagement and potential 21 |
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| 195 | 195 | | short-term and long-term benefits of min-22 |
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| 196 | 196 | | ing for local communities; 23 |
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| 199 | 199 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 200 | 200 | | (iii) research to provide socially-in-1 |
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| 201 | 201 | | formed technology research, design, and 2 |
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| 202 | 202 | | development priorities; 3 |
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| 203 | 203 | | (iv) best practices for developing com-4 |
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| 204 | 204 | | munity benefit agreements and plans that 5 |
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| 205 | 205 | | address community priorities and mitigate 6 |
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| 206 | 206 | | potential environmental and economic 7 |
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| 207 | 207 | | harm that may result from mining; and 8 |
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| 208 | 208 | | (v) consultation and engagement with 9 |
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| 209 | 209 | | Indian Tribes; and 10 |
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| 210 | 210 | | (E) other research areas, as determined by 11 |
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| 211 | 211 | | the Secretary, to support the program. 12 |
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| 212 | 212 | | (3) A |
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| 213 | 213 | | REAS OF FOCUS FOR REEVALUATION .— 13 |
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| 214 | 214 | | Not less frequently than once every 5 years, the Sec-14 |
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| 215 | 215 | | retary, in carrying out the initiative in coordination 15 |
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| 216 | 216 | | with the Secretary of the Interior, shall consult with 16 |
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| 217 | 217 | | Indian Tribes, representatives from academic insti-17 |
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| 218 | 218 | | tutions (including mining universities), National 18 |
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| 219 | 219 | | Laboratories, and the mining industry— 19 |
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| 220 | 220 | | (A) to reevaluate the status of, and oppor-20 |
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| 221 | 221 | | tunities for, mineral and mining research and 21 |
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| 222 | 222 | | development; and 22 |
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| 223 | 223 | | (B) to revise the list of areas described in 23 |
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| 224 | 224 | | paragraph (2)(E). 24 |
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| 227 | 227 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 228 | 228 | | (d) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 1 |
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| 229 | 229 | | Secretary shall coordinate with the Secretary of the Inte-2 |
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| 230 | 230 | | rior through, at a minimum— 3 |
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| 231 | 231 | | (1) interagency activities associated with the re-4 |
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| 232 | 232 | | search, development, deployment, and commer-5 |
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| 233 | 233 | | cialization of hard rock mining and unconventional 6 |
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| 234 | 234 | | mineral recovery technologies; 7 |
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| 235 | 235 | | (2) leveraging existing mineral research within 8 |
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| 236 | 236 | | Federal agencies; 9 |
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| 237 | 237 | | (3) engagement with industry, academia, Indian 10 |
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| 238 | 238 | | Tribes, and nongovernmental entities to identify in-11 |
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| 239 | 239 | | novation gaps and opportunities related to minerals 12 |
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| 240 | 240 | | and mining; 13 |
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| 241 | 241 | | (4) alignment of applied academic and Federal 14 |
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| 242 | 242 | | mineral and mining research and development with 15 |
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| 243 | 243 | | economic, energy, and national security needs; and 16 |
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| 244 | 244 | | (5) certification or validation of emerging tech-17 |
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| 245 | 245 | | nologies or best practices that demonstrate signifi-18 |
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| 246 | 246 | | cant economic, environmental, and security benefits, 19 |
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| 247 | 247 | | including resource optimization, environmental sus-20 |
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| 248 | 248 | | tainability, community engagement, and workforce 21 |
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| 249 | 249 | | development; and 22 |
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| 250 | 250 | | (e) C |
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| 251 | 251 | | OLLABORATION.— 23 |
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| 252 | 252 | | (1) I |
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| 253 | 253 | | N GENERAL.—In carrying out this section, 24 |
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| 254 | 254 | | the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior may 25 |
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| 257 | 257 | | •S 598 IS |
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| 258 | 258 | | enter into cooperative agreements, contracts, or 1 |
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| 259 | 259 | | other arrangements, including partnerships, with In-2 |
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| 260 | 260 | | dian Tribes and academic, public, private, and non-3 |
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| 261 | 261 | | governmental entities located in the United States, 4 |
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| 262 | 262 | | any territory or possession of the United States, or 5 |
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| 263 | 263 | | a country described in subparagraph (B) or (C) of 6 |
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| 264 | 264 | | section 12(3) of the Strategic and Critical Materials 7 |
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| 265 | 265 | | Stock Piling Act (50 U.S.C. 98h–3(3)). 8 |
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| 266 | 266 | | (2) P |
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| 267 | 267 | | RIORITIZATION.—In carrying out para-9 |
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| 268 | 268 | | graph (1), the Secretary and the Secretary of the In-10 |
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| 269 | 269 | | terior shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 11 |
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| 270 | 270 | | prioritize entering into cooperative agreements, con-12 |
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| 271 | 271 | | tracts, or other arrangements with academic institu-13 |
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| 272 | 272 | | tions, including mining universities. 14 |
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| 273 | 273 | | (f) R |
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| 274 | 274 | | EPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 15 |
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| 275 | 275 | | of enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Secretary 16 |
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| 276 | 276 | | of the Interior shall submit to Congress a report describ-17 |
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| 277 | 277 | | ing the results of the duties carried out under subsection 18 |
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| 278 | 278 | | (c). 19 |
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| 279 | 279 | | (g) A |
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| 280 | 280 | | UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 20 |
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| 281 | 281 | | authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 21 |
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| 282 | 282 | | out this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 22 |
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| 283 | 283 | | through 2035, to remain available until expended. 23 |
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| 284 | 284 | | Æ |
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