Sponsors (5)
The bill makes it easier for mining operators to site multiple small mill facilities and creates a dedicated fund to remediate abandoned hardrock mines while preserving existing federal protections — trading increased remediation funding and operational certainty for greater localized environmental and land-use risks and a narrower use of fee revenue.
Rural communities and local governments will have a dedicated Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund that receives claim-maintenance fees and can be spent (without further appropriation) for IIJA mine remediation, increasing funding and certainty for cleanup of legacy hardrock mine sites.
Local governments and rural communities retain existing federal environmental and cultural protections because the bill preserves authorities and prior withdrawals under statutes like FLPMA, the Wilderness Act, the ESA, and NHPA.
Small-business owners and energy/mining companies can site multiple small (up to 5-acre) mill sites under an approved plan, simplifying on-site waste and tailings management and easing operational logistics for mining projects.
Rural communities may face increased local environmental and public-health risks from placing new mill sites and associated tailings/waste rock on public lands near population centers.
Taxpayers and the federal budget could be affected because claim-maintenance fees are deposited into a dedicated fund (reducing general Treasury receipts) and are tied to specified IIJA programs rather than remaining available for broader budgetary uses.
Rural communities and local governments could see concentrated industrial activity on specific tracts where claimants hold lode/placer claims, creating land‑use conflicts and reduced recreation or other non‑industrial access.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows multiple 5‑acre hardrock mill sites under one approved plan of operations on qualifying public land, creates a fund for claim fees to support abandoned mine work, and preserves existing protections.
Introduced February 12, 2025 by Catherine Marie Cortez Masto · Last progress February 12, 2025
Allows multiple hardrock mining mill sites (each up to 5 acres) to be located inside a single approved plan of operations on public lands that are open to location under the mining laws, while confirming those mill sites are not patentable and do not transfer mineral rights. Creates a dedicated Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund to collect claim-maintenance fees from those mill sites and permits the Department of the Interior to spend those receipts, without further appropriation, to carry out specified mine remediation activities under existing law. Clarifies fee language for claim maintenance and location fees without changing amounts or payment timing, and explicitly preserves existing federal regulatory authorities and preexisting land withdrawals (for example, laws such as FLPMA, the Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act).