Sec. 70807. Hardrock mining

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In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Bureau of Land Management for fiscal year 2022, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated $2,500,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2031, except that no amounts may be expended after September 30, 2031, for all activities necessary to inventory, assess, decommission, reclaim, respond to hazardous substance releases on, and remediate abandoned locatable minerals mine land. Except as provided in paragraph

(2)and subject to paragraph (3), production of all locatable minerals from any mining claim located under the general mining laws and maintained in compliance with this Act, or mineral concentrates or products derived from locatable minerals from any such mining claim, as the case may be, shall be subject to a royalty of 8 percent of the gross income from mining. The claim holder or any operator to whom the claim holder has assigned the obligation to make royalty payments under the claim and any person who controls such claim holder or operator shall be liable for payment of such royalties. The royalty under paragraph

(2)shall be 4 percent in the case of any Federal land that is subject to an approved plan of operations on the date of the enactment of this Act. Any Federal land added through a plan modification to a mining plan of operations that is submitted after the date of enactment of this Act shall be subject to the royalty that applies to Federal land under paragraph (1). Any royalty under this subsection shall not apply to small miners. In this subparagraph, the term small miner means a person (including all related parties thereto) that certifies to the Secretary in writing that the person had annual gross income in the preceding calendar year from mineral production in an amount less than $100,000. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term related parties means, with respect to a person— the spouse and all dependents (as defined in section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 ( 26 U.S.C. 152 )) of the person; or another person who is affiliated with the person, including— another person who controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the person; and a subsidiary or parent company or corporation of the person. For purposes of this paragraph, the term control includes actual control, legal control, and the power to exercise control, through or by common directors, officers, stockholders, a voting trust, or a holding company or investment company, or any other means. The Secretary shall prescribe by rule the time and manner in which— a person who is required to make a royalty payment under this section shall make such payment; and shall notify the Secretary of any assignment that such person may have made of the obligation to make any royalty or other payment under a mining claim under this section. Any person paying royalties under this section shall file a written instrument, together with the first royalty payment, affirming that such person is responsible for making proper payments for all amounts due for all time periods for which such person has a payment responsibility. Such responsibility for the periods referred to in subparagraph

(B)shall include any and all additional amounts billed by the Secretary and determined to be due by final agency or judicial action. Any person liable for royalty payments under this section who assigns any payment obligation shall remain jointly and severally liable for all royalty payments due for the period. A person conducting mineral activities shall— develop and comply with the site security provisions in the mining plan of operations designed to protect from theft the hardrock minerals, concentrates, or products derived therefrom that are produced or stored on the area subject to a mining claim or lease, and such provisions shall conform with such minimum standards as the Secretary may prescribe by rule, taking into account the variety of circumstances on areas subject to mining claims and leases; and not later than the 5th business day after production begins anywhere on an area subject to a mining claim, or production resumes after more than 90 days after production was suspended, notify the Secretary, in the manner prescribed by the Secretary, of the date on which such production has begun or resumed. The Secretary may by rule require any person engaged in transporting a hardrock mineral, concentrate, or product derived therefrom to carry on his or her person, in his or her vehicle, or in his or her immediate control, documentation showing, at a minimum, the amount, origin, and intended destination of the hardrock mineral, concentrate, or product derived therefrom in such circumstances as the Secretary determines is appropriate. A claim holder, operator, or other person directly involved in developing, producing, processing, transporting, purchasing, or selling hardrock minerals, concentrates, or products derived therefrom, subject to this section, shall establish and maintain any records, make any reports, and provide any information that the Secretary may reasonably require for the purposes of implementing this section or determining compliance with rules or orders under this section. Such records shall include periodic reports, records, documents, and other data. Such reports may also include pertinent technical and financial data relating to the quantity, quality, composition volume, weight, and assay of all minerals extracted from the mining claim or lease. Failure by a claim holder or operator to cooperate with such an audit, provide data required by the Secretary, or grant access to information may, at the discretion of the Secretary, be declared void. Records required by the Secretary under this section shall be maintained for 7 years after release of financial assurance unless the Secretary notifies the operator that the Secretary has initiated an audit or investigation involving such records and that such records must be maintained for a longer period. In any case when an audit or investigation is underway, records shall be maintained until the Secretary releases the operator of the obligation to maintain such records. The Secretary is authorized to conduct such audits of all operators, transporters, purchasers, processors, or other persons directly or indirectly involved in the production or sale of minerals covered by this section, as the Secretary deems necessary for the purposes of ensuring compliance with the requirements of this section. For purposes of performing such audits, the Secretary shall, at reasonable times and upon request, have access to, and may copy, all books, papers and other documents that relate to compliance with any provision of this section by any person. In the case of production where royalty payments are not received by the Secretary on the date that such payments are due, the Secretary shall charge interest on such underpayments at the same interest rate as the rate applicable under section 6621(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. In the case of an underpayment, interest shall be computed and charged only on the amount of the deficiency and not on the total amount. If there is any underreporting of royalty owed on production for any production month by any person liable for royalty payments under this section, the Secretary shall assess a penalty of not greater than 25 percent of the amount of that underreporting. The Secretary may waive or reduce the assessment provided in subparagraph

(B)if the person liable for royalty payments under this section corrects the underreporting before the date such person receives notice from the Secretary that an underreporting may have occurred, or before 90 days after the date of the enactment of this section, whichever is later. The Secretary shall waive any portion of an assessment under subparagraph

(B)attributable to that portion of the underreporting for which the person responsible for paying the royalty demonstrates that— such person had written authorization from the Secretary to report royalty on the value of the production on basis on which it was reported; such person had substantial authority for reporting royalty on the value of the production on the basis on which it was reported; such person previously had notified the Secretary, in such manner as the Secretary may by rule prescribe, of relevant reasons or facts affecting the royalty treatment of specific production which led to the underreporting; or such person meets any other exception which the Secretary may, by rule, establish. For the purposes of this subsection, the term underreporting means the difference between the royalty on the value of the production that should have been reported and the royalty on the value of the production which was reported, if the value that should have been reported is greater than the value that was reported. Each person liable for royalty payments under this section shall be jointly and severally liable for royalty on all hardrock minerals, concentrates, or products derived therefrom lost or wasted from a mining claim when such loss or waste is due to negligence on the part of any person or due to the failure to comply with any rule, regulation, or order issued under this section. For the purposes of this section, for any hardrock mineral, the term gross income from mining has the same meaning as the term gross income in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 C.F.R. 61). Royalties under this section shall take effect with respect to the production of hardrock minerals after the enactment of this Act, but any royalty payments attributable to production during the first 12 calendar months after the enactment of this Act shall be payable at the expiration of such 12-month period. Any person who fails to comply with the requirements of this section or any regulation or order issued to implement this section shall be liable for a civil penalty under section 109 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act ( 30 U.S.C. 1719 ) to the same extent as if the claim maintained in compliance with this title were a lease under such Act. Except as provided in paragraph (7), each operator conducting hardrock mineral activities shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior a reclamation fee of 7 cents per ton of displaced material. Such reclamation fee shall be paid not later than 60 days after the end of each calendar year beginning with the first calendar year occurring after the date of enactment of this Act. All operators conducting hardrock mineral activities shall submit to the Secretary a statement of the amount of displaced material produced during mineral activities during the previous calendar year, the accuracy of which shall be sworn to by the operator and notarized. Any corporate officer, agent, or director of a person conducting hardrock mineral activities, and any other person acting on behalf of such a person, who knowingly makes any false statement, representation, or certification, or knowingly fails to make any statement, representation, or certification, required under this section with respect to such operation shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000. Any portion of such reclamation fee not properly or promptly paid pursuant to this section shall be recoverable, with statutory interest, from the hardrock mineral activities operator, in any court of competent jurisdiction in any action at law to compel payment of debts. Nothing in this section requires a reduction in, or otherwise affects, any similar fee required under any law (including regulations) of any State. The fee under this section shall not apply for small miners. The term displaced material means any unprocessed ore and waste dislodged from its location at the time hardrock mineral activities begin at a surface, underground, or in-situ mine. The term hardrock mineral — means any mineral that was subject to location under the general mining laws as of the date of enactment of this Act, and that is not subject to disposition under— the Mineral Leasing Act ( 30 U.S.C. 181 et seq. ); the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 ( 30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. ); the Act of July 31, 1947, commonly known as the Materials Act of 1947 ( 30 U.S.C. 601 et seq. ); or the Mineral Leasing for Acquired Lands Act ( 30 U.S.C. 351 et seq. ); and does not include any mineral that is subject to a restriction against alienation imposed by the United States and is— held in trust by the United States for any Indian or Indian Tribe, as defined in section 2 of the Indian Miner Development Act of 1982 ( 25 U.S.C. 2101 ); or owned by any Indian or Indian Tribe, as defined in that section. The term mineral activities means any activity on a mining claim, mill site, or tunnel site, or a mining plan of operations, for, related to, or incidental to, mineral exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing, or reclamation activities for any hardrock mineral. The term operator means any person authorized at the date of enactment of this Act or proposing after the date of enactment of this Act to conduct mineral activities under the Mining Law of 1872 ( 30 U.S.C. 22 )and any agent of such person. The term small miner means a person (including all related parties thereto) that certifies to the Secretary in writing that the person had annual gross income in the preceding calendar year from mineral production in an amount less than $100,000. The term displaced material means any crude ore and waste dislodged from its location at the time hardrock mineral activities begin at a surface, underground, or in-situ mine. For each unpatented mining claim, mill, or tunnel site on federally owned lands, whether located before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act, each claimant shall pay to the Secretary, on or before September 1 of each year, a claim maintenance fee of $200 per claim to hold such unpatented mining claim, mill or tunnel site for the assessment year beginning at noon on the next day, September 1. For each unpatented placer mining claim on federally owned lands, whether located before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act, each claimant shall pay to the Secretary, on or before September 1 of each year, a claim maintenance fee of $200 for each 20 acres of the placer claim or portion thereof. Such claim maintenance fee described in this section shall be in lieu of the assessment work requirement contained in the Mining Law of 1872 ( 30 U.S.C. 28 et seq. ) and the related filing requirements contained in section 314

(a)and

(c)of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1744

(a)and (c)). The claim maintenance fee in this section shall be paid for the year in which the location is made, at the time the location notice is recorded with the Bureau of Land Management. The Secretary shall provide claimants notice of any adjustment made under this subsection not later than July 1 of any year in which the adjustment is made. A fee adjustment under this subsection shall begin to apply the first assessment year which begins after adjustment is made. The claim maintenance fee required under this section may be waived for a claimant who certifies in writing to the Secretary that on the date the payment was due, the claimant and all related parties— held not more than 10 mining claims, mill sites, or tunnel sites, or any combination thereof, on public lands; and have performed assessment work required under the Mining Law of 1872 ( 30 U.S.C. 28–28e ) to maintain the mining claims held by the claimant and such related parties for the assessment year ending on noon of September 1 of the calendar year in which payment of the claim maintenance fee was due. The co-ownership provisions of the Mining Law of 1872 ( 30 U.S.C. 28 et seq. ) shall remain in effect except that the annual claim maintenance fee, where applicable, shall replace applicable assessment requirements and expenditures. Failure to timely pay the claim maintenance fee as required by the Secretary shall conclusively constitute a forfeiture of the unpatented mining claim, mill or tunnel site by the claimant and the claim shall be deemed null and void by operation of law. In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Bureau of Land Management for fiscal year 2022, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $3,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2031, except that no amounts may be expended after September 30, 2031, to revise rules and regulations to prevent undue degradation of public lands due to hardrock mining activities as authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act ( 43 U.S.C. 1701 ) and the Mining Law of 1872 ( 30 U.S.C. 22 ).

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