I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 357
To modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals on public domain
lands, consistent with the principles of self-initiation of mining claims,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 4, 1995
Mr. RAHALL (for himself, Mr. MILLER of Califronia, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. VENTO,
Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr DEFAZIO, and Mr. KLECZKA) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources
A BILL
To modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals
on public domain lands, consistent with the principles
of self-initiation of mining claims, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Mineral Exploration and Development Act of 1995’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions and references.
TITLE I—MINERAL EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Sec. 101. Lands open to location.
Sec. 102. Rights under this act.
Sec. 103. Location of mining claims.
Sec. 104. Conversion of existing claims.
Sec. 105. Claim maintenance requirements.
Sec. 106. Failure to comply.
Sec. 107. Basis for contest.
TITLE II—ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS OF MINERAL EX-
PLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Sec. 201. Surface management standard.
Sec. 202. Permits.
Sec. 203. Exploration permits.
Sec. 204. Operations permit.
Sec. 205. Persons ineligible for permits.
Sec. 206. Financial assurance.
Sec. 207. Reclamation.
Sec. 208. State law and regulation.
Sec. 209. Unsuitability review.
Sec. 210. Certain mineral activities covered by other law.
TITLE III—ABANDONED LOCATABLE MINERALS MINE
RECLAMATION FUND
Sec. 301. Abandoned locatable minerals mine reclamation.
Sec. 302. Use and objectives of the fund.
Sec. 303. Eligible lands and waters.
Sec. 304. Fund expenditures.
Sec. 305. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 306. Royalty.
TITLE IV—ADMINISTRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
SUBTITLE A—ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
Sec. 401. Policy functions.
Sec. 402. User fees.
Sec. 403. Public participation requirements.
Sec. 404. Inspection and monitoring.
Sec. 405. Citizens suits.
Sec. 406. Administrative and judicial review.
Sec. 407. Enforcement.
Sec. 408. Regulations; effective dates.
SUBTITLE B—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Sec. 411. Transitional rules; surface management requirements.
Sec. 412. Claims subject to special rules.
Sec. 413. Purchasing power adjustment.
Sec. 414. Savings clause.
Sec. 415. Availability of public records.
Sec. 416. Miscellaneous powers.
Sec. 417. Limitation on patent issuance.
Sec. 418. Multiple mineral development and surface resources.
Sec. 419. Mineral materials.
Sec. 420. Application of Act to beneficiation and processing of nonFederal min-
erals on Federal lands.
Sec. 421. Compliance with Buy American Act.
Sec. 422. Severability.
Sec. 423. Award of Compensation for takings from Fund.
Sec. 424. Report to Congress on mining claims in the United States held by
foreign firms.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds and declares the fol-
lowing:
(1) The general mining laws, commonly re-
ferred to as the Mining Law of 1872, at one time
promoted the development of the West and provided
a framework for the exploitation of Federal mineral
resources.
(2) Congress recognized that the public interest
was no longer being advanced under the Mining Law
of 1872 when, in 1920, it removed energy minerals
and minerals chiefly valuable for agricultural use,
and in 1955, removed common varieties of mineral
materials, from the scope of the general mining laws
and made such minerals available under regimes
which provide for a financial return to the public for
the disposition of such minerals and which better
safeguard the environment.
(3) The Mining Law of 1872 no longer fosters
the efficient and diligent development of those min-
eral resources still under its scope, giving rise to
speculation and nonmining uses of lands chiefly val-
uable for minerals.
(4) The Mining Law of 1872 does not provide
for a financial return to the American people for use
by claim holders of public domain lands or for the
disposition of valuable mineral resources from such
lands.
(5) The Mining Law of 1872 continues to
transfer lands valuable for mineral resources from
the public domain to private ownership for less than
the fair market value of such lands and mineral re-
sources.
(6) There are a substantial number of acres of
land throughout the Nation disturbed by mining ac-
tivities conducted under the Mining Law of 1872 on
which little or no reclamation was conducted, and
the impacts from these unreclaimed lands pose a
threat to the public health, safety, and general wel-
fare and to environmental quality.
(7) Activities under the Mining Law of 1872
continue to result in disturbances of surface areas
and water resources which burden and adversely af-
fect the public welfare by destroying or diminishing
the utility of public domain lands for other appro-
priate uses and by creating hazards dangerous to
the public health and safety and to the environment.
(8) Existing Federal law and regulations, as
well as applicable State laws, have proven to be in-
adequate to ensure that active mining operations
under the Mining Law of 1872 will not leave to fu-
ture generations a new legacy of hazards associated
with unreclaimed mined lands.
(9) The public interest is no longer being served
by archaic features of the Mining Law of 1872 that
thwart the efficient exploration and development of
those minerals which remain under its scope and
which conflict with modern public land use manage-
ment philosophies.
(10) The public is justified in expecting the dili-
gent development of its mineral resources, a finan-
cial return for the use of public domain lands for
mineral activities as well as for the disposition of
valuable mineral resources from such lands.
(11) It is not in the public interest for public
domain lands to be sold far below fair market value
nor does this aspect of the Mining Law of 1872
comport with modern Federal land policy which is
grounded on the retention of public domain lands
under the principles of multiple use.
(12) Mining and reclamation technology is now
developed so that effective and reasonable regulation
of operations by the Federal Government in accord-
ance with this Act is an appropriate and necessary
means to minimize so far as practicable the adverse
social, economic and environmental effects of such
mining operations.
(13) Mining activities on public domain lands
affect interstate commerce, contribute to the eco-
nomic well-being, security and general welfare of the
Nation and should be conducted in an environ-
mentally sound manner.
(14) It is necessary that any revision of the
general mining laws insure that a domestic supply of
hardrock minerals be made available to the domestic
economy of the United States.
(15) America’s economy still depends heavily on
hardrock minerals and a strong environmentally
sound mining industry is critical to the domestic
minerals supply.
(16) Many of the deposits of hardrock minerals
remain to be discovered on the Federal public do-
main.
(17) Private enterprise must be given adequate
incentive to engage in a capital-intensive industry
such as hardrock mining.
(18) The United States, as owner of the public
domain, has a dual interest in insuring a fair return
for mining on the public domain and insuring that
any royalty and fees charged do not discourage es-
sential mining activity on the public domain.
(19) The domestic mining industry provides
thousands of jobs directly and indirectly to the do-
mestic economy and those jobs must be preserved
and encouraged by a sound Federal policy regarding
mining on Federal lands.
(b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act—
(1) to devise a more socially, fiscally and envi-
ronmentally responsible regime to govern the use of
public domain lands for the exploration and develop-
ment of those minerals not subject to mineral leas-
ing acts or mineral materials statutes;
(2) to provide for a fair return to the public for
the use of public domain lands for mineral activities
and for the disposition of minerals from such lands;
(3) to foster the diligent development of mineral
resources on public domain lands in a manner that
is compatible with other resource values and envi-
ronmental quality;
(4) to promote the restoration of mined areas
left without adequate reclamation prior to the enact-
ment of this Act and which continue, in their
unreclaimed condition, to substantially degrade the
quality of the environment, prevent the beneficial
use of land or water resources, and endanger the
health and safety of the public;
(5) to assure that appropriate procedures are
provided for public participation in the development,
revision and enforcement of regulations, standards
and programs established under this Act; and
(6) to, whenever necessary, exercise the full
reach of Federal constitutional powers to ensure the
protection of the public interest through the effective
control of mineral exploration and development ac-
tivities.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS AND REFERENCES.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘affiliate’’ means with respect to
any person, any of the following:
(A) Any person who controls, is controlled
by, or is under common control with such per-
son.
(B) Any partner of such person.
(C) Any person owning at least 10 percent
of the voting shares of such person.
(2) The term ‘‘applicant’’ means any person ap-
plying for a permit under this Act or a modification
to or a renewal of a permit under this Act.
(3) The term ‘‘beneficiation’’ means the crush-
ing and grinding of locatable mineral ore and such
processes as are employed to free the mineral from
other constituents, including but not necessarily lim-
ited to, physical and chemical separation techniques.
(4) The term ‘‘claim holder’’ means a person
holding a mining claim located or converted under
this Act. Such term may include an agent of a claim
holder.
(5) The term ‘‘control’’ means having the abil-
ity, directly or indirectly, to determine (without re-
gard to whether exercised through one or more cor-
porate structures) the manner in which an entity
conducts mineral activities, through any means, in-
cluding without limitation, ownership interest, au-
thority to commit the entity’s real or financial as-
sets, position as a director, officer, or partner of the
entity, or contractual arrangement. The Secretary
and the Secretary of Agriculture shall jointly pro-
mulgate such rules as may be necessary under this
paragraph.
(6) The term ‘‘exploration’’ means those tech-
niques employed to locate the presence of a locatable
mineral deposit and to establish its nature, position,
size, shape, grade and value not associated with min-
ing, beneficiation, processing or marketing of min-
erals.
(7) The term ‘‘Indian lands’’ means lands held
in trust for the benefit of an Indian tribe or individ-
ual or held by an Indian tribe or individual subject
to a restriction by the United States against alien-
ation.
(8) The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ means any Indian
tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized group
or community, including any Alaska Native village
or regional corporation as defined in or established
pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), which is recognized as
eligible for the special programs and services pro-
vided by the United States to Indians because of
their status as Indians.
(9) The term ‘‘land use plans’’ means those
plans required under section 202 of the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43
U.S.C. 1712) or the land management plans for Na-
tional Forest System units required under section 6
of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604), whichever
is applicable.
(10) The term ‘‘legal subdivisions’’ means an
aliquot quarter quarter section of land as established
by the official records of the public land survey sys-
tem, or a single lot as established by the official
records of the public land survey system if the perti-
nent section is irregular and contains fractional lots,
as the case may be.
(11)(A) The term ‘‘locatable mineral’’ means
any mineral, the legal and beneficial title to which
remains in the United States and which is not sub-
ject to disposition under any of the following:
(i) The Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C.
181 and following).
(ii) The Geothermal Steam Act of 1970
(30 U.S.C. 1001 and following).
(iii) The Act of July 31, 1947, commonly
known as the Materials Act of 1947 (30 U.S.C.
601 and following).
(iv) The Mineral Leasing for Acquired
Lands Act (30 U.S.C. 351 and following).
(B) The term ‘‘locatable mineral’’ does not in-
clude any mineral held in trust by the United States
for any Indian or Indian tribe, as defined in section
2 of the Indian Mineral Development Act of 1982
(25 U.S.C. 2101), or any mineral owned by any In-
dian or Indian tribe, as defined in that section, that
is subject to a restriction against alienation imposed
by the United States.
(12) The term ‘‘mineral activities’’ means any
activity on Federal lands for, related to, or inciden-
tal to, mineral exploration, mining, beneficiation,
processing, or reclamation activities for any locatable
mineral.
(13) The term ‘‘mining’’ means the processes
employed for the extraction of a locatable mineral
from the earth.
(14) The term ‘‘mining claim’’ means a claim
for the purposes of mineral activities.
(15) The term ‘‘National Conservation System
unit’’ means any unit of the National Park System,
National Wildlife Refuge System, National Wild and
Scenic Rivers System, National Trails System, or a
National Conservation Area, National Recreation
Area, a National Forest Monument or any unit of
the National Wilderness Preservation System.
(16) The term ‘‘operator’’ means any person,
conducting mineral activities subject to this Act or
any agent of such a person.
(17) The term ‘‘person’’ means an individual,
Indian tribe, partnership, association, society, joint
venture, joint stock company, firm, company, cor-
poration, cooperative or other organization and any
instrumentality of State or local government includ-
ing any publicly owned utility or publicly owned cor-
poration of State or local government.
(18) The term ‘‘processing’’ means processes
downstream of beneficiation employed to prepare
locatable mineral ore into the final marketable prod-
uct, including but not limited to, smelting and elec-
trolytic refining.
(19) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of the Interior, unless otherwise specified.
(20) The term ‘‘surface management require-
ments’’ means the requirements and standards of
title II, and such other standards as are established
by the Secretary governing mineral activities pursu-
ant to this Act.
(b) REFERENCES.—(1) Any reference in this Act to
the term ‘‘general mining laws’’ is a reference to those
Acts which generally comprise chapters 2, 12A, and 16,
and sections 161 and 162 of title 30 of the United States
Code.
(2) Any reference in this Act to the ‘‘Act of July 23,
1955’’, is a reference to the Act of July 23, 1955, entitled
‘‘An Act to amend the Act of July 31, 1947 (61 Stat.
681) and the mining laws to provide for multiple use of
the surface of the same tracts of the public lands, and
for other purposes’’ (30 U.S.C. 601 and following).
TITLE 
I—MINERAL 
EXPLO-
RATION AND DEVELOPMENT
SEC. 101. LANDS OPEN TO LOCATION.
(a) LANDS OPEN TO LOCATION.—Except as provided
in subsection (b), mining claims may be located under this
Act on lands and interests in lands owned by the United
States if—
(1) such lands and interests were open to the
location of mining claims under the general mining
laws on the date of enactment of this Act; or
(2) such lands and interests are opened to the
location of mining claims after the date of enact-
ment of this Act by reason of any administrative ac-
tion or statute.
(b) LANDS NOT OPEN TO LOCATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of law and subject to valid existing rights,
each of the following shall not be open to the loca-
tion of mining claims under this Act on or after the
date of enactment of this Act:
(A) Lands recommended for wilderness
designation by the agency managing the sur-
face, pending a final determination by the Con-
gress of the status of such recommended lands.
(B) Lands being managed by the Sec-
retary, acting through Bureau of Land Manage-
ment, as wilderness study areas on the date of
enactment of this Act except where the location
of mining claims is specifically allowed to con-
tinue by the statute designating the study area,
pending a final determination by the Congress
of the status of such lands.
(C)(i) Lands under study for inclusion in
the National Wild and Scenic River System
pursuant to section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1276(a)), pending a final
determination by the Congress of the status of
such lands, and (ii) lands determined by a Fed-
eral agency under section 5(d) of such Act to
be eligible for inclusion in such system, pending
a final determination by the Congress of the
status of such lands.
minative, except where determined otherwise by the Sec-
retary.
(d) FILING WITH SECRETARY.—(1) Within 30 days
after the location of a mining claim pursuant to this sec-
tion, a copy of the notice of location referred to in sub-
section (a) shall be filed with the Secretary in an office
designated by the Secretary.
(2)(A) Whenever the Secretary receives a copy of a
notice of location of a mining claim under this Act, the
Secretary shall assign a serial number to the mining claim,
and immediately return a copy of the notice of location
to the locator of the claim, together with a certificate set-
ting forth the serial number, a description of the claim,
and the claim maintenance requirements of section 105.
The Secretary shall enter the claim on the public land
records.
(B) Return of the copy of the notice of location and
provision of the certificate under subparagraph (A) shall
not constitute a determination by the Secretary that a
claim is valid. Failure by the Secretary to provide such
copy and certificate shall not constitute a defense against
cancellation of a claim for failure to follow applicable re-
quirements of this Act.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for
every unpatented mining claim located after the date of