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4370m(6)), without regard to the requirements of 
that section; and 
(2) included in the Permitting Dashboard main-
tained pursuant to section 41003(b) of that Act (42 
13 U.S.C. 4370m–2(b)). 
(b) ACTIONS DESCRIBED.—An action described in 
this subsection is an action taken by the Secretary of De-
fense pursuant to Presidential Determination 2022–11 
(87 Fed. Reg. 19775; relating to certain actions under 
section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950) or 
the Presidential Memorandum of February 27, 2023, ti-
tled ‘‘Presidential Waiver of Statutory Requirements Pur-
suant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 
1950, as amended, on Department of Defense Supply 
Chains Resilience’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 13015) to create, main-
tain, protect, expand, or restore sustainable and respon-
sible domestic production capabilities through— 
(1) supporting feasibility studies for mature 
mining, beneficiation, and value-added processing 
projects; 
(2) byproduct and co-product production at ex-
isting mining, mine waste reclamation, and other in-
dustrial facilities; 
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(3) modernization of mining, beneficiation, and 
value-added processing to increase productivity, envi-
ronmental sustainability, and workforce safety; or 
(4) any other activity authorized under section 
303(a)(1) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 15 
(50 U.S.C. 4533(a)(1)). 
(c) EXCEPTION.—An action described in subsection 
(b) may not be treated as a covered project or be included 
in the Permitting Dashboard under subsection (a) if the 
project sponsor (as defined in section 41001(18) of the 
FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 21 4370m(18))) requests that the 
action not be treated as a covered project. 
SEC. 20306. NOTICE FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION ACTIVI-
TIES WITH LIMITED SURFACE DISTURBANCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days before 
commencing an exploration activity with a surface disturb-
ance of not more than 5 acres of public lands, the operator 
of such exploration activity shall submit to the Secretary 
concerned a complete notice of such exploration activity. 
(b) INCLUSIONS.—Notice submitted under subsection 
(a) shall include such information the Secretary concerned 
may require, including the information described in sec-
tion 3809.301 of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations (or 
any successor regulation). 
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(c) REVIEW.—Not later than 15 days after the Sec-
retary concerned receives notice submitted under sub-
section (a), the Secretary concerned shall— 
(1) review and determine completeness of the 
notice; and 
(2) allow exploration activities to proceed if— 
(A) the surface disturbance of such explo-
ration activities on such public lands will not 
exceed 5 acres; 
(B) the Secretary concerned determines 
that the notice is complete; and 
(C) the operator provides financial assur-
ance that the Secretary concerned determines is 
adequate. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) EXPLORATION ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘explo-
ration activity’’— 
(A) means creating surface disturbance 
greater than casual use that includes sampling, 
drilling, or developing surface or underground 
workings to evaluate the type, extent, quantity, 
or quality of mineral values present; 
(B) includes constructing drill roads and 
drill pads, drilling, trenching, excavating test 
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pits, and conducting geotechnical tests and geo-
physical surveys; and 
(C) does not include activities where mate-
rial is extracted for commercial use or sale. 
(2) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec-
retary concerned’’ means— 
(A) with respect to lands administered by 
the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 
the Interior; and 
(B) with respect to National Forest Sys-
tem lands, the Secretary of Agriculture. 
SEC. 20307. USE OF MINING CLAIMS FOR ANCILLARY AC-
TIVITIES. 
Section 10101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation 
Act of 1993 (30 U.S.C. 28f) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(e) SECURITY OF TENURE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A claimant shall have 
the right to use, occupy, and conduct operations 
on public land, with or without the discovery of 
a valuable mineral deposit, if— 
‘‘(i) such claimant makes a timely 
payment of the location fee required by 
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section 10102 and the claim maintenance 
fee required by subsection (a); or 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a claimant who 
qualifies for a waiver under subsection (d), 
such claimant makes a timely payment of 
the location fee and complies with the re-
quired assessment work under the general 
mining laws. 
‘‘(B) OPERATIONS
DEFINED.—For the 
purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘oper-
ations’ means— 
‘‘(i) any activity or work carried out 
in connection with prospecting, exploration, 
processing, discovery and assessment, de-
velopment, or extraction with respect to a 
locatable mineral; 
‘‘(ii) the reclamation of any disturbed 
areas; and 
‘‘(iii) any other reasonably incident 
uses, whether on a mining claim or not, in-
cluding the construction and maintenance 
of facilities, roads, transmission lines, pipe-
lines, and any other necessary infrastruc-
ture or means of access on public land for 
support facilities. 
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‘‘(2) FULFILLMENT OF FEDERAL LAND POLICY 
AND
MANAGEMENT
ACT.—A claimant that fulfills 
the requirements of this section and section 10102 
shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of any 
provision of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-
ment Act that requires the payment of fair market 
value to the United States for use of public lands 
and resources relating to use of such lands and re-
sources authorized by the general mining laws. 
‘‘(3) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub-
section may be construed to diminish the rights of 
entry, use, and occupancy, or any other right, of a 
claimant under the general mining laws.’’. 
SEC. 20308. ENSURING CONSIDERATION OF URANIUM AS A 
CRITICAL MINERAL. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7002(a)(3)(B)(i) of the 
Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)(3)(B)(i)) is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(i) oil, oil shale, coal, or natural 
gas;’’. 
(b) UPDATE.—Not later than 60 days after the date 
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, acting 
through the Director of the United States Geological Sur-
vey, shall publish in the Federal Register an update to 
the final list established in section 7002(c)(3) of the En-
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ergy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(c)(3)) in accordance 
with subsection (a) of this section. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, acting 
through the Director of the United States Geological Sur-
vey, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall 
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 
that includes the following: 
(1) The current status of uranium deposits in 
the United States with respect to the amount and 
quality of uranium contained in such deposits. 
(2) A comparison of the United States to the 
rest of the world with respect to the amount and 
quality of uranium contained in uranium deposits. 
(3) Policy considerations, including potential 
challenges, of utilizing the uranium from the depos-
its described in paragraph (1). 
SEC. 20309. BARRING FOREIGN BAD ACTORS FROM OPER-
ATING ON FEDERAL LANDS. 
A mining claimant shall be barred from the right to 
use, occupy, and conduct operations on Federal land if the 
Secretary of the Interior finds the claimant has a foreign 
parent company that has (including through a sub-
sidiary)— 
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(1) a known record of human rights violations; 
or 
(2) knowingly operated an illegal mine in an-
other country. 
SEC. 20310. PERMIT PROCESS FOR PROJECTS RELATING TO 
EXTRACTION, RECOVERY, OR PROCESSING 
OF CRITICAL MATERIALS. 
(a) DEFINITION
OF COVERED PROJECT.—Section 
41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A)) 
is amended— 
(1) in clause (iii)(III), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and in-
serting ‘‘;’’; 
(2) in clause (iv)(II), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(v) is related to the extraction, recov-
ery, or processing from coal, coal waste, 
coal processing waste, pre-or post-combus-
tion coal byproducts, or acid mine drainage 
from coal mines of— 
‘‘(I) critical minerals (as such 
term is defined in section 7002 of the 
Energy Act of 2020); 
‘‘(II) rare earth elements; or 
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‘‘(III) microfine carbon or carbon 
from coal.’’. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior 
shall submit to the Committees on Energy and Natural 
Resources and Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
the Senate and the Committees on Transportation and In-
frastructure, Natural Resources, and Energy and Com-
merce of the House of Representatives a report evaluating 
the timeliness of implementation of reforms of the permit-
ting process required as a result of the amendments made 
by this section on the following: 
(1) The economic and national security of the 
United States. 
(2) Domestic production and supply of critical 
minerals, rare earths, and microfine carbon or car-
bon from coal. 
SEC. 20311. NATIONAL STRATEGY TO RE-SHORE MINERAL 
SUPPLY CHAINS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the United States Geologi-
cal Survey, in consultation with the Secretaries of De-
fense, Energy, and State, shall— 
(1) identify mineral commodities that— 
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(A) serve a critical purpose to the national 
security of the United States, including with re-
spect to military, defense, and strategic mobility 
applications; and 
(B) are at highest risk of supply chain dis-
ruption due to the domestic or global actions of 
any covered entity, including price-fixing, sys-
temic acquisition and control of global mineral 
resources and processing, refining, and smelting 
capacity, and undercutting the fair market 
value of such resources; and 
(2) develop a national strategy for bolstering 
supply chains in the United States for the mineral 
commodities identified under paragraph (1), includ-
ing through the enactment of new national policies 
and the utilization of current authorities, to increase 
capacity and efficiency of domestic mining, refining, 
processing, and manufacturing of such mineral com-
modities. 
(b) COVERED ENTITY.—In this section, the term 
‘‘covered entity’’ means an entity that— 
(1) is subject to the jurisdiction or direction of 
the People’s Republic of China; 
(2) is directly or indirectly operating on behalf 
of the People’s Republic of China; or 
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SEC. 20403. DEFINITIONS. 
In this subtitle: 
(1) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 
means— 
(A) National Forest System land; 
(B) public lands (as defined in section 103 
of the Federal Land Policy and Management 
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 
(C) the outer Continental Shelf (as defined 
in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf 
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331)); and 
(D) land managed by the Secretary of En-
ergy. 
(2) 
PRESIDENT.—The 
term 
‘‘President’’ 
means— 
(A) the President; and 
(B) any designee of the President, includ-
ing— 
(i) the Secretary of Agriculture; 
(ii) the Secretary of Commerce; 
(iii) the Secretary of Energy; and 
(iv) the Secretary of the Interior. 
(3) PREVIOUSLY
UNDISCOVERED
DEPOSIT.— 
The term ‘‘previously undiscovered mineral deposit’’ 
means— 
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