I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6335 
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to permanently withdraw all Federal 
lands from location and entry for uranium mining, to provide for leasing 
of such lands under such Act for uranium mining, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 
Mr. HEINRICH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to permanently withdraw 
all Federal lands from location and entry for uranium 
mining, to provide for leasing of such lands under such 
Act for uranium mining, 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 ‘‘Uranium Mining Mod-
ernization Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FEDERAL LANDS URANIUM LEASING. 
The Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is 
amended by redesignating section 44 as section 45, and 
by inserting after section 43 the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 44. LEASING OF LANDS FOR URANIUM MINING. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) WITHDRAWAL FROM ENTRY; LEASING RE-
QUIREMENT.—Effective upon the date of enactment 
of this section, all Federal lands are hereby perma-
nently withdrawn from location and entry under sec-
tion 2319 of the Revised Statutes (30 U.S.C. 22 et 
seq.) for uranium. After the end of the 2-year period 
beginning on such date of enactment, no uranium 
may be produced from Federal lands except pursu-
ant to a lease issued under this Act. 
‘‘(2) LEASING.—The Secretary— 
‘‘(A) may divide any lands subject to this 
Act that are not withdrawn from mineral leas-
ing and that are otherwise available for ura-
nium leasing under applicable law, including 
lands available under the terms of land use 
plans prepared by the Federal agency managing 
the land, into leasing tracts of such size as the 
Secretary finds appropriate and in the public 
interest; and 
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is under the jurisdiction of any Federal agency other than 
the Department of the Interior may be issued only— 
‘‘(1) upon consent of the head of the other Fed-
eral agency; and 
‘‘(2) upon such conditions the head of such 
other Federal agency may prescribe with respect to 
the use and protection of the nonmineral interests in 
those lands. 
‘‘(d) CONSIDERATION OF EFFECTS OF MINING.—Be-
fore issuing any uranium lease, the Secretary shall con-
sider effects that mining under the proposed lease might 
have on an impacted community or area, including im-
pacts on the environment, on agricultural, on cultural re-
sources, and other economic activities, and on public serv-
ices. 
‘‘(e) NOTICE OF PROPOSED LEASE.—No lease sale 
shall be held for lands until after a notice of the proposed 
offering for lease has been given once a week for three 
consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation 
in the county in which the lands are situated, or in elec-
tronic format, in accordance with regulations prescribed 
by the Secretary. 
‘‘(f) AUCTION REQUIREMENTS.—All lands to be 
leased under this section shall be leased to the highest re-
sponsible qualified bidder— 
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‘‘(1) under general regulations; 
‘‘(2) in units of not more than 2,560 acres that 
are as nearly compact as possible; and 
‘‘(3) by oral bidding. 
‘‘(g) REQUIRED PAYMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A lease under this section 
shall be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee 
of— 
‘‘(A) a royalty at a rate of not less than 
12.5 percent in amount or value of the produc-
tion removed or sold under the lease; and 
‘‘(B) a rental of— 
‘‘(i) not less than $2.50 per acre per 
year for the first through fifth years of the 
lease; and 
‘‘(ii) not less than $3 per acre per 
year for each year thereafter. 
‘‘(2) USE OF REVENUES.—Amounts received as 
revenues under this subsection with respect to a 
lease may be used by the Secretary of the Interior, 
subject to the availability of appropriations, for 
cleaning up uranium mill tailings and reclaiming 
abandoned uranium mines on Federal lands in ac-
cordance with the priorities and eligibility restric-
tions, respectively, under subsections (c) and (d) of 
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section 411 of the Surface Mining Control and Rec-
lamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1240a). 
‘‘(h) LEASE TERM.—A lease under this section— 
‘‘(1) shall be effective for a primary term of 10 
years; and 
‘‘(2) shall continue in effect after such primary 
term for so long is as uranium is produced under 
the lease in paying quantities. 
‘‘(i) EXPLORATION LICENSES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, under 
such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, 
issue to any person an exploration license. No per-
son may conduct uranium exploration for commer-
cial purposes on lands subject to this Act without 
such an exploration license. Each exploration license 
shall be for a term of not more than two years and 
shall be subject to a reasonable fee. An exploration 
license shall confer no right to a lease under this 
Act. The issuance of exploration licenses shall not 
preclude the Secretary from issuing uranium leases 
at such times and locations and to such persons as 
the Secretary deems appropriate. No exploration li-
cense may be issued for any land on which a ura-
nium lease has been issued. A separate exploration 
license shall be required for exploration in each 
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State. An application for an exploration license shall 
identify general areas and probable methods of ex-
ploration. Each exploration license shall be limited 
to specific geographic areas in each State as deter-
mined by the Secretary, and shall contain such rea-
sonable conditions as the Secretary may require, in-
cluding conditions to ensure the protection of the en-
vironment, and shall be subject to all applicable Fed-
eral, State, and local laws and regulations. Upon vio-
lation of any such conditions or laws the Secretary 
may revoke the exploration license. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—A licensee may not cause 
substantial disturbance to the natural land surface. 
A licensee may not remove any uranium for sale but 
may remove a reasonable amount of uranium from 
the lands subject to this Act included under the Sec-
retary’s license for analysis and study. A licensee 
must comply with all applicable rules and regula-
tions of the Federal agency having jurisdiction over 
the surface of the lands subject to this Act. Explo-
ration licenses covering lands the surface of which is 
under the jurisdiction of any Federal agency other 
than the Department of the Interior may be issued 
only upon such conditions as it may prescribe with 
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respect to the use and protection of the nonmineral 
interests in those lands. 
‘‘(3) SHARING
OF
DATA.—The licensee shall 
furnish to the Secretary copies of all data (including 
geological, geophysical, and core drilling analyses) 
obtained during such exploration. The Secretary 
shall maintain the confidentiality of all data so ob-
tained until after the areas involved have been leased 
or until such time as the Secretary determines that 
making the data available to the public would not 
damage the competitive position of the licensee, 
whichever comes first. 
‘‘(4) EXPLORATION WITHOUT A LICENSE.—Any 
person who willfully conducts uranium exploration 
for commercial purposes on lands subject to this Act 
without an exploration license issued under this sub-
section shall be subject to a fine of not more than 
$1,000 for each day of violation. All data collected 
by such person on any Federal lands as a result of 
such violation shall be made immediately available to 
the Secretary, who shall make the data available to 
the public as soon as it is practicable. No penalty 
under this subsection shall be assessed unless such 
person is given notice and opportunity for a hearing 
with respect to such violation. 
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‘‘(j) CONVERSION OF MINING CLAIMS TO MINERAL 
LEASES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The owner of any mining 
claim (in this subsection referred to as a ‘claimant’) 
located prior to the date of enactment of this section 
may, within two years after such date, apply to the 
Secretary of the Interior to convert the claim to a 
lease under this section. The Secretary shall issue a 
uranium lease under this section to the claimant 
upon a demonstration by the claimant, to the satis-
faction of the Secretary, within one year after the 
date of the application to the Secretary, that the 
claim was, as of such date of enactment, supported 
by the discovery of a valuable deposit of uranium on 
the claimed land. The holder of a lease issued upon 
conversion from a mining claim under this sub-
section shall be subject to all the requirements of 
this section governing uranium leases, except that 
the holder shall pay a royalty of 6.25 percent on the 
value of the uranium produced under the lease, until 
beginning ten years after the date the claim is con-
verted to a lease. 
‘‘(2) OTHER CLAIMS EXTINGUISHED.—All min-
ing claims located for uranium on Federal lands 
whose claimant does not apply to the Secretary for 
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