Sponsors (3)
The bill increases transparency and government oversight of PRC-linked mining operations—helping supply-chain due diligence, protecting workers, and flagging environmental harms—but may produce reputational errors, shift costs to private actors and affected communities, and create diplomatic friction without providing remediation resources.
Businesses, financial institutions, and consumers receive recurring, unclassified public reports naming PRC-linked mining entities tied to forced labor or environmental harm, improving supply-chain transparency and enabling better investment and procurement decisions.
Workers and rural communities in affected African protected areas face reduced risk of exploitation and abuse as bad-actor mines are exposed to scrutiny.
Environmental protection is strengthened in affected areas by identifying operations causing contamination or biodiversity loss, enabling targeted diplomacy or enforcement to limit environmental damage.
Companies, investors, and local communities risk reputational and economic harm from contested or incorrect listings because the reporting may rely on imperfect open-source or embassy-derived information, producing false positives or omissions.
Costs and compliance burdens are likely shifted onto African communities, private companies, and U.S. buyers—without accompanying remediation funding—leading to supply-chain disruptions and potentially higher prices for consumers.
Public naming of PRC-linked entities could complicate diplomacy with China and African governments, undermining cooperation on trade, security, or other bilateral/regional issues.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the State Department to publish an annual public list for five years naming PRC entities and mining sites in African countries assessed to use forced labor or harm protected areas.
Official title: To require the Secretary of State to annually issue a list of of People's Republic of China-origin entities carrying out mining involving forced labor or causing environmental harm in certain African countries, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 30, 2026 by Max Miller · Last progress April 30, 2026
Requires the State Department to publish, once a year for five years after enactment, a public unclassified list (with an optional classified annex for Congress) naming PRC entities the Secretary reasonably assesses are mining critical minerals, gold, or iron in specified African countries and either using forced labor or causing environmental harm in protected areas, and identifying each mine, mining zone, or concession. The Secretary must rely on open-source reporting, embassy information, and consultations with relevant U.S. agencies and foreign counterparts when preparing the list.