Lets companies lease certain federal lands to dig for hardrock minerals.
This bill would allow companies to lease federal lands, specifically those acquired by the government, to extract hardrock minerals like gold, copper, and gemstones. Currently, these lands can only be leased for minerals such as oil, gas, and sulfur. The change would open up new areas for mining these specific types of minerals.
Today, the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands allows for the leasing of minerals like oil, gas, and sulfur on federal lands that the government purchased. Hardrock minerals are not explicitly included. If this bill becomes law, the Act would be changed to specifically include hardrock minerals. This would allow them to be leased and extracted on these acquired federal lands.
S 3708 · 119th Congress · January 28, 2026 · AI Summary by gemini-2.5-flash · 8/10
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