Bill > HR1366

This bill provides clarity and new guidelines for hardrock mining mill sites on public lands, establishing multiple key provisions. First, it allows mining operators to locate and include multiple mill sites (up to 5 acres each) within their plan of operations, where these sites are reasonably necessary for waste rock disposal, tailings, or other mining-related operations. Importantly, these mill sites do not convey mineral rights to the locator and cannot be patented. The bill defines important terms like "mill site," "operations," and "public land," and clarifies that mill sites can be located on the same tract of land as existing lode or placer claims without affecting their validity. Additionally, the bill creates an Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund in the U.S. Treasury, which will receive deposits from claim maintenance fees collected on these mill sites. The funds can be used exclusively to support abandoned hardrock mine remediation efforts, as outlined in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The bill also makes several technical amendments to existing mining claim maintenance fee regulations, updating references and restructuring fee-related language. Throughout the legislation, the bill emphasizes that it does not diminish existing rights, create new rights on lands not open to mining, or limit the federal government's ability to regulate mining activities, particularly in environmentally or historically sensitive areas.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1366/all-info