Us Congress Senate Bill SB859 Latest Draft

                            II 
119THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION S. 859 
To modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals on public domain 
land, and for other purposes. 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH5, 2025 
Mr. L
UJA´N(for himself, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. 
M
ARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. VANHOLLEN, 
Ms. W
ARREN, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was 
read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-
sources 
A BILL 
To modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals 
on public domain land, 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; 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 of 7
this Act is as follows: 8
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
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TITLE I—LOCATABLE MINERAL DEPOSITS 
Sec. 101. Limitation on patents. 
Sec. 102. Fees. 
Sec. 103. Limitations. 
TITLE II—ROYALTIES 
Sec. 201. Royalty. 
Sec. 202. Royalty relief. 
Sec. 203. Enforcement. 
Sec. 204. Review. 
TITLE III—MINERAL ACTIVITIES 
Sec. 301. Permits. 
Sec. 302. Exploration permits. 
Sec. 303. Mining permits. 
Sec. 304. Financial assurances. 
Sec. 305. Transfer, assignment, or sale of right. 
Sec. 306. Operation and reclamation. 
Sec. 307. Land open to location. 
Sec. 308. State law. 
Sec. 309. Inspection and monitoring. 
Sec. 310. Tribal consultation. 
TITLE IV—HARDROCK MINERALS RECLAMATION FUND 
Sec. 401. Establishment of Fund. 
Sec. 402. Abandoned mine land reclamation fee. 
TITLE V—TRANSITION RULES, ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS, 
AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 
Sec. 501. Transition rules. 
Sec. 502. Enforcement. 
Sec. 503. Judicial review. 
Sec. 504. Uncommon varieties. 
Sec. 505. Review of uranium development on Federal land. 
Sec. 506. Effect. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
1
In this Act: 2
(1) A
PPLICANT.—The term ‘‘applicant’’ means 3
any person that applies for— 4
(A) a permit under this Act; or 5
(B) a modification to, or a renewal of, a 6
permit issued under this Act. 7
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(2) BENEFICIATION.—The term ‘‘beneficiation’’ 1
means— 2
(A) the crushing and grinding of locatable 3
mineral ore; and 4
(B) any processes that are employed to 5
free the mineral from other constituents, includ-6
ing physical and chemical separation tech-7
niques. 8
(3) C
ASUAL USE.— 9
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘casual use’’ 10
means mineral activities that ordinarily result 11
in no or negligible disturbance of Federal land 12
or resources. 13
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘casual use’’ 14
includes the collection of geochemical, rock, soil, 15
or mineral specimens using hand tools, hand 16
panning, or nonmotorized sluicing. 17
(C) E
XCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘casual use’’ 18
does not include— 19
(i) the use of mechanized earth-mov-20
ing equipment, suction dredging, or explo-21
sives; 22
(ii) the use of motor vehicles in areas 23
closed to off-road vehicles; 24
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(iii) the construction of roads or drill 1
pads; or 2
(iv) the use of toxic or hazardous ma-3
terials or explosives. 4
(4) C
LAIM HOLDER.—The term ‘‘claim holder’’ 5
means a person holding a mining claim, millsite, or 6
tunnel site that is— 7
(A) located under the general mining laws; 8
and 9
(B) maintained in compliance with the 10
general mining laws and this Act. 11
(5) C
ONTROL.—The term ‘‘control’’ means hav-12
ing the ability to determine the manner in which an 13
entity conducts mineral activities. 14
(6) E
XPLORATION.— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘exploration’’ 16
means creating a surface disturbance (other 17
than casual use) to evaluate the type, extent, 18
quantity, or quality of minerals present. 19
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘exploration’’ 20
includes mineral activities associated with sam-21
pling, drilling, or developing surface or under-22
ground workings to evaluate locatable mineral 23
values. 24
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(C) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘explo-1
ration’’ does not include the extraction of min-2
eral material for commercial use or sale. 3
(7) F
EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 4
means any land and any interest in land that is— 5
(A) owned by the United States; and 6
(B) open to location of mining claims 7
under the general mining laws and this Act. 8
(8) F
UND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the 9
Hardrock Minerals Reclamation Fund established by 10
section 401(a). 11
(9) H
ARDROCK MINERAL.—The term ‘‘hardrock 12
mineral’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘locatable 13
mineral’’ except that— 14
(A) legal and beneficial title to the mineral 15
need not be held by the United States; and 16
(B) paragraph (13)(B) does not apply to 17
this paragraph. 18
(10) I
NDIAN COUNTRY .—The term ‘‘Indian 19
country’’ has the meaning given the term in section 20
1151 of title 18, United States Code. 21
(11) I
NDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian land’’ 22
means land that is— 23
(A) held in trust for the benefit of an In-24
dian Tribe or member of an Indian Tribe; or 25
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(B) held by an Indian Tribe or member of 1
an Indian Tribe, subject to a restriction by the 2
United States against alienation. 3
(12) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 4
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 5
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 6
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 7
(13) L
OCATABLE MINERAL.— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘locatable 9
mineral’’ means any mineral— 10
(i) the legal and beneficial title to 11
which remains in the United States; and 12
(ii) that is not subject to disposition 13
under— 14
(I) the Mineral Leasing Act (30 15
U.S.C. 181 et seq.); 16
(II) the Geothermal Steam Act of 17
1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.); 18
(III) the Act of July 31, 1947 19
(commonly known as the ‘‘Materials 20
Act of 1947’’) (30 U.S.C. 601 et 21
seq.); or 22
(IV) the Act of August 7, 1947 23
(commonly known as the ‘‘Mineral 24
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Leasing Act for Acquired Lands’’) (30 1
U.S.C. 351 et seq.). 2
(B) E
XCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘locatable 3
mineral’’ does not include any mineral that is— 4
(i) subject to a restriction against 5
alienation imposed by the United States; 6
and 7
(ii) held in trust by the United States 8
for, or owned by, any Indian Tribe or 9
member of an Indian tribe (as defined in 10
section 2 of the Indian Mineral Develop-11
ment Act of 1982 (25 U.S.C. 2101)). 12
(14) M
INERAL ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘mineral 13
activity’’ means any activity on a mining claim, mill-14
site, or tunnel site, or Federal land used in conjunc-15
tion with the activity, for, relating to, or incidental 16
to, mineral exploration, mining, beneficiation, proc-17
essing, or reclamation activities for any locatable 18
mineral. 19
(15) O
PERATOR.—The term ‘‘operator’’ 20
means— 21
(A) any person proposing, or authorized by 22
a permit, to conduct mineral activities under 23
this Act; and 24
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(B) any agent of a person described in 1
subparagraph (A). 2
(16) P
ERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means— 3
(A) an individual, Indian Tribe, partner-4
ship, association, society, joint venture, joint 5
stock company, firm, company, corporation, co-6
operative, trust, consortium, or other organiza-7
tion; and 8
(B) any instrumentality of a State or local 9
government, including any publicly owned util-10
ity or publicly owned corporation of a State or 11
local government. 12
(17) P
ROCESSING.— 13
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘processing’’ 14
means processes downstream of beneficiation 15
used to prepare locatable mineral ore into the 16
final marketable product. 17
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘processing’’ 18
includes smelting and electrolytic refining. 19
(18) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 20
means the Secretary of the Interior. 21
(19) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 22
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 23
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(A) the Secretary of Agriculture (acting 1
through the Chief of the Forest Service), with 2
respect to National Forest System land; and 3
(B) the Secretary (acting through the Di-4
rector of the Bureau of Land Management), 5
with respect to land managed by the Bureau of 6
Land Management or other Federal land. 7
(20) T
EMPORARY CESSATION .—The term ‘‘tem-8
porary cessation’’ means a halt in mine related pro-9
duction activities for a continuous period of not 10
longer than 5 years. 11
(21) U
NDUE DEGRADATION .—The term ‘‘undue 12
degradation’’ means substantial irreparable harm to 13
significant scientific, cultural, or environmental re-14
sources on public land. 15
TITLE I—LOCATABLE MINERAL 16
DEPOSITS 17
SEC. 101. LIMITATION ON PATENTS. 18
(a) D
ETERMINATIONS REQUIRED.—No patent shall 19
be issued by the United States for any mining claim, mill-20
site, or tunnel site located under the general mining laws 21
unless the Secretary determines that— 22
(1) a patent application was filed with the Sec-23
retary with respect to the claim not later than Sep-24
tember 30, 1994; and 25
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(2) all requirements applicable to the patent ap-1
plication under law were fully complied with by the 2
date described in paragraph (1). 3
(b) R
IGHTTOPATENT.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2) 5
and notwithstanding the repeal made by subsection 6
(c), if the Secretary makes the determinations under 7
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) with re-8
spect to a mining claim, millsite, or tunnel site, the 9
claim holder shall be entitled to the issuance of a 10
patent in the same manner and degree to which the 11
claim holder would have been entitled to a patent be-12
fore the date of enactment of this Act. 13
(2) W
ITHDRAWAL.—The claim holder shall not 14
be entitled to the issuance of a patent if the deter-15
minations under paragraphs (1) and (2) of sub-16
section (a) are withdrawn or invalidated by the Sec-17
retary or, on review, by a court of the United States. 18
(c) R
EPEAL.—Section 2325 of the Revised Statutes 19
(30 U.S.C. 29) is repealed. 20
SEC. 102. FEES. 21
(a) C
LAIMMAINTENANCEFEES.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than August 31, 23
2027, and each August 31 thereafter, the holder of 24
each unpatented mining claim, millsite, or tunnel 25
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site shall pay to the Secretary a maintenance fee of 1
$200 for each claim, millsite, or tunnel site. 2
(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The maintenance fees re-3
quired under paragraph (1) shall be in lieu of— 4
(A) the assessment work requirements 5
under the general mining laws; and 6
(B) the related filing requirements under 7
subsections (a) and (c) of section 314 of the 8
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 9
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1744). 10
(3) T
IMING OF INITIAL PAYMENT .—Notwith-11
standing paragraph (1), the maintenance fee payable 12
for the initial assessment year in which the location 13
is made shall be paid at the time the location notice 14
is recorded with the Bureau of Land Management. 15
(4) C
LAIM RELOCATION.— 16
(A) D
EFINITION OF RELATED PARTY .—In 17
this paragraph and paragraph (5), the term 18
‘‘related party’’ means— 19
(i) the spouse and qualifying child (as 20
defined in section 152 of the Internal Rev-21
enue Code of 1986) of the claim holder; 22
and 23
(ii) a person affiliated with the claim 24
holder, including— 25
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(I) a person controlled by, con-1
trolling, or under common control 2
with, the claim holder; or 3
(II) a subsidiary, parent com-4
pany, partner, director, or officer of 5
the claim holder. 6
(B) L
IMITS ON RELOCATION.— 7
(i) I
N GENERAL.—No claim, millsite, 8
or tunnel site, or portion of a claim or site, 9
may be relocated by a person or related 10
party if the person or related party held 11
the claim or site and subsequently relin-12
quished the claim or site or allowed the 13
claim or site to become null and void. 14
(ii) D
URATION.—The prohibition on 15
relocation shall extend for a period of 10 16
years beginning on the date the claim or 17
site was relinquished or became null and 18
void. 19
(5) W
AIVER.—The maintenance fee required 20
under paragraph (1) shall be waived for a claim 21
holder who certifies in writing to the Secretary that 22
on the date the maintenance fee was due, the claim 23
holder and all related parties— 24
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(A) held not more than 10 mining claims, 1
millsites, tunnel sites, or any combination of 2
claims and sites on Federal land; and 3
(B) can demonstrate that the claim holder 4
and all related parties have performed assess-5
ment work required under section 2324 of the 6
Revised Statutes (30 U.S.C. 28) to maintain 7
the mining claims and sites held by the claim 8
holder and all related parties for the assessment 9
year ending on noon of September 1 of the cal-10
endar year in which payment of the mainte-11
nance fee was due. 12
(6) A
DJUSTMENT.— 13
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-14
graph (B), beginning on the date that is 5 15
years after the date of enactment of this Act 16
and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 17
adjust the amount of maintenance fees required 18
under paragraph (1) to reflect changes in the 19
Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers 20
published by the Department of Labor. 21
(B) M
ORE FREQUENT ADJUSTMENTS .— 22
The Secretary may adjust the amount of the 23
maintenance fees more frequently than specified 24
in subparagraph (A) to reflect changes in the 25
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Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers 1
published by the Department of Labor if the 2
Secretary determines an adjustment to be rea-3
sonable. 4
(C) N
OTICE.—Not later than July 1 of any 5
year in which an adjustment is made under this 6
paragraph, the Secretary shall provide claim 7
holders notice of the adjustment. 8
(D) A
PPLICATION.—An adjustment under 9
this paragraph shall apply beginning in the first 10
calendar year after the calendar year in which 11
the adjustment is made. 12
(7) A
PPLICABLE LAW.—The co-ownership pro-13
visions of section 2324 of the Revised Statutes (30 14
U.S.C. 28) shall remain in effect, except that the an-15
nual maintenance fee, as applicable, shall replace ap-16
plicable assessment requirements and expenditures. 17
(8) U
SE AND OCCUPANCY OF CLAIMS .—Timely 18
performance of required assessment work or pay-19
ment of the maintenance fee under this subsection 20
satisfies any obligation the claim holder has under 21
the pedis possessio doctrine for any claim properly 22
located in accordance with the general mining laws 23
and applicable State law. 24
(b) L
OCATIONFEES.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2) 1
and notwithstanding any other provision of law, for 2
each unpatented mining claim, millsite, or tunnel 3
site located after the date of enactment of this Act, 4
the locator shall, at the time the location notice is 5
recorded with the Bureau of Land Management, pay 6
to the Secretary a location fee of $50 for each claim 7
for each location notice recorded with the Bureau of 8
Land Management. 9
(2) A
DJUSTMENT.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-11
graph (B), beginning on the date that is 5 12
years after the date of enactment of this Act 13
and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 14
adjust the amount of location fees required 15
under paragraph (1) to reflect changes in the 16
Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers 17
published by the Department of Labor. 18
(B) M
ORE FREQUENT ADJUSTMENTS .— 19
The Secretary may adjust the amount of the lo-20
cation fees more frequently than specified in 21
subparagraph (A) to reflect changes in the Con-22
sumer Price Index for all urban consumers pub-23
lished by the Department of Labor if the Sec-24
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retary determines an adjustment to be reason-1
able. 2
(C) N
OTICE.—Not later than July 1 of any 3
year in which an adjustment is made under this 4
paragraph, the Secretary shall provide claim 5
holders notice of the adjustment. 6
(D) A
PPLICATION.—An adjustment under 7
this paragraph shall apply beginning in the first 8
calendar year after the calendar year in which 9
the adjustment is made. 10
(3) E
FFECT ON MAINTENANCE FEE .—The loca-11
tion fee required under paragraph (1) shall be in ad-12
dition to the maintenance fee required under sub-13
section (a). 14
(c) D
ISPOSITION OFFUNDS.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any amounts received under 16
this section shall be used to pay the costs of admin-17
istering program operations under sections 2318 18
through 2352 of the Revised Statutes (commonly 19
known as the ‘‘Mining Law of 1872’’) (30 U.S.C. 21 20
et seq.) and this Act, without further appropriation. 21
(2) E
XCESS AMOUNTS.—Any amounts in excess 22
of the costs described in paragraph (1) for any fiscal 23
year shall be deposited in the Fund. 24
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(d) EFFECT OFSECTION.—Nothing in this section 1
changes or modifies— 2
(1) section 314(b) of the Federal Land Policy 3
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1744(b)); 4
or 5
(2) the provisions of subsection (c) of section 6
314 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 7
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1744) relating to filings re-8
quired by subsection (b) of that section. 9
(e) A
MENDMENT TO REVISEDSTATUTES.—Section 10
2324 of the Revised Statutes (30 U.S.C. 28) is amended 11
by inserting ‘‘or section 102(a)(5) of the Mining Waste, 12
Fraud, and Abuse Prevention Act of 2025’’ after ‘‘Omni-13
bus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993’’. 14
SEC. 103. LIMITATIONS. 15
(a) F
AILURETOCOMPLY.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The failure of the claim 17
holder to perform assessment work or to pay a 18
maintenance fee if required under section 102(a), to 19
pay a location fee under section 102(b), or to file a 20
timely notice of location shall— 21
(A) conclusively constitute a forfeiture of 22
the mining claim, millsite, or tunnel site; and 23
(B) make the claim or site null and void by 24
operation of law. 25
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(2) EFFECT.—Forfeiture under paragraph (1) 1
shall not relieve any person of any obligation under 2
this Act and applicable regulations, including rec-3
lamation, and other applicable law. 4
(b) R
ELINQUISHMENT.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A claim holder deciding not 6
to pursue mineral activities on a mining claim, mill-7
site, or tunnel site, may relinquish the claim or site 8
by notifying the Secretary of the intent to relinquish 9
the claim or site. 10
(2) E
FFECT.—A claim holder relinquishing a 11
claim, millsite, or tunnel site under paragraph (1) 12
shall be responsible for any obligation under this Act 13
and applicable regulations, including reclamation, 14
and other applicable law. 15
(c) U
SE OFMININGCLAIM.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The continued use, occu-17
pancy, and retention of any mining claim, millsite, 18
or tunnel site subject to this Act shall be exclusively 19
for mineral activities as authorized under this Act. 20
(2) F
AILURE TO USE FOR MINERAL ACTIVI -21
TIES.—If the claim holder cannot demonstrate to 22
the Secretary that the mining claim, millsite, or tun-23
nel site has been used exclusively for mineral activi-24
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ties, the Secretary shall declare the claim, millsite, 1
or tunnel site null and void. 2
TITLE II—ROYALTIES 3
SEC. 201. ROYALTY. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c) and sec-5
tion 202, production of all locatable minerals from any 6
mining claim located under the general mining laws and 7
maintained in compliance with this Act shall be subject 8
to a royalty established by the Secretary by regulation of 9
not less than 5 percent, and not more than 8 percent, of 10
the gross income from mining for production of all 11
locatable minerals. 12
(b) R
OYALTYRATE.—The regulation shall establish 13
a reasonable royalty rate for each locatable mineral sub-14
ject to a royalty under this section that may vary based 15
on the locatable mineral concerned. 16
(c) N
OROYALTY FORFEDERALLANDSUBJECT TO 17
E
XISTINGPERMIT.—No royalty under subsection (a) shall 18
be required for production on Federal land that— 19
(1) is subject to an approved plan of operations 20
or an operations permit on the date of the enact-21
ment of this Act; and 22
(2) produces valuable locatable minerals in com-23
mercial quantities on the date of enactment of this 24
Act. 25
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(d) FEDERALLANDNOTSUBJECT TOEXISTINGOP-1
ERATIONSPERMIT.—Production from any Federal land 2
not specifically approved for mineral extraction under a 3
plan of operations or an operations permit in existence on 4
the date of enactment of this Act shall be subject to the 5
royalty described in subsection (a). 6
(e) D
EPOSIT.—Amounts received by the United 7
States as royalties under this section shall be deposited 8
in the Fund. 9
SEC. 202. ROYALTY RELIEF. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), in order 11
to promote the greatest ultimate recovery pursuant to a 12
mining permit or a plan of operations under which produc-13
tion in commercial quantities has occurred and in the in-14
terest of conservation of natural resources, the Secretary 15
may reduce any royalty otherwise required for all or part 16
of a mining operation, on a showing by clear and con-17
vincing evidence by the person conducting mineral activi-18
ties under the operations or mining permit or plan of oper-19
ations that, without the reduction in royalty, production 20
would not occur. 21
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—Any reduction in a royalty 22
provided for by this section shall not be effective until 60 23
days after the date on which the Secretary— 24
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(1) publishes public notice of the royalty reduc-1
tion; and 2
(2) submits to the Committee on Energy and 3
Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee 4
on Natural Resources of the House of Representa-5
tives notice and a statement of the reasons for 6
granting the royalty reduction. 7
SEC. 203. ENFORCEMENT. 8
(a) D
UTIES OF THESECRETARY.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 10
a comprehensive inspection, collection, fiscal, and 11
production accounting and auditing system— 12
(A) to accurately determine royalties, in-13
terest, fines, penalties, fees, deposits, and other 14
payments owed under this title and section 402; 15
and 16
(B) to collect and account for such pay-17
ments in a timely manner. 18
(2) I
NSPECTIONS.—The Secretary shall estab-19
lish procedures to ensure that authorized and prop-20
erly identified representatives of the Secretary will 21
inspect at least once annually each mining claim 22
that— 23
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(A) is producing or expected to produce a 1
significant quantity of locatable minerals in any 2
year; or 3
(B) has a history of noncompliance with 4
this Act. 5
(b) D
UTIES OFCLAIMHOLDERS, OPERATORS, AND 6
T
RANSPORTERS.— 7
(1) P
AYMENT OF ROYALTIES .— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A person who is re-9
quired to make any royalty or other payment 10
under this title or section 402 shall make pay-11
ment to the United States at such times and in 12
such manner as the Secretary may by rule pre-13
scribe. 14
(B) L
IABILITY FOR PAYMENTS.— 15
(i) D
ESIGNEES.—Any person who 16
pays, offsets, or credits funds, makes ad-17
justments, requests and receives refunds, 18
or submits reports with respect to pay-19
ments another person is required to make 20
shall be considered the designee of the 21
other person under this title or section 22
402. 23
(ii) L
IABILITY.—A designee shall be 24
liable for any payment obligation under 25
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this title or section 402 of any person on 1
whose behalf the designee undertakes the 2
activities described in clause (i). 3
(iii) P
RO RATA SHARE.—The person 4
owning an interest in a claim, millsite, or 5
tunnel site, or production from the claim 6
or site, shall be liable for the pro rata 7
share of the person of payment obligations 8
under this title or section 402. 9
(2) S
ITE SECURITY.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A person conducting 11
mineral activities shall develop and comply with 12
the site security provisions in the mining permit 13
designed to protect from theft the locatable 14
minerals that are produced or stored on a min-15
ing claim. 16
(B) M
INIMUM STANDARDS .—The provi-17
sions shall conform with such minimum stand-18
ards as the Secretary may prescribe by rule, 19
taking into account the variety of circumstances 20
on mining claims. 21
(C) N
OTIFICATION OF COMMENCEMENT OR 22
RESUMPTION OF PRODUCTION .—Not later than 23
the fifth business day after production begins in 24
any place on a mining claim or production re-25
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sumes after more than 90 days after production 1
ceased or was suspended, the person conducting 2
mineral activities shall notify the Secretary, in 3
the manner prescribed by the Secretary, of the 4
date on which the production has begun or re-5
sumed. 6
(c) R
ECORDKEEPING AND REPORTINGREQUIRE-7
MENTS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A claim holder, operator, or 9
other person directly or indirectly involved in devel-10
oping, producing, processing, transporting, pur-11
chasing, or selling locatable or hardrock minerals, 12
subject to this Act, through the point of first sale, 13
the point of royalty or fee computation, or the point 14
of smelting or other processing, whichever is later, 15
shall establish and maintain any records, make any 16
reports, and provide any information that the Sec-17
retary may reasonably require for the purposes of 18
implementing this title or section 402 or determining 19
compliance with rules or orders under this title or 20
section 402. 21
(2) A
CCESS.—On the request of any officer or 22
employee duly designated by the Secretary con-23
ducting an audit or investigation pursuant to this 24
section, the appropriate records, reports, or informa-25
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tion that may be required by this section shall be 1
made available for inspection and duplication by the 2
officer or employee. 3
(3) D
URATION OF RECORDKEEPING REQUIRE -4
MENT.— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Records required by 6
the Secretary under this section shall be main-7
tained for 7 years after the records are gen-8
erated or amended unless the Secretary notifies 9
the claim holder, operator, other person re-10
ferred to in paragraph (1), or record holder 11
that the Secretary has initiated an audit or in-12
vestigation involving the records and that the 13
records must be maintained for a longer period. 14
(B) O
NGOING AUDIT OR INVESTIGATION .— 15
In any case in which an audit or investigation 16
is underway, records shall be maintained until 17
the Secretary releases the claim holder, oper-18
ator, other person referred to in paragraph (1), 19
or record holder subject to the recordkeeping 20
and requirements of this Act of the obligation 21
to maintain the records. 22
(d) A
UDITS.—The Secretary may conduct such au-23
dits of all claim holders, operators, producers, trans-24
porters, purchasers, processors, or other persons directly 25
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or indirectly involved in the production or sales of 1
locatable or hardrock minerals covered by this Act, as the 2
Secretary considers necessary for the purposes of ensuring 3
compliance with the requirements of this title or section 4
402. 5
(e) C
OOPERATIVEAGREEMENTS.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 7
into cooperative agreements with the Secretary of 8
Agriculture— 9
(A) to share information concerning the 10
royalty management of locatable minerals; 11
(B) to carry out inspection, auditing, in-12
vestigation, or enforcement (not including the 13
collection of royalties, civil or criminal penalties, 14
or other payments) activities under this section 15
in cooperation with the Secretary; and 16
(C) to carry out any other activity de-17
scribed in this section. 18
(2) A
CCESS.—Subject to paragraph (3) and 19
pursuant to a cooperative agreement, the Secretary 20
of Agriculture shall, on request, have access to all 21
royalty or fee accounting information in the posses-22
sion of the Secretary relating to the production, re-23
moval, or sale of locatable minerals from claims on 24
Federal land. 25
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(3) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION .— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Trade secrets, propri-2
etary information, and other confidential infor-3
mation protected from disclosure under section 4
552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly 5
known as the ‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’), 6
shall be made available by the Secretary to 7
other Federal agencies as necessary to ensure 8
compliance with this Act and other Federal 9
laws. 10
(B) P
ROTECTION BY OTHER FEDERAL OF -11
FICIALS.—The Secretary, the Secretary of Agri-12
culture, and other Federal officials shall ensure 13
that information described in subparagraph (A) 14
is provided protection in accordance with sec-15
tion 552 of title 5, United States Code. 16
(f) I
NTEREST.— 17
(1) D
EFINITION OF UNDERPAYMENT .—In this 18
subsection, the term ‘‘underpayment’’ means the dif-19
ference between the royalty on the value of the pro-20
duction or the fee under section 402 that should 21
have been received by the Secretary and the royalty 22
on the value of the production or the fee under sec-23
tion 402 that was received by the Secretary, if the 24
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royalty or fee that should have been received is 1
greater than the royalty or fee that was received. 2
(2) N
ONPAYMENT AND UNDERPAYMENT .— 3
(A) N
ONPAYMENT.—In the case of mining 4
claims or operations with respect to which roy-5
alty payments or the fee under section 402 are 6
not received by the Secretary by the date that 7
the payments are due, the Secretary shall 8
charge interest on the nonpayment at the rate 9
specified under subparagraph (C). 10
(B) U
NDERPAYMENT.—In the case of an 11
underpayment, interest shall be computed and 12
charged only on the amount of the deficiency 13
and not on the total amount, at the rate speci-14
fied under subparagraph (C). 15
(C) I
NTEREST RATE.—In the case of non-16
payment or underpayment, interest shall be 17
charged at the rate applicable under section 18
6621(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 19
1986. 20
(g) E
XPANDEDROYALTYOBLIGATIONS.—Each per-21
son liable for royalty payments under this section shall 22
be jointly and severally liable for royalty on all locatable 23
minerals lost or wasted from a mining claim located under 24
the general mining laws and maintained in compliance 25
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with this Act if the loss or waste is due to negligence on 1
the part of any such person or due to the failure to comply 2
with any rule, regulation, or order issued under this sec-3
tion. 4
(h) H
EARINGS ANDINVESTIGATIONS.—In carrying 5
out this title and section 402, the Secretary may— 6
(1) conduct any investigation or other inquiry 7
necessary and appropriate; 8
(2) conduct, after notice, any necessary and ap-9
propriate hearing or audit under rules prescribed by 10
the Secretary; and 11
(3) administer oaths and issue subpoenas in 12
conducting such proceedings. 13
(i) C
IVILPENALTIES.— 14
(1) F
AILURE TO COMPLY WITH APPLICABLE 15
LAW, RULES OR REGULATIONS , OR TO PERMIT IN-16
SPECTION.— 17
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 18
subparagraph (B), a person shall be liable for 19
a penalty of up to $500 per violation for each 20
day the violation continues, dating from the 21
date of the notice or report, if the person— 22
(i) after due notice of violation or 23
after the violation has been reported under 24
subparagraph (B)(i), fails or refuses to 25
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•S 859 IS
comply with any requirement of this title 1
or section 402 or any rule or regulation 2
under this title or section 402; or 3
(ii) fails or refuses to permit inspec-4
tion authorized under this title. 5
(B) E
XCEPTIONS.—A penalty under this 6
paragraph may not be applied to any person 7
who is otherwise liable for a violation of sub-8
paragraph (A) if— 9
(i) the violation was discovered and 10
reported to the Secretary or the authorized 11
representative of the Secretary by the lia-12
ble person and corrected within 20 days 13
after the report (or such longer period to 14
which the Secretary may agree); or 15
(ii) after the due notice of violation 16
required under subparagraph (A)(i) has 17
been given to the person by the Secretary 18
or the authorized representative of the Sec-19
retary, the person has corrected the viola-20
tion within 20 days of the notification (or 21
such longer period to which the Secretary 22
may agree). 23
(2) F
AILURE TO TAKE CORRECTIVE ACTION .— 24
If corrective action is not taken within 40 days (or 25
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•S 859 IS
a longer period to which the Secretary may agree), 1
after due notice or submission of a report referred 2
to in paragraph (1)(A)(i), the person shall be liable 3
for a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 per viola-4
tion for each day the violation continues, dating 5
from the date of the notice or report. 6
(3) F
AILURE TO MAKE PAYMENT OR TO PERMIT 7
LAWFUL ENTRY, INSPECTION, OR AUDIT.—A person 8
shall be liable for a penalty of up to $10,000 per vio-9
lation for each day the violation continues if the per-10
son— 11
(A) knowingly or willfully fails to make 12
any payment of any royalty under this title or 13
fee under section 402 by the date as specified 14
by law (including regulation or order); 15
(B) fails or refuses to permit lawful entry, 16
inspection, or audit; or 17
(C) knowingly or willfully fails to comply 18
with subsection (b)(2)(C). 19
(4) F
ALSE INFORMATION; UNAUTHORIZED RE -20
MOVAL OF LOCATABLE MINERAL .—A person shall be 21
liable for a penalty of up to $25,000 per violation 22
for each day the violation continues in any case in 23
which the person, in violation of this title or section 24
402— 25
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(A) knowingly or willfully prepares, main-1
tains, or submits false, inaccurate, or mis-2
leading reports, notices, affidavits, records, 3
data, or other written information; 4
(B) knowingly or willfully takes or re-5
moves, transports, uses or diverts any locatable 6
mineral from any land covered by a mining 7
claim without having valid legal authority to do 8
so; or 9
(C) purchases, accepts, sells, transports, or 10
conveys to another, any locatable mineral know-11
ing or having reason to know that the locatable 12
mineral was stolen or unlawfully removed or di-13
verted. 14
(5) H
EARING.—No penalty under this sub-15
section shall be assessed until the person charged 16
with a violation has been given the opportunity for 17
a hearing on the record. 18
(6) D
EDUCTION OF PENALTY FROM SUMS 19
OWED BY UNITED STATES .—The amount of any 20
penalty under this subsection, as finally determined, 21
may be deducted from any sums owed by the United 22
States to the person charged. 23
(7) C
OMPROMISE OR REDUCTION OF PEN -24
ALTIES.—On a case-by-case basis, the Secretary 25
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may compromise or reduce civil penalties under this 1
subsection. 2
(8) N
OTICE.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notice under this sub-4
section shall be by personal service by an au-5
thorized representative of the Secretary or by 6
registered mail. 7
(B) D
ESIGNEE FOR RECEIPT OF NO -8
TICE.—Any person may, in the manner pre-9
scribed by the Secretary, designate a represent-10
ative to receive any notice under this sub-11
section. 12
(9) R
EASONS ON RECORD FOR AMOUNT OF 13
PENALTY.—In determining the amount of the pen-14
alty under this subsection, whether the penalty 15
should be remitted or reduced, and by what amount, 16
the Secretary shall state on the record the reasons 17
for the determinations of the Secretary. 18
(10) R
EVIEW.— 19
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Any person who has re-20
quested a hearing in accordance with paragraph 21
(5) within the time the Secretary has prescribed 22
for such a hearing and who is aggrieved by a 23
final order of the Secretary under this sub-24
section may seek review of the order in the 25
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United States district court for the judicial dis-1
trict in which the violation allegedly took place. 2
(B) B
ASIS FOR REVIEW.—Review by the 3
district court shall be only on the administrative 4
record and not de novo. 5
(C) D
EADLINE.—An action under this 6
paragraph shall be barred unless the action is 7
filed not later than the date that is 90 days 8
after the date of issuance of the final order of 9
the Secretary. 10
(11) F
AILURE TO PAY PENALTY .— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-12
graphs (B) and (C), if any person fails to pay 13
an assessment of a civil penalty under this Act, 14
the court shall have jurisdiction to award the 15
amount assessed plus interest from the date of 16
the expiration of the 90-day period referred to 17
in paragraph (10)(C). 18
(B) A
PPLICATION.—Subparagraph (A) ap-19
plies— 20
(i) after the order making the assess-21
ment has become a final order and if the 22
person does not file a petition for judicial 23
review of the order in accordance with 24
paragraph (10); or 25
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(ii) after a court in an action brought 1
under paragraph (10) has entered a final 2
judgment in favor of the Secretary. 3
(C) O
RDER TO PAY.—Judgment by the 4
court shall include an order to pay. 5
(j) C
RIMINALPENALTIES.—Any person who commits 6
an act for which a civil penalty is provided under sub-7
section (i)(4) shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine 8
of not more than $50,000 or by imprisonment for not 9
more than 2 years, or both. 10
(k) E
FFECTIVEDATE.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in sec-12
tion 201(b) with respect to the payment of royalties, 13
the royalty required under section 201 or fee re-14
quired under section 402 shall take effect with re-15
spect to the production of minerals on or after the 16
date of enactment of this Act. 17
(2) I
NITIAL PRODUCTION .—Any royalty pay-18
ments or fee payments under section 402 attrib-19
utable to production during the 1-year period begin-20
ning on the date of enactment of this Act shall be 21
payable at the expiration of the 1-year period, to-22
gether with interest at the rate required under sub-23
section (f)(2)(C). 24
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(l) INJUNCTION AND SPECIFICENFORCEMENT AU-1
THORITY.— 2
(1) C
IVIL ACTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL .—In 3
addition to any other remedy under law, the Attor-4
ney General or the designee of the Attorney General 5
may bring a civil action in a district court of the 6
United States, which shall have jurisdiction over 7
such actions— 8
(A) to restrain any violation of this title or 9
section 402; or 10
(B) to compel the taking of any action re-11
quired by or under this title or section 402. 12
(2) V
ENUE.—A civil action described in para-13
graph (1) may be brought only in the United States 14
district court for the judicial district in which the 15
act, omission, or transaction constituting a violation 16
under this title or section 402 occurred, or in which 17
the defendant is found or transacts business. 18
SEC. 204. REVIEW. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after the 20
date of enactment of this Act and every 5 years thereafter, 21
the Secretary shall complete a review and submit to the 22
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Sen-23
ate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 24
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•S 859 IS
of Representatives a report addressing collections and im-1
pacts of the royalty and fees provided for by this Act. 2
(b) T
OPICS.—The report shall address— 3
(1) the total revenues received (by category) on 4
an annual basis as— 5
(A) claim maintenance fees; 6
(B) location fees; 7
(C) land use fees; 8
(D) royalties and related payments; and 9
(E) abandoned mine land fees; 10
(2) the disposition of the fees and royalties, in-11
cluding— 12
(A) the amount used for mining law pro-13
gram administration; and 14
(B) the amount used for abandoned mine 15
land reclamation, including allocation by State 16
and Indian Tribe; 17
(3) the effectiveness of the program under this 18
Act in addressing abandoned mine land problems on 19
Federal and non-Federal land; 20
(4) any impact on domestic locatable mineral 21
exploration and production as a result of the fees 22
and royalties; and 23
(5) any recommendations with respect to 24
changes in Federal law (including regulations) relat-25
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ing to the amount or method of collection (including 1
auditing, compliance, and enforcement) of the fees 2
and royalties. 3
TITLE III—MINERAL ACTIVITIES 4
SEC. 301. PERMITS. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in section 6
501(a)(2), no person may engage in mineral activities on 7
Federal land that may cause a disturbance of surface re-8
sources, including land, air, water, and fish and wildlife, 9
unless a permit authorizing the activities was issued to 10
the person under this title. 11
(b) E
XCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), a 12
permit under this title shall not be required for mineral 13
activities that are a casual use of the Federal land. 14
(c) N
OMODIFICATION.—Nothing in this section en-15
larges, diminishes, establishes, repeals, or otherwise modi-16
fies any requirement of law that a mining claim, millsite, 17
or tunnel site be valid in order for mineral activities to 18
be undertaken. 19
(d) C
OORDINATIONWITHNEPA PROCESS.—To the 20
maximum extent practicable, the Secretary concerned 21
shall conduct the permit processes under this Act in co-22
ordination with the timing and other requirements of sec-23
tion 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 24
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 25
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SEC. 302. EXPLORATION PERMITS. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in section 2
501(a)(2), an exploration permit shall be required prior 3
to conducting any exploration activities on Federal land 4
that involve more than the casual use of the Federal land. 5
(b) L
IMITATIONS.—An exploration permit under sub-6
section (a) shall not authorize the person to— 7
(1) remove any mineral for sale; or 8
(2) conduct any activity other than an activity 9
required for— 10
(A) exploration for locatable minerals; or 11
(B) reclamation. 12
(c) R
EQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible for an explo-13
ration permit, a person shall submit to the Secretary con-14
cerned, in a manner prescribed by the Secretary con-15
cerned, an application for an exploration permit that con-16
tains— 17
(1) an exploration plan demonstrating that— 18
(A) the applicant will operate in accord-19
ance with this Act and applicable regulations; 20
(B) the formation of acid mine drainage 21
will be avoided to the maximum extent prac-22
ticable; and 23
(C) mineral activities will be conducted in 24
a manner that uses best management practices; 25
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(2) a description of potential impacts to 1
groundwater and surface water, including appro-2
priate hydrological assessments and analyses, as rea-3
sonably required by the Secretary; 4
(3) a reclamation plan for the proposed explo-5
ration activity demonstrating that the applicant will 6
conduct reclamation activities in accordance with 7
section 306; 8
(4) evidence of adequate financial assurance in 9
accordance with section 304; 10
(5) the necessary documentation to demonstrate 11
that the proposed exploration activity will comply 12
with applicable Federal and State environmental 13
laws (including regulations); 14
(6) a monitoring and evaluation plan to ensure 15
compliance with reclamation and other requirements 16
of this Act; and 17
(7) any other relevant information determined 18
by the Secretary to be necessary to satisfy the re-19
quirements of this Act and other applicable law. 20
(d) P
ERMITISSUANCE.— 21
(1) A
PPROVAL.— 22
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-23
graph (B), the Secretary concerned shall ap-24
prove an application and issue an exploration 25
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permit if the Secretary concerned determines 1
that the application is in compliance with— 2
(i) this Act; 3
(ii) any regulations promulgated 4
under this Act; and 5
(iii) any other applicable laws. 6
(B) C
ONDITIONS.—The Secretary con-7
cerned may reasonably condition the approval 8
of such a permit to satisfy the requirements of 9
this Act and applicable regulations. 10
(2) D
ENIAL.—The Secretary concerned shall 11
deny the issuance of an exploration permit if the 12
Secretary concerned determines that the permit does 13
not meet the requirements of— 14
(A) this Act; 15
(B) any regulations promulgated under 16
this Act; or 17
(C) other applicable laws. 18
(3) N
OTICE.—Before approving or denying an 19
exploration permit under this subsection, the Sec-20
retary concerned— 21
(A) shall provide public notice and an op-22
portunity for written comment; and 23
(B) may hold a public hearing. 24
(e) M
ODIFICATIONS TOPERMIT.— 25
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•S 859 IS
(1) IN GENERAL.—The permit holder may sub-1
mit to the Secretary concerned an application to 2
modify an exploration permit. 3
(2) A
PPROVAL.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In determining whether 5
to approve or disapprove a proposed modifica-6
tion to an exploration permit, the Secretary 7
concerned shall make the same determinations 8
as are required in the case of the original per-9
mit. 10
(B) E
XCEPTIONS.—Subparagraph (A) 11
shall not apply to minor modifications to an ex-12
ploration permit or instances in which the na-13
ture of the modifications make compliance with 14
the requirements unnecessary, as determined by 15
the Secretary concerned. 16
(3) M
ODIFICATIONS FROM SECRETARY CON -17
CERNED.— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-19
cerned may require reasonable modification to 20
any permit on a determination that the require-21
ments of this Act or other applicable law cannot 22
be met if the permit is followed as approved. 23
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•S 859 IS
(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR DETERMINA -1
TION.—A determination under subparagraph 2
(A) shall be— 3
(i) based on a written finding; and 4
(ii) subject to notice and hearing re-5
quirements established by the Secretary 6
concerned. 7
SEC. 303. MINING PERMITS. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in section 9
501(a)(2), a mining permit shall be required prior to con-10
ducting mineral activities on Federal land, other than cas-11
ual use or exploration on the Federal land. 12
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible for a mining per-13
mit, a person shall submit to the Secretary concerned, in 14
a manner prescribed by the Secretary concerned, an appli-15
cation for a mining permit that contains— 16
(1) a description of the condition of the land 17
and water resources of the area before mining activi-18
ties are initiated; 19
(2) an operations plan demonstrating that— 20
(A) the applicant will operate in accord-21
ance with this Act and applicable regulations; 22
(B) the formation of acid mine drainage 23
will be avoided to the maximum extent prac-24
ticable; and 25
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•S 859 IS
(C) mineral activities will be conducted in 1
a manner that uses best management practices; 2
(3) a description of potential impacts to 3
groundwater and surface water, including appro-4
priate hydrological assessments and analyses, as rea-5
sonably required by the Secretary; 6
(4) a reclamation plan for the proposed mineral 7
activities demonstrating that the applicant will con-8
duct reclamation activities in accordance with sec-9
tion 306; 10
(5) evidence of adequate financial assurance 11
under section 304, including, if required, a trust 12
fund as required under section 304(i); 13
(6) the necessary documentation to demonstrate 14
that the proposed mineral activities will comply with 15
applicable Federal and State environmental laws (in-16
cluding regulations); 17
(7) a monitoring and evaluation plan to ensure 18
compliance with reclamation and other requirements 19
of this Act; and 20
(8) any other relevant information determined 21
by the Secretary concerned to be necessary to satisfy 22
the requirements of this Act and other applicable 23
law. 24
(c) P
ERMITISSUANCE.— 25
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•S 859 IS
(1) APPROVAL.— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-2
graph (B), the Secretary concerned shall ap-3
prove a permit application and issue a mining 4
permit if the Secretary concerned determines 5
that the application is in compliance with— 6
(i) this Act; 7
(ii) any regulations promulgated 8
under this Act; and 9
(iii) other applicable laws. 10
(B) C
ONDITIONS.—The Secretary con-11
cerned may reasonably condition the approval 12
of such a permit to satisfy the requirements of 13
this Act and applicable regulations. 14
(2) D
ENIAL.—The Secretary concerned shall 15
deny the issuance of a mining permit if the Sec-16
retary concerned determines that the permit does 17
not meet the requirements of— 18
(A) this Act; 19
(B) any regulations promulgated under 20
this Act; or 21
(C) other applicable laws. 22
(3) N
OTICE.—Before approving or denying a 23
mining permit under this subsection, the Secretary 24
concerned— 25
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•S 859 IS
(A) shall provide public notice and an op-1
portunity for written comment; and 2
(B) may hold a public hearing. 3
(d) T
ERM OFPERMIT; CONTINUATION.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL .—An operations permit 5
shall— 6
(A) be for a term of 30 years; and 7
(B) continue for so long thereafter as 8
locatable minerals are produced in commercial 9
quantities from the permit area in compliance 10
with the requirements of this Act and other ap-11
plicable law. 12
(2) C
ONTINUATION.—No permit shall expire be-13
cause operations or production have ceased pursuant 14
to an approved temporary cessation or been sus-15
pended pursuant to any order of, or with the consent 16
of, the Secretary concerned. 17
(e) M
ODIFICATIONS TOPERMIT.— 18
(1) R
EQUEST FROM PERMIT HOLDER .— 19
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A mining permit holder 20
may submit to the Secretary concerned an ap-21
plication to modify the mining permit. 22
(B) A
PPROVAL.— 23
(i) I
N GENERAL.—In determining 24
whether to approve or disapprove a pro-25
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•S 859 IS
posed modification to a mining permit, the 1
Secretary concerned shall make the same 2
determinations as are required in the case 3
of an original mining permit. 4
(ii) E
XCEPTIONS.—Clause (i) shall 5
not apply to minor modifications to a min-6
ing permit or instances in which the nature 7
of the modifications make compliance with 8
the requirements unnecessary, as deter-9
mined by the Secretary concerned. 10
(2) M
ODIFICATIONS FROM SECRETARY CON -11
CERNED.— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-13
cerned may require reasonable modification to 14
any permit on a determination that the require-15
ments of this Act or other applicable law cannot 16
be met if the permit is followed as approved. 17
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR DETERMINA -18
TION.—A determination under subparagraph 19
(A) shall be— 20
(i) based on a written finding; and 21
(ii) subject to notice and hearing re-22
quirements established by the Secretary 23
concerned. 24
(f) L
ANDUSEFEES.— 25
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•S 859 IS
(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of Federal land 1
included in a mining permit approved under this sec-2
tion after the date of enactment of this Act, or Fed-3
eral land added pursuant to a modification to a per-4
mit or plan of operations if the modification is ap-5
proved after the date of enactment of this Act, not 6
later than August 31 of each year, the operator shall 7
pay a land use fee in an amount established by the 8
Secretary by regulation that is equal to 4 times the 9
claim maintenance fee imposed under section 10
102(a)(1) for each 20 acres of Federal land that is 11
included within the mine permit area. 12
(2) A
DDITIONAL FEE.—The land use fee im-13
posed under this subsection shall be in addition to 14
the claim maintenance fees imposed under section 15
102(a). 16
(3) A
UTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Upon approval 17
by the Secretary concerned of a mining permit and 18
upon payment of the land use fee as required by this 19
subsection, the operator may use and occupy all 20
Federal land within the mine permit area for such 21
uses as are approved in the mining permit if the 22
uses are undertaken in accordance with all applica-23
ble law. 24
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•S 859 IS
(4) ADJUSTMENT.—Land use fees imposed 1
under this subsection shall be adjusted as necessary 2
to correspond to any adjustment in the claim main-3
tenance fees imposed under section 102(a). 4
(5) D
ISPOSITION OF FUNDS.—Any amounts re-5
ceived under this subsection shall be deposited in the 6
Fund. 7
(g) T
EMPORARYCESSATION OFOPERATIONS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An operator conducting min-9
eral activities under this title may not temporarily 10
cease mineral activities for a period of greater than 11
180 days unless— 12
(A) the Secretary concerned has approved 13
the temporary cessation; or 14
(B) the temporary cessation is permitted 15
under the exploration or mining permit. 16
(2) M
ULTIPLE TEMPORARY CESSATIONS .—The 17
Secretary concerned may approve more than 1 tem-18
porary cessation for mineral activities under a per-19
mit. 20
(3) I
NTERIM MANAGEMENT PLAN .—Any oper-21
ator temporarily ceasing mineral activities shall fol-22
low an interim management plan approved by the 23
Secretary concerned. 24
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•S 859 IS
SEC. 304. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Before beginning any mineral ac-2
tivities requiring an exploration or mining permit under 3
this Act, an operator shall provide to the Secretary con-4
cerned evidence of a bond, surety, or other financial assur-5
ance approved by the Secretary concerned in an amount 6
determined, after public notice and comment, by the Sec-7
retary concerned to be sufficient to ensure the completion 8
of reclamation under section 306 and the restoration of 9
any land or water adversely affected by the mineral activi-10
ties if the work (including any interim stabilization and 11
infrastructure maintenance activities) would be performed 12
by the Secretary concerned (or a third party retained by 13
the Secretary concerned) in the event of forfeiture. 14
(b) L
AND ANDWATERCOVERED.—The financial as-15
surance shall cover— 16
(1) all land within the initial permit area; 17
(2) all affected water that may require restora-18
tion, treatment, or other management as a result of 19
mineral activities; and 20
(3) all land added and water affected pursuant 21
to any permit modification. 22
(c) R
EVIEW.—Not later than 3 years after the date 23
on which an operator provides financial assurance in an 24
amount determined under subsection (a) and not later 25
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•S 859 IS
than every 3 years thereafter, the Secretary concerned 1
shall— 2
(1) review the financial assurance to determine 3
if the amount of the financial assurance is adequate 4
for purposes of this section; and 5
(2) if the Secretary concerned determines that 6
the amount of the financial assurance is not ade-7
quate, adjust the amount of the financial assurance 8
in accordance with this section. 9
(d) R
EDUCTION.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned 11
may reduce the amount of the financial assurance 12
required if the Secretary concerned determines that 13
a portion of the reclamation is completed in accord-14
ance with section 306. 15
(2) N
OTICE.—Before reducing or releasing the 16
amount of financial assurance pursuant to this sub-17
section, the Secretary concerned shall provide public 18
notice and a reasonable opportunity for public notice 19
and comment in accordance with subsection (g). 20
(e) I
NCREMENTALFINANCIALASSURANCE.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned 22
may authorize amounts of financial assurance for in-23
cremental mineral activities if— 24
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•S 859 IS
(A) no mineral activities are allowed be-1
yond the activities for which financial assurance 2
is provided; 3
(B) the financial assurance for an incre-4
ment covers all reclamation costs within the 5
permit area for the increment; and 6
(C) the amount and terms of the financial 7
assurance for each increment are reviewed an-8
nually. 9
(2) R
EVIEW.—Notwithstanding subsection (c), 10
the Secretary concerned shall— 11
(A) review at least on an annual basis the 12
amount and terms of the financial assurance 13
for any increment; and 14
(B) adjust the financial assurance as ap-15
propriate. 16
(f) D
URATION.—The financial assurance required 17
under this section shall be held for the duration of the 18
mineral activities and for an additional period to cover the 19
responsibility of the operator for reclamation, long-term 20
maintenance, and effluent treatment as specified in sub-21
section (h). 22
(g) R
ELEASE.—Subject to subsections (h) and (i), 23
the Secretary concerned may, after public notice and a 24
reasonable opportunity for public comment and after in-25
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•S 859 IS
spection, release in whole or in part the financial assur-1
ance required under this section if the Secretary concerned 2
determines that— 3
(1) reclamation covered by the financial assur-4
ance has been accomplished as required by this Act 5
and other applicable law; and 6
(2) the terms and conditions of any other appli-7
cable Federal and State requirements have been ful-8
filled. 9
(h) R
ELEASE OF FINANCIALASSURANCE FOR 10
W
ATER.—If the Secretary concerned does not require the 11
establishment of a trust fund or other long-term funding 12
mechanism under subsection (i), the portion of the finan-13
cial assurance attributable to the estimated cost of treat-14
ment of any discharge or other water-related condition re-15
sulting from mineral activities shall not be released until 16
the public has been provided notice and an opportunity 17
to comment in accordance with subsection (g) and— 18
(1) the discharge has ceased for a period of at 19
least 5 years, as determined through ongoing moni-20
toring and testing; or 21
(2) if the discharge continues, the operator has 22
met all applicable effluent limitations and water 23
quality standards for a period of at least 5 years. 24
(i) L
ONG-TERMFINANCIALASSURANCES.— 25
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•S 859 IS
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsections 1
(d) and (g), if any discharge or other water-related 2
condition resulting from mineral activities requires 3
treatment in order to meet the applicable effluent 4
limitations and water quality standards, the finan-5
cial assurance shall cover the estimated cost of 6
maintaining the treatment for the period that will be 7
needed after the cessation of mineral activities. 8
(2) L
ONG-TERM FUNDING MECHANISMS .— 9
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-10
cerned shall, if determined necessary by the 11
Secretary concerned, require the operator to es-12
tablish a trust fund or other funding mecha-13
nism to provide financial assurances to ensure 14
the continuation of long-term treatment or 15
other management to achieve water quality 16
standards and for other long-term, post-mining 17
maintenance or monitoring requirements. 18
(B) A
MOUNT.—The amount of funding 19
shall be adequate to provide for construction, 20
long-term operation, maintenance, or replace-21
ment of any treatment facilities and infrastruc-22
ture, for as long as the treatment and facilities 23
are needed after mine closure. 24
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•S 859 IS
(C) LIABILITY.—Nothing in this para-1
graph allows any person to transfer any liability 2
arising from mineral activities to any other per-3
son. 4
(j) R
EPORT.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 6
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in 7
consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and 8
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 9
Agency, shall conduct a review and submit to the 10
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 11
Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of 12
the House of Representatives a report regarding the 13
sufficiency of financial assurances for locatable min-14
erals activities (including exploration and mining) on 15
Federal land. 16
(2) T
OPICS.—The report shall address— 17
(A) methods for establishing financial as-18
surances levels; 19
(B) the type, level, and adequacy of finan-20
cial assurances required for exploration activi-21
ties; 22
(C) for each mine on Federal land— 23
(i) the dates of approval of any plan 24
of operation or mining permit; 25
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•S 859 IS
(ii) the acreage involved; 1
(iii) the expected life of the mine; 2
(iv) the type, level, and adequacy of fi-3
nancial assurance; and 4
(v) whether the mine is expected to 5
require long-term water treatment or 6
maintenance after mine closure; 7
(D) the effectiveness of various types of fi-8
nancial assurances; and 9
(E) the availability of and costs associated 10
with various types of financial assurances. 11
(3) R
ECOMMENDATIONS .—The report shall in-12
clude any recommendations for modifications to 13
Federal law or applicable regulations to improve the 14
effectiveness of financial assurances for locatable 15
mineral activities described in paragraph (1). 16
SEC. 305. TRANSFER, ASSIGNMENT, OR SALE OF RIGHT. 17
The Secretary concerned shall approve the transfer, 18
assignment, or sale of rights of an exploration or mining 19
permit only if the successor in interest agrees in writing 20
to assume the liability and reclamation responsibilities (in-21
cluding the financial assurance requirements under section 22
304 (including applicable regulations)) established by the 23
permit under this Act, without affecting the liability of the 24
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•S 859 IS
transferor under any other law or exploration or mining 1
permit. 2
SEC. 306. OPERATION AND RECLAMATION. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The operator shall restore land 4
and water subject to mineral activities carried out under 5
a permit issued under this title to a condition capable of 6
supporting— 7
(1) the uses that the land and water was capa-8
ble of supporting before surface disturbance by the 9
operator; or 10
(2) other beneficial uses that conform to appli-11
cable land use plans (including, if appropriate, the 12
generation of renewable energy), as determined by 13
the Secretary concerned. 14
(b) T
IMING.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Reclamation activities shall 16
be carried out as contemporaneously as practicable 17
with the conduct of mineral activities. 18
(2) T
EMPORARY CESSATION .—If mineral activi-19
ties are ceased for a period other than a temporary 20
cessation as approved by the Secretary concerned, 21
reclamation activities shall begin immediately. 22
(c) A
DMINISTRATION OF LAND.—Notwithstanding 23
section 302(b) of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-24
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1732(b)), the first section 25
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•S 859 IS
of the Act of June 4, 1897 (commonly known as the ‘‘Or-1
ganic Act of 1897’’) (16 U.S.C. 478), or the Forest and 2
Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 3
(16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.), and in accordance with this title 4
and applicable law, unless expressly stated otherwise in 5
this Act, the Secretary concerned— 6
(1) shall ensure that mineral activities on any 7
Federal land that is subject to a mining claim, mill-8
site claim, or tunnel site claim are carefully con-9
trolled to prevent undue degradation of public land 10
and resources; and 11
(2) shall not grant permission to engage in min-12
eral activities if the Secretary concerned, after con-13
sidering the evidence, makes a determination that 14
undue degradation would result from those activi-15
ties. 16
(d) O
PERATION AND RECLAMATIONSTANDARDS.— 17
The Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture shall joint-18
ly promulgate regulations that carry out this Act. 19
(e) R
ELATIONSHIP TOOTHERLAWS.—The require-20
ments of this Act shall be in addition to any requirements 21
applicable to mineral activities under— 22
(1) the Federal Land Policy and Management 23
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); 24
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•S 859 IS
(2) the National Forest Management Act of 1
1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a et seq.); and 2
(3) the Act of June 4, 1897 (commonly known 3
as the ‘‘Organic Act of 1897’’) (16 U.S.C. 473–482, 4
551). 5
SEC. 307. LAND OPEN TO LOCATION. 6
Section 202(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Man-7
agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712(e)) is amended— 8
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘removed 9
from or restored to the operation of the Mining Law 10
of 1872, as amended (R.S. 2318–2352; 30 U.S.C. 11
21 et seq.) or’’; and 12
(2) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(4) R
EVIEW OF LAND.— 14
‘‘(A) D
EFINITION OF NATIONAL CON -15
SERVATION SYSTEM UNIT .—In this paragraph, 16
the term ‘National Conservation System unit’ 17
means— 18
‘‘(i) any unit of— 19
‘‘(I) the National Park System; 20
‘‘(II) the National Wildlife Ref-21
uge System; or 22
‘‘(III) the National Wild and 23
Scenic Rivers System; 24
‘‘(ii) a National Monument; or 25
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•S 859 IS
‘‘(iii) a National Conservation Area. 1
‘‘(B) R
EVIEW.—Not later than 3 years 2
after the date of enactment of this paragraph, 3
each Secretary concerned, acting through the 4
local Federal land manager, shall, consistent 5
with the respective jurisdiction of each Sec-6
retary concerned, undertake and complete a re-7
view of— 8
‘‘(i) public land designated as a wil-9
derness study area or National Forest Sys-10
tem land identified as suitable for wilder-11
ness designation; 12
‘‘(ii) areas of critical environmental 13
concern; 14
‘‘(iii) Federal land in which mineral 15
activities pose a reasonable likelihood of 16
substantial adverse impacts on National 17
Conservation system units; 18
‘‘(iv)(I) areas designated for inclusion 19
in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers 20
System pursuant to the Wild and Scenic 21
Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1271 et seq.); 22
‘‘(II) areas designated for potential 23
addition to the System pursuant to section 24
5(a) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1276(a)); and 25
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•S 859 IS
‘‘(III) areas determined to be eligible 1
for inclusion in the System pursuant to 2
section 5(d) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 3
1276(d)); and 4
‘‘(v)(I) inventoried roadless areas (as 5
defined in section 294.11 of title 36, Code 6
of Federal Regulations (or successor regu-7
lations)); 8
‘‘(II) Idaho Roadless Areas (as de-9
fined in section 294.21 of title 36, Code of 10
Federal Regulations (or successor regula-11
tions)); and 12
‘‘(III) Colorado Roadless Areas (as 13
defined in section 294.41 of title 36, Code 14
of Federal Regulations (or successor regu-15
lations)). 16
‘‘(5) W
ITHDRAWALS OF LAND .— 17
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subsequent to review 18
in accordance with paragraph (4)(B), in addi-19
tion to withdrawals made pursuant to section 20
204 and subject to valid existing rights, tracts 21
of Federal land may, pursuant to this para-22
graph, be removed from operation of sections 23
2318 through 2352 of the Revised Statutes 24
(commonly known and referred to in this sub-25
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•S 859 IS
section as the ‘Mining Law of 1872’) (30 1
U.S.C. 21 et seq.) if the Secretary, based on 2
the analysis of the local Federal land manager, 3
and in the case of National Forest System land, 4
on the recommendation of the Secretary of Ag-5
riculture based on the analysis of the local Fed-6
eral land manager, determines that the action is 7
appropriate after application of the criteria es-8
tablished under subsection (c). 9
‘‘(B) R
EVISION OF LAND USE PLANS .— 10
The Secretary concerned, acting through the 11
local Federal land manager, shall revise or 12
amend the applicable land use plan, as appro-13
priate, to provide for removal of land, subject to 14
valid existing rights, from operation of the Min-15
ing Law of 1872 on a determination by the Sec-16
retary under subparagraph (A) that the land 17
should be removed from operation of that Act. 18
‘‘(C) S
EGREGATION FROM GENERAL MIN -19
ING LAWS PENDING COMPLETION .—On a deter-20
mination by the Secretary that the land should 21
be removed from operation of the Mining Law 22
of 1872, the land shall be immediately seg-23
regated from operation of the Mining Law of 24
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1872 until the plan amendment or revision is 1
completed. 2
‘‘(D) C
OMPLETION DEADLINE .—Any 3
amendment or revision of a land use plan shall 4
be completed not later than 1 year after the 5
date of the determination of the Secretary 6
under subparagraph (A). 7
‘‘(6) P
ETITION FOR REVIEW.—The Governor of 8
a State, the head of an Indian tribe, or an appro-9
priate local government official may petition— 10
‘‘(A) the Secretary concerned to direct the 11
local Federal land manager to undertake a re-12
view under paragraph (4); and 13
‘‘(B) the Secretary to determine whether 14
land within the State should be removed from 15
operation of the Mining Law of 1872, subject 16
to valid existing rights, pursuant to paragraph 17
(5).’’. 18
SEC. 308. STATE LAW. 19
Any reclamation, environmental, public health protec-20
tion, bonding, or inspection standard or requirement in 21
State law (including regulations) that meets or exceeds the 22
requirements of this Act shall not be considered to be in-23
consistent with this Act. 24
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SEC. 309. INSPECTION AND MONITORING. 1
(a) I
NSPECTIONS.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned 3
shall make inspections of mineral activities to ensure 4
compliance with this Act. 5
(2) T
IMING.—The Secretary concerned shall es-6
tablish the frequency of inspections for mineral ac-7
tivities conducted under a permit issued under this 8
Act, with the Secretary concerned requiring not less 9
than 1 complete inspection per calendar quarter. 10
(3) A
NNUAL INSPECTIONS.—After revegetation 11
has been established in accordance with a reclama-12
tion plan, the Secretary concerned shall conduct not 13
less than 2 complete inspections per year. 14
(4) S
EASONAL ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary con-15
cerned shall have the discretion to modify the in-16
spection frequency for mineral activities that are 17
conducted on a seasonal basis, except that the Sec-18
retary concerned shall require not less than 2 com-19
plete inspections per calendar year. 20
(5) F
INANCIAL ASSURANCE .—Inspections shall 21
continue under this subsection until the final release 22
of financial assurance. 23
(b) M
ONITORING.—The Secretary concerned shall re-24
quire all operators— 25
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(1) to develop and maintain a monitoring and 1
evaluation system to identify compliance with all re-2
quirements of a permit approved under this Act; and 3
(2) to submit such reports as may be required 4
by the Secretary concerned. 5
SEC. 310. TRIBAL CONSULTATION. 6
The Secretary concerned shall conduct active, mean-7
ingful, and timely consultation with all applicable Indian 8
Tribes in accordance with the procedures established by 9
the Presidential Memorandum entitled ‘‘Uniform Stand-10
ards for Tribal Consultation’’ (87 Fed. Reg. 74479 (De-11
cember 5, 2022)) before undertaking any mineral activi-12
ties that may have a direct, indirect, or cumulative impact 13
on— 14
(1) the land (including allotted, ceded, or tradi-15
tional land) or interests of an Indian Tribe or a 16
member of an Indian Tribe; 17
(2) Tribal land, cultural practices, resources, or 18
access to traditional areas of cultural or religious 19
importance; 20
(3) any portion of Federal land that shares a 21
border with Indian country; 22
(4) the protected rights of an Indian Tribe, re-23
gardless of whether the protected rights are enumer-24
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ated in a treaty, including water, hunting, gathering, 1
and fishing rights; 2
(5) the ability of an Indian Tribe to govern or 3
provide services to members of the Indian Tribe; 4
(6) the relationship between the Federal Gov-5
ernment and an Indian Tribe; or 6
(7) the trust responsibility of the Federal Gov-7
ernment to an Indian Tribe. 8
TITLE IV—HARDROCK 9
MINERALS RECLAMATION FUND 10
SEC. 401. ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND. 11
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 12
Treasury of the United States a separate account, to be 13
known as the ‘‘Hardrock Minerals Reclamation Fund’’, 14
consisting of— 15
(1) any amounts authorized to be appropriated 16
to the Fund under subsection (e); 17
(2) any amounts received by the United States 18
under section 101; 19
(3) any amounts collected under section 102 20
(subject to the requirements of subsection (c)(1) of 21
that subsection); 22
(4) any amounts donated to the Fund by per-23
sons, corporations, associations, and foundations; 24
(5) any amounts collected under section 201; 25
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(6) any amounts collected under section 303(e); 1
(7) any amounts collected under section 402; 2
(8) any amounts collected under sections 203 3
and 502; and 4
(9) any income on investments under subsection 5
(b). 6
(b) I
NVESTMENT.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall notify 8
the Secretary of the Treasury of any portion of the 9
Fund that the Secretary determines is not required 10
to meet current withdrawals. 11
(2) E
LIGIBLE INVESTMENTS.—The Secretary of 12
the Treasury shall invest portions of the Fund iden-13
tified under paragraph (1) in public debt securities 14
with maturities suitable for the needs of the Fund. 15
(3) I
NTEREST.—Investments in public debt se-16
curities shall bear interest at rates determined by 17
the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into consider-18
ation current market yields on outstanding market-19
place obligations of the United States of comparable 20
maturity. 21
(c) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Fund shall be adminis-22
tered by the Secretary, acting through the Director of the 23
Bureau of Land Management. 24
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(d) USE OF THEFUND.—Without fiscal year limita-1
tion and without further appropriation, the Secretary shall 2
use amounts in the Fund to carry out section 40704 of 3
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (30 U.S.C. 4
1245). 5
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 6
are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund such sums 7
as are necessary for fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year 8
thereafter. 9
SEC. 402. ABANDONED MINE LAND RECLAMATION FEE. 10
(a) I
MPOSITION OF FEE.—Each operator of a 11
hardrock minerals mining operation shall pay to the Sec-12
retary, for deposit in the Fund, a reclamation fee in an 13
amount established by the Secretary by regulation of not 14
less than 1 percent, and not more than 3 percent, of the 15
value of the production from the hardrock minerals mining 16
operation for each calendar year. 17
(b) V
ALUE OFPRODUCTION.—For purposes of this 18
section, the Secretary shall determine the value of produc-19
tion in the same manner as provided under section 201(a). 20
(c) P
AYMENTDEADLINE.—The reclamation fee shall 21
be paid not later than 60 days after the end of each cal-22
endar year beginning with the first calendar year occur-23
ring after the date of enactment of this Act. 24
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(d) DEPOSIT OFREVENUES.—Amounts received by 1
the Secretary under subsection (a) shall be deposited into 2
the Fund. 3
(e) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section requires a re-4
duction in, or otherwise affects, any similar fee required 5
under any law (including regulations) of any State. 6
TITLE V—TRANSITION RULES, 7
ADMINISTRATIVE PROVI-8
SIONS, AND MISCELLANEOUS 9
PROVISIONS 10
SEC. 501. TRANSITION RULES. 11
(a) A
PPLICABILITY.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-13
graph (2), section 201(b), and section 303(f), the re-14
quirements of this Act apply to any mining claim, 15
millsite, or tunnel site located under the general 16
mining laws, before, on, or after the date of enact-17
ment of this Act. 18
(2) P
REEXISTING CLAIM.—If a plan of oper-19
ations is approved or a notice of operations is filed 20
for mineral activities on any claim or site referred to 21
in paragraph (1) before the date of enactment of 22
this Act— 23
(A) during the 10-year period beginning on 24
the date of enactment of this Act— 25
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(i) mineral activities at the claim or 1
site shall be subject to the plan of oper-2
ations or notice of operations; and 3
(ii) if the Secretary concerned deter-4
mines that any modifications to the plan of 5
operations are minor, modification may be 6
made in accordance with the laws applica-7
ble before the date of enactment of this 8
Act; and 9
(B) the operator shall bring the mineral 10
activities into compliance with this Act (includ-11
ing implementing regulations) by the end of the 12
10-year period beginning on the date of enact-13
ment of this Act. 14
(3) F
EES.—Except as provided in sections 15
201(b) and 303(f), all fees required to be paid under 16
this Act shall apply beginning on the date of enact-17
ment of this Act to— 18
(A) any mining claim, millsite, or tunnel 19
site located under the general mining laws (in-20
cluding production from the claim or site) be-21
fore, on, or after the date of enactment of this 22
Act; 23
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(B) all land covered by a plan of oper-1
ations or a notice of operations, exploration per-2
mit, or mining permit; and 3
(C) with respect to the fee established by 4
section 402, any production on or after the date 5
of enactment of this Act from any hardrock 6
minerals mining operation. 7
(b) A
PPLICATION OFACT TOBENEFICIATION AND 8
P
ROCESSING OFNON-FEDERALMINERALS ONFEDERAL 9
L
AND.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—This Act (including the sur-11
face management and operation requirements of title 12
III) shall apply in the same manner and to the same 13
extent to mining claims, millsites, and tunnel sites 14
used for beneficiation or processing activities for any 15
mineral without regard to whether the legal and ben-16
eficial title to the mineral is held by the United 17
States. 18
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—This subsection applies 19
only to minerals that— 20
(A) are locatable minerals; or 21
(B) would be locatable minerals if the legal 22
and beneficial title to the minerals were held by 23
the United States. 24
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SEC. 502. ENFORCEMENT. 1
(a) O
RDERS.— 2
(1) N
OTICE OF VIOLATION.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If the Secretary con-4
cerned determines that any person is in viola-5
tion of any surface management or operation 6
requirement under title III or any regulation 7
promulgated to carry out such a requirement or 8
any permit condition required pursuant to title 9
III, the Secretary concerned shall provide to the 10
person a notice that describes the violation and 11
any necessary corrective actions. 12
(B) A
BATEMENT PERIOD.— 13
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to clause 14
(ii), a person that receives notice under 15
subparagraph (A) shall have not more than 16
90 days after the date of receipt of the no-17
tice to abate the violation. 18
(ii) E
XTENSION.—The Secretary con-19
cerned may extend the period described in 20
clause (i) if the person shows good cause 21
for the extension, as determined by the 22
Secretary concerned. 23
(2) C
ESSATION ORDER.— 24
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-25
cerned shall immediately order a cessation of 26
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mineral activities if the Secretary concerned de-1
termines that any condition or practice exists, 2
or any person is in violation of any requirement 3
of a permit approved, or notice of operations 4
submitted, under this Act, that is causing, or 5
can reasonably be expected to cause— 6
(i) an imminent danger to the health 7
or safety of the public; or 8
(ii) significant, imminent harm to 9
land, air, water, or fish or wildlife re-10
sources. 11
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 12
(i) I
N GENERAL.—A cessation order 13
issued under subparagraph (A) shall re-14
main in effect until the Secretary con-15
cerned— 16
(I) determines that the condition, 17
practice, or violation has been abated; 18
or 19
(II) modifies, vacates, or termi-20
nates the cessation order. 21
(ii) A
BATEMENT.—In any cessation 22
order issued under subparagraph (A), the 23
Secretary concerned shall— 24
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(I) identify the steps necessary to 1
abate the violation in the most expedi-2
tious manner practicable; and 3
(II) require appropriate financial 4
assurances to ensure that the abate-5
ment obligations are met. 6
(C) E
NFORCEMENT.— 7
(i) I
N GENERAL.—If the required 8
abatement has not been completed by the 9
date that is 30 days after the date on 10
which an order is issued under subpara-11
graph (A), the Secretary concerned shall 12
bring against the person failing to com-13
plete the abatement an enforcement action 14
that is most likely to bring about abate-15
ment in the most expeditious manner prac-16
ticable, including seeking appropriate in-17
junctive relief to bring about abatement. 18
(ii) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this sub-19
paragraph precludes the Secretary con-20
cerned from taking alternative enforcement 21
action before the date described in clause 22
(i). 23
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(3) MODIFICATIONS.—The Secretary concerned 1
may modify, vacate, or terminate any notice or order 2
issued under paragraph (1) or (2). 3
(4) F
ORFEITURE.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a person fails to 5
abate a violation or defaults on the terms of the 6
permit, the Secretary concerned shall forfeit the 7
financial assurance for the permit as necessary 8
to ensure abatement and reclamation under this 9
Act. 10
(B) A
LTERNATIVES.—The Secretary con-11
cerned may prescribe conditions under which a 12
surety may perform reclamation in accordance 13
with the approved permit and applicable law in-14
stead of forfeiture. 15
(C) L
IABILITY.—In the event of forfeiture, 16
the claim holder or operator, or a subsidiary, 17
parent company, corporation, or partner of the 18
claim holder, or operator shall be jointly and 19
severally liable for any remaining reclamation 20
obligations under this Act. 21
(b) C
IVILPENALTIES.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 23
any person that violates any surface management or 24
operation requirement under title III, any regulation 25
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promulgated to carry out such a requirement, or any 1
permit condition required pursuant to title III may 2
be assessed a civil penalty by the Secretary con-3
cerned. 4
(2) C
ESSATION ORDER.—If the violation leads 5
to the issuance of a cessation order under subsection 6
(a)(2), the Secretary concerned shall assess the civil 7
penalty. 8
(3) M
AXIMUM AMOUNT .—The penalty shall not 9
exceed $5,000 for each violation. 10
(4) C
ONTINUING VIOLATIONS .—Each day of 11
continuing violation may be considered a separate 12
violation for purposes of penalty assessments. 13
(5) F
ACTORS AFFECTING AMOUNT .—In deter-14
mining the amount of the penalty for a violation by 15
a person, the Secretary concerned shall consider— 16
(A) the history of the person of previous 17
violations; 18
(B) the seriousness of the violation, includ-19
ing any irreparable harm to the environment 20
and any hazard to the health or safety of the 21
public; 22
(C) whether the person was negligent; and 23
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(D) the demonstrated good faith of the 1
person charged in attempting to achieve rapid 2
compliance after notification of the violation. 3
(6) C
ORPORATE LIABILITY.—If a corporate per-4
mittee is in violation of a requirement of any surface 5
management or operations requirement under title 6
III of this Act, any regulation promulgated to carry 7
out such a requirement, or any permit condition re-8
quired pursuant to title III, or fails or refuses to 9
comply with a notice or an order issued under sub-10
section (a), any director, officer, or agent of the cor-11
poration who willfully and knowingly authorized, or-12
dered, or carried out the violation, failure, or refusal 13
shall be subject to civil penalties, fines, and impris-14
onment that may be imposed under a person under 15
this subsection, subsection (d) or (e). 16
(c) A
DMINISTRATIVEREVIEW.— 17
(1) C
OMPLIANCE ORDER.—Any person issued a 18
notice of violation or a cessation order under sub-19
section (a) may apply to the Secretary concerned for 20
review of the notice or order by the date that is not 21
later than 30 days after receipt of the notice or 22
order. 23
(2) C
IVIL PENALTY.—Any person who is sub-24
ject to a civil penalty assessed by the Secretary con-25
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cerned under this section may apply to the Secretary 1
concerned for review of the penalty by the date that 2
is not later than 30 days after the date on which the 3
person receives notice of the penalty. 4
(3) H
EARING.—The Secretary concerned shall 5
provide an opportunity for a hearing on the record 6
subject to section 554 of title 5, United States Code, 7
at the request of any person that is— 8
(A) issued a notice of violation under sub-9
section (a)(1); 10
(B) issued a cessation order under sub-11
section (a)(2); or 12
(C) subject to civil penalties under sub-13
section (b). 14
(d) C
IVILACTION.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned 16
may submit to the Attorney General a request to 17
bring a civil action for relief, including a permanent 18
or temporary injunction or restraining order and the 19
imposition of civil penalties, in any appropriate dis-20
trict court of the United States, if a person— 21
(A) violates, fails, or refuses to comply 22
with any notice or order issued by the Secretary 23
concerned under subsection (a); or 24
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(B) interferes with, hinders, or delays the 1
Secretary concerned in carrying out an inspec-2
tion under section 309. 3
(2) R
ELIEF.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The court hearing a 5
civil action brought under paragraph (1) shall 6
have the jurisdiction to provide any relief that 7
the court determines to be appropriate. 8
(B) R
EVIEW.—Any relief granted by the 9
court to enforce an order under paragraph (1) 10
shall continue in effect until the date on which 11
all proceedings for review of the order are com-12
pleted or terminated unless the court granting 13
the relief sets the relief aside. 14
(e) C
RIMINALPENALTIES.— 15
(1) F
ALSE STATEMENTS; TAMPERING.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A person shall, on con-17
viction, be punished by a fine of not more than 18
$25,000, imprisonment for not more than 1 19
year, or fine and imprisonment if the person 20
willfully and knowingly— 21
(i) makes any false material state-22
ment, representation, or certification in, 23
omits or conceals material information 24
from, or unlawfully alters, any mining 25
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claim, notice of location, application, 1
record, report, plan, or other document 2
filed or required to be maintained under 3
this Act; or 4
(ii) falsifies, tampers with, renders in-5
accurate, or fails to install any monitoring 6
device or method required to be maintained 7
under this Act. 8
(B) S
ECOND VIOLATION.—If a conviction 9
of a person under subparagraph (A) is for a 10
violation committed after a first conviction of 11
the person under that subparagraph, punish-12
ment shall be by a fine of not more than 13
$50,000, imprisonment of not more than 2 14
years, or fine and imprisonment. 15
(2) K
NOWING VIOLATIONS.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A person shall, on con-17
viction, be punished by a fine of not more than 18
$25,000, imprisonment for not more than 1 19
year, or both if the person willfully and know-20
ingly— 21
(i) engages in mineral activities with-22
out a permit if required under section 302 23
or 303; or 24
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(ii) violates any surface management 1
or operation requirement under title III 2
(including any regulation promulgated to 3
carry out the requirement) or any require-4
ment, condition, or limitation of a permit 5
issued under this Act. 6
(B) S
ECOND VIOLATION.—If a conviction 7
of a person under subparagraph (A) is for a 8
violation committed after the first conviction of 9
the person under that subparagraph, punish-10
ment shall be a fine of not more than $50,000, 11
imprisonment of not more than 2 years, or 12
both. 13
(f) D
ELEGATION.—Notwithstanding any other provi-14
sion of law, the Secretary may use personnel of the Office 15
of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement or the 16
Bureau of Land Management to ensure compliance with 17
this Act. 18
SEC. 503. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 19
(a) R
ULEMAKING.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The following shall be sub-21
ject to judicial review only in the United States 22
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia: 23
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(A) Any final action by the Secretary con-1
cerned in promulgating regulations to carry out 2
this Act. 3
(B) Any other final actions considered to 4
be a rulemaking to carry out this Act. 5
(2) D
EADLINE.—A petition for review of any 6
action subject to judicial review under paragraph (1) 7
shall be filed not later than 60 days after the date 8
of the action unless the petition is based solely on 9
grounds arising after the 60-day period. 10
(b) F
INALAGENCYACTION.—Except as provided in 11
subsection (a), final agency action under this Act shall be 12
subject to judicial review in the district courts of the 13
United States in accordance with section 1391 of title 28, 14
United States Code. 15
SEC. 504. UNCOMMON VARIETIES. 16
(a) D
ETERMINATIONS.—Section 3 of the Act of July 17
23, 1955 (30 U.S.C. 611), is amended— 18
(1) by striking ‘‘S
EC. 3. No deposit’’ and insert-19
ing the following: 20
‘‘SEC. 3. COMMON VARIETIES OF MINERAL MATERIALS. 21
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—No deposit’’; 22
(2) in the first sentence— 23
(A) by inserting ‘‘mineral materials, in-24
cluding’’ after ‘‘varieties of’’; and 25
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(B) by striking ‘‘or cinders’’ and inserting 1
‘‘cinders, and clay’’; 2
(3) by striking ‘‘‘Common varieties’ as used in 3
this Act does not’’ and inserting the following: 4
‘‘(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 5
‘‘(1) C
OMMON VARIETIES.—The term ‘common 6
varieties’ does not’’; 7
(4) by striking ‘‘‘Petrified wood’ as used in this 8
Act means’’ and inserting the following: 9
‘‘(2) P
ETRIFIED WOOD.—The term ‘petrified 10
wood’ means’’; and 11
(5) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-12
lowing: 13
‘‘(b) D
ISPOSAL OFMINERALMATERIALS.— 14
‘‘(1) D
EFINITION OF VALID EXISTING 15
RIGHTS.—In this subsection, the term ‘valid existing 16
rights’ means rights to a mining claim located for 17
any mineral material that— 18
‘‘(A) had and still has some property giv-19
ing mineral material the distinct and special 20
value referred to in this section or, as the case 21
may be, met the definition of block pumice re-22
ferred to in subsection (c)(1); 23
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‘‘(B) was properly located and maintained 1
under the general mining laws prior to the date 2
of enactment of this subsection; 3
‘‘(C) was supported by a discovery of a val-4
uable mineral deposit within the meaning of the 5
general mining laws as in effect immediately 6
prior to the date of enactment of this sub-7
section; and 8
‘‘(D) continues to be valid under this Act. 9
‘‘(2) D
ISPOSAL.—Subject to valid existing 10
rights, effective beginning on the date of enactment 11
of this subsection, notwithstanding the references to 12
the term common varieties in this section and to the 13
exception to the term relating to a deposit of mate-14
rials with some property giving it distinct and spe-15
cial value, all deposits of mineral materials referred 16
to in this section (including the block pumice re-17
ferred to in subsection (c)(1)) shall be subject to dis-18
posal only under the terms and conditions of the Act 19
of July 31, 1947 (commonly known as the ‘Materials 20
Act of 1947’) (30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).’’. 21
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—The first section of 22
the Act of July 31, 1947 (commonly known as the ‘‘Mate-23
rials Act of 1947’’) (30 U.S.C. 601), is amended in the 24
first sentence by striking ‘‘common varieties of’’. 25
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SEC. 505. REVIEW OF URANIUM DEVELOPMENT ON FED-1
ERAL LAND. 2
(a) D
EFINITION OFFEDERALLAND.—In this sec-3
tion, the term ‘‘Federal land’’ means land administered 4
by the Secretary or the Secretary of Agriculture. 5
(b) R
EVIEW.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 7
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in 8
consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall 9
enter into an arrangement under which the National 10
Academy of Sciences shall conduct a study of ura-11
nium development on Federal land. 12
(2) M
ATTERS TO BE ADDRESSED .—The study 13
shall describe and analyze— 14
(A) the laws applicable to the development 15
of uranium on Federal land and the agencies 16
responsible for administering and enforcing 17
those laws; 18
(B) the requirements relating to the devel-19
opment of uranium under sections 2318 20
through 2352 of the Revised Statutes (com-21
monly known and referred to in this section as 22
the ‘‘Mining Law of 1872’’) (30 U.S.C. 21 et 23
seq.); 24
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(C) the requirements relating to the devel-1
opment of uranium under the Atomic Energy 2
Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.); 3
(D) the uranium leasing program adminis-4
tered by the Department of Energy under that 5
Act; 6
(E) the requirements relating to the ap-7
proval of uranium in-situ leasing recovery and 8
the licensing process required by the Nuclear 9
Regulatory Commission; 10
(F) the efficacy of bonds or other forms of 11
financial surety in ensuring the reclamation of 12
Federal land and associated waters impacted by 13
the development of uranium; and 14
(G) the efficacy of Federal law in pro-15
tecting public health and safety and the envi-16
ronment from impacts due to the development 17
of uranium on Federal land. 18
(c) R
ECOMMENDATIONS .—The study shall— 19
(1) analyze the effectiveness of current Federal 20
requirements applicable to the exploration, develop-21
ment, and production of uranium on Federal land in 22
allowing for the production of uranium while ensur-23
ing protection of public health and safety and the 24
environment; and 25
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(2) make recommendations as to changes, if 1
any, to Federal law (including regulations) and 2
agency procedures relating to the development of 3
uranium resources on Federal land to allow for the 4
production of uranium while ensuring protection of 5
public health and safety and the environment, in-6
cluding specific recommendations on whether— 7
(A) future development of uranium on 8
Federal land should be— 9
(i) removed from operation of the 10
Mining Law of 1872; and 11
(ii) subject to leasing; 12
(B) additional requirements (including ad-13
ditional financial assurances or fees) should be 14
applicable to ensure reclamation of uranium 15
mine sites, including abandoned uranium mine 16
sites; and 17
(C) whether additional land should be 18
withdrawn from location and entry of uranium 19
mining claims by the Secretary. 20
(d) C
OMPLETION OF STUDY.—The National Acad-21
emy of Sciences shall— 22
(1) not later than 18 months after the date of 23
enactment of this Act, submit the findings and rec-24
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ommendations of the study to the Secretary and the 1
Secretary of Agriculture; and 2
(2) on completion of the study, make the results 3
of the study available to the public. 4
(e) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after receiving 5
the results of the study, the Secretary, in consultation with 6
the Secretary of Agriculture, shall submit to the Com-7
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 8
and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 9
of Representatives a report on— 10
(1) the findings and recommendations of the 11
study; 12
(2) the agreement or disagreement of the Secre-13
taries with each of the findings and recommenda-14
tions of the study; and 15
(3)(A) a plan and timeframe for implementing 16
those recommendations of the study that do not re-17
quire legislation; or 18
(B) if the Secretary declines to implement a 19
recommendation, the justification for declining to 20
implement the recommendation. 21
SEC. 506. EFFECT. 22
(a) S
PECIALAPPLICATION OF GENERALMINING 23
L
AWS.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act repeals 1
or modifies any Federal law (including regulations), 2
order, or land use plan in effect before the date of 3
enactment of this Act that prohibits or restricts the 4
application of the general mining laws, including 5
laws that provide for special management criteria for 6
operations under the general mining laws as in ef-7
fect before the date of enactment of this Act, and 8
laws that provide protections of natural and cultural 9
resources and the environment that are equal to or 10
greater than the protections required under this Act. 11
(2) E
XISTING LAWS.—Any law described in 12
paragraph (1) shall remain in force and effect with 13
respect to claims and sites located or proposed to be 14
located under this Act. 15
(3) M
INERAL INVESTIGATIONS .—Nothing in 16
this Act applies to or limits mineral investigations, 17
studies, or other mineral activities conducted by any 18
Federal or State agency acting in a governmental 19
capacity under other authorities. 20
(b) E
NVIRONMENTAL LAWS.—Nothing in this Act af-21
fects or limits any assessment, investigation, evaluation, 22
or listing under— 23
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(1) the Comprehensive Environmental Re-1
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 2
U.S.C. 9601 et seq.); or 3
(2) the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 4
3251 et seq.). 5
(c) E
FFECT ONGENERALMININGLAWS.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—This Act supersedes the gen-7
eral mining laws, except for the provisions of the 8
general mining laws relating to the location of min-9
ing claims that are not expressly modified by this 10
Act. 11
(2) L
IMITATION.—Nothing in this Act super-12
sedes, modifies, amends, or repeals any provision of 13
Federal law not expressly superseded, modified, 14
amended, or repealed by this Act, other than the 15
general mining laws. 16
Æ 
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