SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mining Regulatory 
Clarity Act’’. 
SEC. 2. HARDROCK MINING MILL SITES. 
(a) MULTIPLE MILL SITES.—Section 2337 of the Re-
vised Statutes of the United States (30 U.S.C. 42) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) ADDITIONAL MILL SITES.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) MILL
SITE.—The term ‘mill site’ 
means a location of public land that is reason-
ably necessary for waste rock or tailings dis-
posal or other operations reasonably incident to 
mineral development on, or production from 
land included in a plan of operations. 
‘‘(B) 
OPERATIONS; 
OPERATOR.—The 
terms ‘operations’ and ‘operator’ have the 
meanings given those terms in section 3809.5 
of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 
effect on the date of enactment of this sub-
section). 
‘‘(C) PLAN
OF
OPERATIONS.—The term 
‘plan of operations’ means a plan of operations 
that an operator must submit and the Secretary 
of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, 
as applicable, must approve before an operator
may begin operations, in accordance with, as 
applicable— 
‘‘(i) subpart 3809 of title 43, Code of 
Federal Regulations (or successor regula-
tions establishing application and approval 
requirements); and 
‘‘(ii) part 228 of title 36, Code of 
Federal Regulations (or successor regula-
tions establishing application and approval 
requirements). 
‘‘(D) PUBLIC
LAND.—The term ‘public 
land’ means land owned by the United States 
that is open to location under sections 2319 
through 2344 of the Revised Statutes of the 
United States (30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.), includ-
ing— 
‘‘(i) land that is mineral-in-character 
(as defined in section 3830.5 of title 43, 
Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect 
on the date of enactment of this sub-
section)); 
‘‘(ii) nonmineral land (as defined in 
section 3830.5 of title 43, Code of Federal 
Regulations (as in effect on the date of en-
actment of this subsection)); and
‘‘(iii) land where the mineral char-
acter has not been determined. 
‘‘(2) 
IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 
sub-
sections (a) and (b), where public land is needed by 
the proprietor of a lode or placer claim for oper-
ations in connection with any lode or placer claim 
within the proposed plan of operations, the propri-
etor may— 
‘‘(A) locate and include within the plan of 
operations as many mill site claims under this 
subsection as are reasonably necessary for its 
operations; and 
‘‘(B) use or occupy public land in accord-
ance with an approved plan of operations. 
‘‘(3) 
MILL
SITES
CONVEY
NO
MINERAL 
RIGHTS.—A mill site under this subsection does not 
convey mineral rights to the locator. 
‘‘(4) SIZE OF MILL SITES.—A location of a sin-
gle mill site under this subsection shall not exceed 
5 acres. 
‘‘(5) MILL SITE AND LODE OR PLACER CLAIMS 
ON SAME TRACTS OF PUBLIC LAND.—A mill site 
may be located under this subsection on a tract of 
public land on which the claimant or operator main-
tains a previously located lode or placer claim.
‘‘(6) EFFECT ON MINING CLAIMS.—The loca-
tion of a mill site under this subsection shall not af-
fect the validity of any lode or placer claim, or any 
rights associated with such a claim. 
‘‘(7) PATENTING.—A mill site under this sec-
tion shall not be eligible for patenting. 
‘‘(8) SAVINGS
PROVISIONS.—Nothing in this 
subsection— 
‘‘(A) diminishes any right (including a 
right of entry, use, or occupancy) of a claimant; 
‘‘(B) creates or increases any right (includ-
ing a right of exploration, entry, use, or occu-
pancy) of a claimant on land that is not open 
to location under the general mining laws; 
‘‘(C) modifies any provision of law or any 
prior administrative action withdrawing land 
from location or entry; 
‘‘(D) limits the right of the Federal Gov-
ernment to regulate mining and mining-related 
activities (including requiring claim validity ex-
aminations to establish the discovery of a valu-
able mineral deposit) in areas withdrawn from 
mining, including under— 
‘‘(i) the general mining laws;
‘‘(ii) the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 
et seq.); 
‘‘(iii) the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 
1131 et seq.); 
‘‘(iv) sections 100731 through 100737 
of title 54, United States Code; 
‘‘(v) the Endangered Species Act of 
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 
‘‘(vi) division A of subtitle III of title 
54, United States Code (commonly re-
ferred to as the ‘National Historic Preser-
vation Act’); or 
‘‘(vii) section 4 of the Act of July 23, 
1955 (commonly known as the ‘Surface 
Resources Act of 1955’) (69 Stat. 368, 
chapter 375; 30 U.S.C. 612); 
‘‘(E) restores any right (including a right 
of entry, use, or occupancy, or right to conduct 
operations) of a claimant that— 
‘‘(i) existed prior to the date on which 
the land was closed to, or withdrawn from, 
location under the general mining laws; 
and