I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1063 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an assessment of the 

capability of the Nation to meet our current and future demands for 

the minerals critical to United States manufacturing and agricultural 

competitiveness and economic and national security in a time of expanding resource nationalism, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2013 

Mr. LAMBORN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an assessment of the capability of the Nation to meet our current 

and future demands for the minerals critical to United 

States manufacturing and agricultural competitiveness 

and economic and national security in a time of expanding resource nationalism, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Strategic and 

5 Critical Minerals Policy Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the availability of minerals and metals is es4 sential for economic growth, national security, tech5 nological innovation, and the manufacturing and ag6 ricultural supply chain; 

7 (2) the exploration, production, processing, use, 

8 and recycling of minerals contribute significantly to 

9 the economic well-being, security, and general wel10 fare of the Nation; 

11 (3) the industrialization of China and India has 

12 driven demand for nonfuel mineral commodities, 

13 sparking a period of resource nationalism exempli14 fied by China’s reduction and stoppage of exports of 

15 rare-earth mineral elements necessary for tele16 communications, military technologies, medical de17 vices, agricultural production, and renewable energy 

18 technologies; 

19 (4) the United States has vast mineral re20 sources but is becoming increasingly dependent upon 

21 foreign sources; 

22 (5) 25 years ago the United States was depend23 ent on foreign sources for 30 nonfuel mineral mate24 rials, 6 of which were entirely imported to meet the 

25 Nation’s requirements and another 16 of which were 


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1 imported to meet more than 60 percent of the Na2 tion’s needs; 

3 (6) by 2010, United States import dependence 

4 for nonfuel mineral materials more than doubled 

5 from 30 to 67 commodities, 18 commodities were 

6 imported entirely to meet the Nation’s requirements, 

7 and another 25 commodities required imports of 

8 more than 50 percent; 

9 (7) the United States lacks a coherent national 

10 policy to assure the availability of minerals essential 

11 to manufacturing, national economic well-being and 

12 security, agricultural production, and global eco13 nomic competitiveness; and 

14 (8) the Nation’s ability to compete and innovate 

15 requires proper planning and preparation today to 

16 meet tomorrow’s mineral needs. 

17 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL DECLARATION OF POLICY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the continuing policy of the 

19 United States to promote an adequate and stable supply 

20 of minerals to maintain our Nation’s economic well-being, 

21 security, and manufacturing, industrial, energy, agricul22 tural, and technological capabilities. 

23 (b) POLICY GOALS.—Implementation of the policy set 

24 forth in subsection (a) requires that the Federal GovernVerDate Mar 14 2013 16:03 Mar 14, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1063.IH H1063

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1 ment coordinate the Federal departments and agencies re2 sponsible for ensuring that supply, to— 

3 (1) facilitate the availability, development, and 

4 production of domestic mineral resources to meet 

5 national needs, including the demands of the Na6 tion’s manufacturing and agricultural industries; 

7 (2) promote and encourage the development of 

8 economically and environmentally sound, safe, and 

9 stable domestic mining, minerals, metals, processing, 

10 and minerals recycling industries; 

11 (3) establish an assessment capability for iden12 tifying the mineral demands, supply, and needs of 

13 our Nation; and 

14 (4) minimize duplication, needless paperwork, 

15 and delays in the administration of Federal and 

16 State laws and regulations, and issuance of permits 

17 and authorizations necessary to explore, develop, and 

18 produce minerals and construct and operate mineral19 related facilities. 

20 SEC. 4. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR REPORT ON ACCESS 

21 AND AUTHORIZATIONS FOR MINERAL DEVEL22 OPMENT. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Inte25 rior, through the Bureau of Land Management and the 


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1 United States Geological Survey, and in consultation with 

2 the Secretary of Agriculture (through the Forest Service 

3 Mineral and Geology Management Division), the Secretary 

4 of Defense, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of 

5 other appropriate Federal agencies, shall prepare, submit 

6 to Congress, and make available to the public a report that 

7 includes— 

8 (1) an inventory of the nonfossil-fuel mineral 

9 potential of lands under the jurisdiction of the Bu10 reau of Land Management and the Forest Service 

11 and an identification of all such lands that have 

12 been withdrawn, segregated, or otherwise restricted 

13 from mineral exploration and development; 

14 (2) an assessment of— 

15 (A) the mineral requirements to meet cur16 rent and emerging national security, economic, 

17 industrial manufacturing, technological, agricul18 tural, and social needs; 

19 (B) the Nation’s reliance on foreign 

20 sources to meet those needs; and 

21 (C) the implications of mineral supply 

22 shortages or disruptions; 

23 (3) a detailed description of the time required 

24 to process mineral applications, operating plans, 

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1 tions for mineral-related activities on lands under 

2 the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management 

3 and the Forest Service, and identification of meas4 ures that would streamline the processing of such 

5 applications, such as elimination of overlapping re6 quirements or set deadlines; 

7 (4) an itemized list of all use authorizations re8 ferred to in paragraph (3) for which applications are 

9 pending before the Bureau of Land Management 

10 and the Forest Service, and the length of time each 

11 of those applications has been pending; 

12 (5) an assessment of the impact of litigation on 

13 processing or issuing mineral exploration and mine 

14 permits, identification of the statutes the litigation 

15 was brought under, and the cost to the agency or 

16 the Federal Government, including for payments of 

17 attorney fees; 

18 (6) an update of the 2009 Economic Impact of 

19 the Department of the Interior’s Programs and Ac20 tivities report to include locatable minerals; 

21 (7) an assessment of the Federal workforce 

22 with educational degrees and expertise in economic 

23 geology, geochemistry, mining, industrial minerals, 

24 metallurgy, metallurgical engineering, and mining 

25 engineering, including— 


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1 (A) retirement eligibility and agency plans 

2 for retention, recruitment, and succession plan3 ning; 

4 (B) comparison of the existing Federal sal5 aries and recruitment and retention bonuses 

6 with the salaries, recruitment incentives, and 

7 retention packages normally offered in the min8 eral industry; and 

9 (C) examination of the differences between 

10 Federal and private financial packages for 

11 early-, mid-, and late-career workers; and 

12 (8) an inventory of rare earth element potential 

13 on the Federal lands, and impediments or restric14 tions on the exploration or development of those rare 

15 earth elements, and recommendations to lift the im16 pediments or restrictions while maintaining environ17 mental safeguards. 

18 (b) PROGRESS REPORTS.—Not later than one year 

19 after the date of enactment of this Act, and each year 

20 thereafter for the following two years, the Secretary of the 

21 Interior shall submit to Congress and make available to 

22 the public a report that describes the progress made in 

23 reaching the policy goals described in section 3(b), includ24 ing— 


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1 (1) efforts to increase access to domestic sup2 plies of minerals, and facilitation of their production; 

3 and 

4 (2) implementation of recommendations con5 tained in— 

6 (A) the National Research Council re7 ports— 

8 (i) Minerals, Critical Minerals, and 

9 the U.S. Economy; 

10 (ii) Managing Minerals for a Twenty11 First Century Military; and 

12 (iii) the current workforce study au13 thorized in sections 385 and 1830 of the 

14 Energy Policy Act of 2005 (119 Stat. 744, 

15 1137); 

16 (B) the Department of Energy Critical 

17 Materials Strategy I and II; and 

18 (C) the Department of Defense assessment 

19 and plan for critical rare earth elements in de20 fense applications required under section 843 of 

21 the National Defense Appropriations Act for 

22 Fiscal Year 2011. 

23 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MINERAL ASSESSMENT. 

24 For the first National Mineral Assessment conducted 

25 after the date of enactment of this Act, the United States 


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1 Geological Survey shall include mineral assessments for 

2 those mineral commodities important to the Nation’s en3 ergy infrastructure, manufacturing and agricultural in4 dustries, and to the national defense. Priority should be 

5 given to minerals that are critical based on the impact of 

6 a potential supply restriction and the likelihood of a supply 

7 restriction. 

8 SEC. 6. GLOBAL MINERAL ASSESSMENT. 

9 The United States Geological Survey is directed to 

10 expand the current Global Mineral Assessment to include 

11 mineral assessments for rare earth elements and other 

12 minerals that are critical based on the impact of a poten13 tial supply restriction and the likelihood of a supply re14 striction. Assessments conducted under this section shall 

15 include an analysis, developed with participation by the 

16 National Minerals Information Center and in consultation 

17 with appropriate agencies, of the rare earth elements or 

18 other critical minerals supply chain and associated proc19 esses and products, including mining, processing, recy20 cling, separation, metal production, alloy production, and 

21 manufacturing of products sold to end users. In con22 ducting the assessment, the United States Geological Sur23 vey should coordinate with the heads of foreign geologic 

24 surveys when possible. 


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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act— 

3 (1) INVENTORY.—The term ‘‘inventory’’ means 

4 an accounting of known mineral occurrences and 

5 mineral deposits, including documentation of identi6 fied resources. 

7 (2) MINERAL ASSESSMENT.—The term ‘‘min8 eral assessment’’ means an assessment of undis9 covered mineral resources that includes a qualitative 

10 assessment and a quantitative assessment of such 

11 resources. 

12 (3) QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 

13 ‘‘qualitative assessment’’ means a geologic-based de14 lineation (mapping) of areas permissive for the oc15 currence of undiscovered mineral resources, based on 

16 all available geotechnical data including geology, 

17 geophysics, geochemistry, remote sensing, and min18 eral localities data. 

19 (4) QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 

20 ‘‘quantitative assessment’’ means a probabilistic esti21 mate of the quantity and quality by tonnage and 

22 grade of undiscovered mineral resources in areas de23 lineated as permissive for occurrence in a qualitative 

24 assessment. 


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1 SEC. 8. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER STATUTORY MINING 

2 POLICIES. 

3 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting 

4 any provision of or requirement under the Mining and 

5 Minerals Policy Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 21a). 

Æ 


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