A US federal interagency working group focused on mining reform and led by the Interior Department released its final report on Sept. 12, with dozens of recommendations for executive and congressional action to modify US mine permitting regulations.
The recommendations include a new leasing system for mine claims on public lands; modifications to the mine permitting process, including transparency and efficiency efforts similar to those under the permitting process of Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act; and improved consultation between federal and tribal governments. Some of the proposed changes would require Congress to amend the General Mining Law of 1872, which governs US mining claims. Others are actions the administration can take on its own.
The group, referred to as the Interagency Working Group on Mining Laws, Regulations and Permitting, was launched in February 2022 in response to a February 2021 executive order from US President Joe Biden requiring a review of US supply chains. The group consists of specialists in mine permitting and environmental law.
Improving community engagement
"The government and mining companies need to engage tribes and local communities more often, more frequently and earlier in the process," Tommy Beaudreau, deputy secretary of the Interior Department, told reporters on a Sept. 12 call. "Efficient and timely permitting requires the engagement of people who are going to be most affected by a mine."
The Biden administration has already introduced some changes to the consultation process via a proposal to modify permitting changes under the National Environmental Policy Act, which has received backlash from mining groups and some Republicans in Congress.
Changing US mining law
The biggest takeaway from the report is that the 1872 mining law for accessing minerals on public lands "needs to be reformed and brought to the 21st century," Beaudreau said.
Those legal reforms should include implementing royalties on hard-rock mining operations, Beaudreau said. Hard-rock mining companies operating on public lands do not currently pay royalties despite previous attempts from Democrat lawmakers to modify the 1872 law to include such fees for new and existing mines. Introducing royalties would open the door for funding mine reclamation and would incentivize miners to develop existing claims, Beaudreau said.
"[The lack of a mining royalty] is one of the reasons we don't have the funding we need to address the hundreds of thousands of abandoned hard-rock mines that dot the American West and create safety hazards and pollution for land and water across our country," Beaudreau said. "There is no way under the current law to incentivize companies to develop their existing mining claims. It is common for speculators to stake claims and sit on them for decades with no intention of ever producing any minerals, including ... critical minerals."
Industry not thrilled
The US mining industry, which stands to benefit from domestic supply chain incentives built into the Inflation Reduction Act, slammed the recommendations of the working group.
Most of the recommendations "reveal a fundamental lack of understanding of our industry and the laws that govern it, and will throw insurmountable obstacles in the way of responsible domestic projects and would-be investment," Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the trade group the National Mining Association, said in a statement.
Prospects in Congress
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee, was quick to praise the group's report. Grijalva sponsored several recent bills that sought to establish hard-rock mine royalties, though none of them have gotten a vote under the Republican House majority.
"The Biden administration's new report ... is a welcome, commonsense set of recommendations for Congress, federal agencies and industry to modernize our more than 150-year-old mining law in a way that better protects tribes, nearby communities, our environment and taxpayer dollars," Grijalva said in a Sept. 12 statement. "I look forward to working with my colleagues and the administration to implement these long-overdue reforms."
Republicans have historically opposed adding royalties, instead seeking to accelerate mine permitting by cutting some of the requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act.
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