Democrats seek probe into foreign mining on public land

Democrats in the United States House of Representatives want to know how much the government knows about about foreign investment in mining on federally managed lands.

Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the ranking Demorat on the House Natural Resources committee, and five other party members are asking the Government Accountability Office to probe how much is known. 

The group also wants to know how closely the federal government tracks exports of minerals extracted from public lands and whether mining companies are complying with U.S. environmental and human rights standards.

“The House Natural Resources Committee has received information that U.S. mineral supply chains lack the necessary oversight and regulation to ensure that U.S. companies are in compliance with U.S. laws,” Grijalva wrote in a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.

“Additionally, there is evidence that U.S. companies seeking mineral leases on federal lands may be subsidiaries of foreign companies, including adversarial countries, accused of serious human rights and environmental violations.”

According to the group, the Government Accountability Office has previously reported that there are over 700 operations authorized to mine hard rock minerals on federal lands. However, the amount of mineral production is unknown because federal agencies don’t collect data on the amount and value of hard rock minerals extracted from federal lands.

Unlike oil and gas or coal mining, hard rock mining companies do not pay any royalties for the publicly owned minerals they extract.

Nevada bill

Last week, Democrats and Republicans joined forces to block a bill by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) to address a court ruling adopting a stricter interpretation of the 150-year-old General Mining Law.

The “Mining Regulatory Clarity Act” would have made it clear that mining companies can store waste on land that doesn’t have economically recoverable minerals.

The move appears linked to Lithium Americas (TSX: LAC; NYSE: LAC) and its Thacker Pass project in Nevada. In February last year, U.S. federal court judge Miranda Du ruled the federal Bureau of Land Management must determine if the developer is allowed to store waste rock and tailings on part of the 24-sq.-km site.

At question is whether the 5 sq. km of government land to hold the waste contains lithium. Another court in a separate case ruled in 2022 that miners don’t have the right to use government land in their project if it doesn’t contain valuable minerals.