IB 

Union Calendar No. 289 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1063 

[Report No. 113–390] 

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 

APRIL 1, 2014 

Additional sponsors: Mr. COLE, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. COFFMAN, Mr. AMODEI, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. MULLIN, and Mr. 

ROSS

APRIL 1, 2014 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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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. 


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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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the availability of minerals and metals is es9 sential for economic growth, national security, tech10 nological innovation, and the manufacturing and ag11 ricultural supply chain; 

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

13 and recycling of minerals contribute significantly to 

14 the economic well-being, security, and general wel15 fare of the Nation; 

16 (3) the industrialization of China and India has 

17 driven demand for nonfuel mineral commodities, 

18 sparking a period of resource nationalism exempli19 fied by China’s reduction and stoppage of exports of 

20 rare-earth mineral elements necessary for tele21 communications, military technologies, medical de22 vices, agricultural production, and renewable energy 

23 technologies; 


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1 (4) the United States has vast mineral re2 sources but is becoming increasingly dependent upon 

3 foreign sources; 

4 (5) 25 years ago the United States was depend5 ent on foreign sources for 30 nonfuel mineral mate6 rials, 6 of which were entirely imported to meet the 

7 Nation’s requirements and another 16 of which were 

8 imported to meet more than 60 percent of the Na9 tion’s needs; 

10 (6) by 2010, United States import dependence 

11 for nonfuel mineral materials more than doubled 

12 from 30 to 67 commodities, 18 commodities were 

13 imported entirely to meet the Nation’s requirements, 

14 and another 25 commodities required imports of 

15 more than 50 percent; 

16 (7) the United States lacks a coherent national 

17 policy to assure the availability of minerals essential 

18 to manufacturing, national economic well-being and 

19 security, agricultural production, and global eco20 nomic competitiveness; and 

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

22 requires proper planning and preparation today to 

23 meet tomorrow’s mineral needs. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL DECLARATION OF POLICY. 

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

3 United States to promote an adequate and stable supply 

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

5 security, and manufacturing, industrial, energy, agricul6 tural, and technological capabilities. 

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

8 forth in subsection (a) requires that the Federal Govern9 ment coordinate the Federal departments and agencies re10 sponsible for ensuring that supply, to— 

11 (1) facilitate the availability, development, and 

12 production of domestic mineral resources to meet 

13 national needs, including the demands of the Na14 tion’s manufacturing and agricultural industries; 

15 (2) promote and encourage the development of 

16 economically and environmentally sound, safe, and 

17 stable domestic mining, minerals, metals, processing, 

18 and minerals recycling industries; 

19 (3) establish an assessment capability for iden20 tifying the mineral demands, supply, and needs of 

21 our Nation; and 

22 (4) minimize duplication, needless paperwork, 

23 and delays in the administration of Federal and 

24 State laws and regulations, and issuance of permits 

25 and authorizations necessary to explore, develop, and 


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1 produce minerals and construct and operate mineral2 related facilities. 

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

4 AND AUTHORIZATIONS FOR MINERAL DEVEL5 OPMENT. 

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

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Inte8 rior, through the Bureau of Land Management and the 

9 United States Geological Survey, and in consultation with 

10 the Secretary of Agriculture (through the Forest Service 

11 Mineral and Geology Management Division), the Secretary 

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

13 other appropriate Federal agencies, shall prepare, submit 

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

15 includes— 

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

17 potential of lands under the jurisdiction of the Bu18 reau of Land Management and the Forest Service 

19 and an identification of all such lands that have 

20 been withdrawn, segregated, or otherwise restricted 

21 from mineral exploration and development; 

22 (2) an assessment of— 

23 (A) the mineral requirements to meet cur24 rent and emerging national security, economic, 


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1 industrial manufacturing, technological, agricul2 tural, and social needs; 

3 (B) the Nation’s reliance on foreign 

4 sources to meet those needs; and 

5 (C) the implications of mineral supply 

6 shortages or disruptions; 

7 (3) a detailed description of the time required 

8 to process mineral applications, operating plans, 

9 leases, licenses, permits, and other use authoriza10 tions for mineral-related activities on lands under 

11 the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management 

12 and the Forest Service, and identification of meas13 ures that would streamline the processing of such 

14 applications, such as elimination of overlapping re15 quirements or set deadlines; 

16 (4) an itemized list of all use authorizations re17 ferred to in paragraph (3) for which applications are 

18 pending before the Bureau of Land Management 

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

20 of those applications has been pending; 

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

22 processing or issuing mineral exploration and mine 

23 permits, identification of the statutes the litigation 

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


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1 the Federal Government, including for payments of 

2 attorney fees; 

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

4 the Department of the Interior’s Programs and Ac5 tivities report to include locatable minerals; 

6 (7) an assessment of the Federal workforce 

7 with educational degrees and expertise in economic 

8 geology, geochemistry, mining, industrial minerals, 

9 metallurgy, metallurgical engineering, and mining 

10 engineering, including— 

11 (A) retirement eligibility and agency plans 

12 for retention, recruitment, and succession plan13 ning; 

14 (B) comparison of the existing Federal sal15 aries and recruitment and retention bonuses 

16 with the salaries, recruitment incentives, and 

17 retention packages normally offered in the min18 eral industry; and 

19 (C) examination of the differences between 

20 Federal and private financial packages for 

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

22 (8) an inventory of rare earth element potential 

23 on the Federal lands, and impediments or restric24 tions on the exploration or development of those rare 

25 earth elements, and recommendations to lift the imVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:58 Apr 01, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1063.RH H1063

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1 pediments or restrictions while maintaining environ2 mental safeguards. 

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

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

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

6 Interior shall submit to Congress and make available to 

7 the public a report that describes the progress made in 

8 reaching the policy goals described in section 3(b), includ9 ing— 

10 (1) efforts to increase access to domestic sup11 plies of minerals, and facilitation of their production; 

12 and 

13 (2) implementation of recommendations con14 tained in— 

15 (A) the National Research Council re16 ports— 

17 (i) Minerals, Critical Minerals, and 

18 the U.S. Economy; 

19 (ii) Managing Minerals for a Twenty20 First Century Military; and 

21 (iii) the current workforce study au22 thorized in sections 385 and 1830 of the 

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

24 1137); 


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1 (B) the Department of Energy Critical 

2 Materials Strategy I and II; and 

3 (C) the Department of Defense assessment 

4 and plan for critical rare earth elements in de5 fense applications required under section 843 of 

6 the National Defense Appropriations Act for 

7 Fiscal Year 2011. 

8 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MINERAL ASSESSMENT. 

9 For the first National Mineral Assessment conducted 

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

11 Geological Survey shall include mineral assessments for 

12 those mineral commodities important to the Nation’s en13 ergy infrastructure, manufacturing and agricultural in14 dustries, and to the national defense. Priority should be 

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

16 a potential supply restriction and the likelihood of a supply 

17 restriction. 

18 SEC. 6. GLOBAL MINERAL ASSESSMENT. 

19 The United States Geological Survey is directed to 

20 expand the current Global Mineral Assessment to include 

21 mineral assessments for rare earth elements and other 

22 minerals that are critical based on the impact of a poten23 tial supply restriction and the likelihood of a supply re24 striction. Assessments conducted under this section shall 

25 include an analysis, developed with participation by the 


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1 National Minerals Information Center and in consultation 

2 with appropriate agencies, of the rare earth elements or 

3 other critical minerals supply chain and associated proc4 esses and products, including mining, processing, recy5 cling, separation, metal production, alloy production, and 

6 manufacturing of products sold to end users. In con7 ducting the assessment, the United States Geological Sur8 vey should coordinate with the heads of foreign geologic 

9 surveys when possible. 

10 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act— 

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

13 an accounting of known mineral occurrences and 

14 mineral deposits, including documentation of identi15 fied resources. 

16 (2) MINERAL ASSESSMENT.—The term ‘‘min17 eral assessment’’ means an assessment of undis18 covered mineral resources that includes a qualitative 

19 assessment and a quantitative assessment of such 

20 resources. 

21 (3) QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 

22 ‘‘qualitative assessment’’ means a geologic-based de23 lineation (mapping) of areas permissive for the oc24 currence of undiscovered mineral resources, based on 

25 all available geotechnical data including geology, 


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1 geophysics, geochemistry, remote sensing, and min2 eral localities data. 

3 (4) QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 

4 ‘‘quantitative assessment’’ means a probabilistic esti5 mate of the quantity and quality by tonnage and 

6 grade of undiscovered mineral resources in areas de7 lineated as permissive for occurrence in a qualitative 

8 assessment. 

9 SEC. 8. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER STATUTORY MINING 

10 POLICIES. 

11 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting 

12 any provision of or requirement under the Mining and 

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


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Union Calendar No. 289 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1063 

[Report No. 113–390] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct 

source nationalism, and for other purposes. and national security in a time of expanding reand agricultural competitiveness and economic minerals critical to United States manufacturing meet our current and future demands for the an assessment of the capability of the Nation to 

APRIL 1, 2014 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS