TITLE I—DEVELOPMENT OF DO-
MESTIC SOURCES OF STRA-
TEGIC AND CRITICAL MIN-
ERALS 
SEC. 101. IMPROVING DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC AND 
CRITICAL MINERALS. 
Domestic mines that will provide strategic and crit-
ical minerals shall be considered an ‘‘infrastructure 
project’’ as described in Presidential Order ‘‘Improving 
Performance of Federal Permitting and Review of Infra-
structure Projects’’ dated March 22, 2012. 
SEC. 102. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LEAD AGENCY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The lead agency with responsi-
bility for issuing a mineral exploration or mine permit 
shall appoint a project lead who shall coordinate and con-
sult with other agencies, cooperating agencies, project pro-
ponents and contractors to ensure that agencies minimize 
delays, set and adhere to timelines and schedules for com-
pletion of reviews, set clear permitting goals and track 
progress against those goals. 
(b) The lead agency with responsibility for issuing a 
mineral exploration or mine permit may determine any 
such action would not constitute a major Federal action 
significantly affecting the quality of the human environ-
ment within the meaning of the National Environmental 
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Policy Act of 1969 because the procedural and substantive 
safeguards of the lead agency’s permitting process alone, 
any applicable State permitting process alone, or a com-
bination of the two processes together provide an adequate 
mechanism to ensure that environmental factors are taken 
into account. 
(c) The lead agency with responsibility for issuing a 
mineral exploration or mine permit shall enhance govern-
ment coordination on permitting and review by avoiding 
duplicative reviews, minimizing paperwork and engaging 
other agencies and stakeholders early in the process. The 
lead agency shall consider the following best practices: 
(1) Deferring to and relying upon baseline data, 
analysis and reviews preformed by State agencies 
with jurisdiction over the proposed project. 
(2) Conducting reviews concurrently rather 
than sequentially to the extent practicable and when 
such concurrent review will expedite rather than 
delay a decision. 
(d) At the request of a project proponent, the project 
lead of the agency with responsibility for issuing a mineral 
exploration or mine permit shall enter into an agreement 
with the project proponent and other cooperating agencies 
that sets time limits for each part of the permit review 
process including: 
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(1) The decision on whether to prepare an envi-
ronmental impact statement. 
(2) A determination of the scope of any envi-
ronmental impact statement. 
(3) Preparation of any draft environmental im-
pact statement. 
(4) Preparation of a final environmental impact 
statement. 
(5) Consultations required under applicable 
laws. 
(6) Submission and review of any comments re-
quired under applicable law. 
(7) Publication of any public notices required 
under applicable law. 
(8) A final or any interim decisions. 
(e) In no case should the total review process de-
scribed in section 2(d) exceed 30 months unless agreed 
to by the signatories of the agreement. 
(f) The lead agency is not required to address agency 
or public comments that were not submitted during the 
public comment periods provided by the lead agency or 
otherwise required by law. 
(g) The lead agency will determine the amount of fi-
nancial assurance for reclamation of a mining site, which 
must cover the estimated cost if the lead agency were to 
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contract with a third party to reclaim the operations ac-
cording to the reclamation plan, including construction 
and maintenance costs for any treatment facilities nec-
essary to meet Federal, State or tribal environmental 
standards. 
SEC. 103. CONSERVATION OF THE RESOURCE. 
In developing the mineral exploration or mine permit, 
the priority of the lead agency shall be to maximize the 
development of the mineral resource, while mitigating en-
vironmental impacts, so that more of the mineral resource 
can be brought to the market place. 
SEC. 104. FEDERAL REGISTER PROCESS FOR MINERAL EX-
PLORATION AND MINING PROJECTS. 
(a) PREPARATION OF FEDERAL NOTICES FOR MIN-
ERAL
EXPLORATION
AND
MINE
DEVELOPMENT 
PROJECTS.—The preparation of Federal Register notices 
required by law associated with the issuance of a mineral 
exploration or mine permit shall be delegated to the orga-
nization level within the agency responsible for issuing the 
mineral exploration or mine permit. All Federal Register 
notices regarding official document availability, announce-
ments of meetings, or notices of intent to undertake an 
action shall be originated and transmitted to the Federal 
Register from the office where documents are held, meet-
ings are held, or the activity is initiated. 
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(b) DEPARTMENTAL REVIEW
OF FEDERAL REG-
ISTER NOTICES FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MIN-
ING PROJECTS.—Absent any extraordinary circumstance 
or except as otherwise required by any Act of Congress, 
each Federal Register notice described in subsection (a) 
shall undergo any required reviews within the Department 
of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture and be 
published in its final form in the Federal Register no later 
than 30 days after its initial preparation. 
TITLE II—JUDICIAL REVIEW OF 
AGENCY ACTIONS RELATING 
TO EXPLORATION AND MINE 
PERMITS 
SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS FOR TITLE. 
In this title the term ‘‘covered civil action’’ means a 
civil action containing a claim under section 702 of title 
5, United States Code, regarding agency action affecting 
a mineral exploration or mine permit. 
SEC. 202. TIMELY FILINGS. 
A covered civil action is barred unless filed no later 
than the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date 
of the final Federal agency action to which it relates. 
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