I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2969 
To allow the Secretary of the Interior to enter into memoranda of under-
standing for the purpose of scientific and technical cooperation in the 
mapping of critical minerals and rare earth elements, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 17, 2025 
Mr. WITTMAN (for himself, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. 
KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LAWLER, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. GIMENEZ, Ms. 
STEVENS, and Mr. TORRES of New York) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To allow the Secretary of the Interior to enter into memo-
randa of understanding for the purpose of scientific and 
technical cooperation in the mapping of critical minerals 
and rare earth elements, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Finding Opportunities 
for Resource Exploration Act’’ or the ‘‘Finding ORE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
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(1) ALLIED FOREIGN COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘al-
lied foreign country’’ means a country with which 
the United States has entered into a mutual defense 
treaty or other mutual defense agreement. 
(2) CRITICAL
MINERAL.—The term ‘‘critical 
mineral’’ has the meaning given the term in section 
7002(a) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 
1606(a)). 
(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 
(4) PARTNER
FOREIGN
COUNTRY.—The term 
‘‘partner foreign country’’ means a country that is 
a source of a critical mineral or rare earth element. 
(5) RARE EARTH ELEMENT.—The term ‘‘rare 
earth element’’ means cerium, dysprosium, erbium, 
europium, gadolinium, holmium, lanthanum, lute-
tium, neodymium, praseodymium, promethium, sa-
marium, scandium, terbium, thulium, ytterbium, or 
yttrium. 
(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-
rector of the United States Geological Survey. 
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SEC. 3. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH RE-
SPECT TO THE MAPPING OF CRITICAL MIN-
ERALS AND RARE EARTH ELEMENTS. 
(a) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec-
retary may enter into a memorandum of understanding 
with 1 or more heads of agencies of partner foreign coun-
tries with respect to scientific and technical cooperation 
in the mapping of critical minerals and rare earth ele-
ments. 
(b) OBJECTIVES.—In negotiating a memorandum of 
understanding under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 
seek to increase the security and resilience of international 
supply chains for critical minerals and rare earth elements 
by— 
(1) committing to assisting the partner foreign 
country through cooperative activities described in 
subsection (c) that help the partner foreign country 
map reserves of critical minerals and rare earth ele-
ments; 
(2) 
ensuring 
that 
private 
companies 
headquartered in the United States or an allied for-
eign country are offered the right of first refusal in 
the further development of critical minerals and rare 
earth elements in the partner foreign country; 
(3) facilitating private-sector investment in the 
exploration and development of critical minerals and 
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rare earth elements, including by leveraging pref-
erential financing from entities such as the United 
States International Development Finance Corpora-
tion and the Export-Import Bank of the United 
States that prioritizes projects committed to proc-
essing minerals in the United States or an allied for-
eign country; and 
(4) ensuring that mapping data created through 
the cooperative activities described in subsection (c) 
is protected against unauthorized access by, or dis-
closure to, governmental or private entities based in 
countries that are not— 
(A) a party to the memorandum of under-
standing; or 
(B) an allied foreign country. 
(c) COOPERATIVE ACTIVITIES.—The cooperative ac-
tivities referred to in subsection (b) include— 
(1) acquisition, compilation, analysis, and inter-
pretation of geologic, geophysical, geochemical, and 
spectroscopic remote sensing data; 
(2) prospectivity mapping and mineral resource 
assessment; 
(3) analysis of geoscience data, including devel-
oping derivative map products that can help more 
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effectively evaluate the mineral resources of the 
partner foreign country; 
(4) scientific collaboration to enhance the un-
derstanding and management of the natural re-
sources of the partner foreign country to contribute 
to the sustainable development of the mineral re-
sources sector of that partner foreign country; 
(5) training and capacity building in each area 
described in paragraphs (1) through (4); 
(6) facilitation of education and specialized 
training in geoscience and mineral resource manage-
ment at institutions of higher education; 
(7) training in environmental and workplace 
standards for relevant officials of the government 
and private companies of the partner foreign coun-
try; and 
(8) cooperation among entities of the partner 
foreign country that are a party to the memorandum 
of understanding and entities in the United States, 
including Federal departments and agencies, institu-
tions of higher education, research centers, and pri-
vate companies. 
(d) NOTIFICATION
TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary 
shall notify Congress not later than 30 days before the 
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