II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 598
To establish a mineral and mining innovation program within the Department
of Energy to advance domestic mineral resources, economic growth, and
national security, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. H
ICKENLOOPER(for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
A BILL
To establish a mineral and mining innovation program within
the Department of Energy to advance domestic mineral
resources, economic growth, and national security, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unearth Innovation 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. MINERAL AND MINING INNOVATION INITIATIVE. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
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(1) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 1
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 2
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 3
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 4
(2) I
NITIATIVE.—The term ‘‘initiative’’ means 5
the mineral and mining innovation initiative estab-6
lished under subsection (b). 7
(3) M
INING UNIVERSITY.—The term ‘‘mining 8
university’’ means an institution of higher education 9
(as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Edu-10
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) with a min-11
ing, metallurgical, geological, or mineral engineering 12
program accredited by the Accreditation Board for 13
Engineering and Technology, Inc. 14
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15
the Secretary of Energy. 16
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 17
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es-18
tablish an initiative within the Department of Energy, the 19
purposes of which are— 20
(1) to support the research, development, de-21
ployment, and commercialization of emerging tech-22
nologies and practices suitable for responsibly identi-23
fying, characterizing, mining, extracting, processing, 24
recycling, and reprocessing the minerals required 25
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across multiple industries in the United States to 1
advance domestic mineral resources, circularity, eco-2
nomic growth, national security, and other goals, as 3
determined by the Secretary; 4
(2) to accelerate the research, development, and 5
integration of advanced technologies, data analytics, 6
responsible mining and mineral recovery practices, 7
advanced techniques for separation or processing fa-8
cilities to minimize human impacts, and extractive 9
processes intended to minimize environmental im-10
pact, increase per-unit productivity, optimize re-11
source utilization, and promote technology adapta-12
tion, community engagement, and social acceptance 13
of mining; and 14
(3) to coordinate with the National Institute of 15
Occupational Safety and Health of the Centers for 16
Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Sur-17
face Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and the 18
Mine Safety and Health Administration of the De-19
partment of Labor on safety and mining innovation. 20
(c) D
UTIES.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out the initia-22
tive, the Secretary, in coordination with the Sec-23
retary of the Interior, shall identify, study, evaluate, 24
test, and demonstrate hard rock mineral mining, un-25
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conventional mineral recovery, refining, and proc-1
essing technologies and practices to improve— 2
(A) identification of new potential domestic 3
mineral resources and trends; 4
(B) characterization and mapping of do-5
mestic mineral resources; 6
(C) statistical capabilities of the United 7
States, with respect to domestic and global min-8
eral resources; 9
(D) environmental performance of mining 10
and mineral recovery, including— 11
(i) reducing air emissions and improv-12
ing water management; 13
(ii) improving energy efficiency; and 14
(iii) minimizing tailings and other 15
waste, mining footprint, and environmental 16
impact; 17
(E) efficiency and productivity of mining, 18
including co-mineral and byproduct recovery, 19
mineral processing, and resource utilization; 20
(F) data collection, analytics, and sharing; 21
(G) mine safety; 22
(H) mine reclamation, remediation, and 23
reuse; 24
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(I) community engagement, consultation 1
with Indian Tribes, and social perception of 2
mining; 3
(J) emerging and new technologies for 4
mineral recovery from unconventional sources; 5
(K) training and education for the mining 6
workforce; and 7
(L) the usable lifespan of products con-8
taining critical minerals through reuse, 9
repurposing, and repairability. 10
(2) R
ESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AREAS OF 11
FOCUS.—In carrying out the initiative, the Sec-12
retary, in coordination with the Secretary of the In-13
terior, shall focus research, development, deploy-14
ment, and commercialization activities in areas re-15
lated to— 16
(A) mineral exploration, discovery, and 17
characterization science and technology, includ-18
ing— 19
(i) geophysical surveys; 20
(ii) geochemical surveys; 21
(iii) uncrewed survey platforms, in-22
cluding uncrewed aerial vehicles; 23
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(iv) proximal sensing, including auto-1
matic spectroscopic scanning of drilling 2
cores; 3
(v) characterizing mine waste, includ-4
ing mine-influenced water; and 5
(vi) other advanced technologies; 6
(B) mineral production and mine remedi-7
ation and closure, including— 8
(i) advanced drilling, sampling, and 9
extraction technologies; 10
(ii) mine design, including innovations 11
that maximize resource use, environmental 12
benefit, and end uses of land; 13
(iii) digital mining solutions; 14
(iv) in-situ mineral recovery and other 15
advanced extraction techniques; 16
(v) processing techniques, including— 17
(I) geometallurgy; 18
(II) beneficiation; 19
(III) extraction from increasingly 20
low-grade ores and deeper mines; 21
(IV) co-mineral and byproduct 22
recovery; 23
(V) multimineral refining; 24
(VI) whole rock processing; and 25
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(VII) greenhouse gas reduction 1
and sequestration; and 2
(vi) remediation techniques, includ-3
ing— 4
(I) reclamation; 5
(II) tailings and waste manage-6
ment; and 7
(III) extraction and reprocessing 8
of valued materials from waste on 9
abandoned mine land and at active 10
and inactive mine sites; 11
(C) critical mineral recycling technologies, 12
including battery recycling; 13
(D) social acceptance of mining and min-14
eral processes, technologies, and projects, in-15
cluding— 16
(i) research to identify perspectives 17
and priorities of communities local to pro-18
spective mining sites; 19
(ii) research to identify strategies for 20
community engagement and potential 21
short-term and long-term benefits of min-22
ing for local communities; 23
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(iii) research to provide socially-in-1
formed technology research, design, and 2
development priorities; 3
(iv) best practices for developing com-4
munity benefit agreements and plans that 5
address community priorities and mitigate 6
potential environmental and economic 7
harm that may result from mining; and 8
(v) consultation and engagement with 9
Indian Tribes; and 10
(E) other research areas, as determined by 11
the Secretary, to support the program. 12
(3) A
REAS OF FOCUS FOR REEVALUATION .— 13
Not less frequently than once every 5 years, the Sec-14
retary, in carrying out the initiative in coordination 15
with the Secretary of the Interior, shall consult with 16
Indian Tribes, representatives from academic insti-17
tutions (including mining universities), National 18
Laboratories, and the mining industry— 19
(A) to reevaluate the status of, and oppor-20
tunities for, mineral and mining research and 21
development; and 22
(B) to revise the list of areas described in 23
paragraph (2)(E). 24
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(d) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 1
Secretary shall coordinate with the Secretary of the Inte-2
rior through, at a minimum— 3
(1) interagency activities associated with the re-4
search, development, deployment, and commer-5
cialization of hard rock mining and unconventional 6
mineral recovery technologies; 7
(2) leveraging existing mineral research within 8
Federal agencies; 9
(3) engagement with industry, academia, Indian 10
Tribes, and nongovernmental entities to identify in-11
novation gaps and opportunities related to minerals 12
and mining; 13
(4) alignment of applied academic and Federal 14
mineral and mining research and development with 15
economic, energy, and national security needs; and 16
(5) certification or validation of emerging tech-17
nologies or best practices that demonstrate signifi-18
cant economic, environmental, and security benefits, 19
including resource optimization, environmental sus-20
tainability, community engagement, and workforce 21
development; and 22
(e) C
OLLABORATION.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out this section, 24
the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior may 25
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enter into cooperative agreements, contracts, or 1
other arrangements, including partnerships, with In-2
dian Tribes and academic, public, private, and non-3
governmental entities located in the United States, 4
any territory or possession of the United States, or 5
a country described in subparagraph (B) or (C) of 6
section 12(3) of the Strategic and Critical Materials 7
Stock Piling Act (50 U.S.C. 98h–3(3)). 8
(2) P
RIORITIZATION.—In carrying out para-9
graph (1), the Secretary and the Secretary of the In-10
terior shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 11
prioritize entering into cooperative agreements, con-12
tracts, or other arrangements with academic institu-13
tions, including mining universities. 14
(f) R
EPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 15
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Secretary 16
of the Interior shall submit to Congress a report describ-17
ing the results of the duties carried out under subsection 18
(c). 19
(g) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 20
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 21
out this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 22
through 2035, to remain available until expended. 23
Æ
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