Congresswoman Introduces Bill to End 150-Year Mining Royalty Exemption on Public Lands
For more than a century and a half, corporations have extracted gold, silver, and other hardrock minerals from American public lands without paying a single dollar in royalties to the taxpayers who own them. On public lands in places like Canjilon, New Mexico, where uranium mining sites sit under federal oversight, that dynamic could soon change under a newly proposed federal measure.
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández introduced the American Minerals Royalty and Investment Act, legislation designed to require companies extracting publicly owned hardrock minerals to pay a direct royalty and reinvest those revenues into domestic communities and critical mineral processing facilities. The announcement, filmed on location at a proposed uranium mining site, targets provisions established by the General Mining Act of 1872.
While industries extracting oil, natural gas, and coal have paid federal royalties for over a century—returning billions of dollars to public coffers—hardrock mineral extraction has remained entirely exempt. Under the newly proposed framework, foreign-owned corporations utilizing shell companies to mine critical minerals for free would face strict new requirements, addressing concerns that valuable resources are routinely shipped straight to overseas adversaries.
New Fund Targets Mine Cleanup and Domestic Supply Chains
The financial stakes for American communities center on two mounting pressures: domestic supply chain security and environmental cleanup. Nearly 90,000 abandoned hardrock mine features currently sit on federal lands, continuing to pose documented health and environmental risks while leaving taxpayers to cover remediation expenses.
To address this legacy, the legislation establishes a Hardrock Mineral Reinvestment Fund to distribute collected revenues. It also creates a Department of the Interior financial assistance program aimed at helping domestic entities build, expand, or modernize critical mineral processing facilities and equipment across the United States.
“Since 1872, mining companies have been taking gold, silver, and other valuable minerals from our public lands without paying Americans a dime in royalties. It’s time the American people got their fair share,” said Congresswoman Leger Fernández.
Original cosponsors supporting the measure in the House include Jared Huffman, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, alongside Representatives Kathy Castor, Melanie Stansbury, Sylvia Garcia, Jasmine Crockett, and Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Phased Royalty Payments Allow Industry Transition
The legislation provides a structured transition period for production operating under plans or permits approved before enactment. Covered operations would face no royalty for the first five years, half of the otherwise applicable rate for the next five years, and the full applicable rate after ten years.
Conservation and environmental organizations have voiced strong backing for the reform. Charlie Olsen, Senior Policy Manager of Government Affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, noted the scale of historic extraction.
“For over 150 years, the hardrock mining industry has extracted more than $300 billion dollars’ worth of minerals from public lands without paying the American people their fair share,” said Olsen. “This legislation is a solid step towards providing a tangible return for those public minerals extracted.”
Additional support has been registered by The Wilderness Society, Earthjustice Action, New Mexico Wild, Earthworks, and Public Citizen. The full legislative text and structural breakdown of the proposal are available through the American Minerals Royalty and Investment Act document.
