Reducing Critical Mineral Project Lead Times

Increasing the domestic mining and processing of critical minerals requires reducing project lead times in order to compete with other countries in attracting industry investment. Long lead times for domestic projects span multiple development stages including exploration, planning, and permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In extreme cases, projects can take 30 years from initial mineral deposit discovery to commercial production.

The Solution

Policymakers must enact tailored policies that reduce lead times across project development timelines from exploration to permitting, reforming permitting bottlenecks unique to the minerals industry. These benefits can complement broader reforms to permitting under NEPA, cutting lead times and robustly expanding the U.S. project pipeline.

For example, Congress should extend and expand funding of the Earth Mapping Resource Initiative (Earth MRI) which collects preliminary mineral exploration data. Public access to such data can reduce lead times by 20%, allowing industry to advance to later development stages and prioritize more promising deposits. Expanded funding could compound the program’s value by supporting subsurface core drilling, a key following stage in mineral exploration.

Meanwhile, reforming regulations and statutes specific to the mineral industry can remove unnecessary bottlenecks that impede developers. The General Mining Law, for example, governs how developers claim and use parcels of federal land for mineral development. Updating outdated provisions devised during the era of small scale mining would make it easier to develop mine plans and revise them if warranted by issues encountered during NEPA reviews.

Collectively, these policies can shorten lead times by equipping developers with better geologic information while empowering agencies to more efficiently process NEPA reviews.

Summary of Legislative Recommendations

• Enhance federal spending on Earth MRI to $100 million for the next 7 years to continue robust domestic discovery of new mineral resources while additionally performing subsurface drilling and mine waste recovery feasibility studies.

• Remove cost sharing caps for rock sample programs at state geological survey facilities to expand analyses of historic samples that could identify critical mineral deposits.

• Construct roads in strategic areas to facilitate mineral project development.

• Ban mine claim patenting to permanently eliminate the risk of mine claim speculators squatting on and purchasing federal land at unreasonably low prices.

• Amend the General Mining Law to enable more flexible and efficient mine planning.

• Fund federal siting consultations for key mineral processing and refining facilities.

• Offer critical minerals project developers federal cost sharing opportunities to hire 3rd party environmental contractors to complete field work and environmental permitting.

• Task permitting agencies to proactively collect data relevant to NEPA reviews well before developers apply to permit mines.

Summary of Regulatory Recommendations:

• Increase the maximum acreage to 25 acres for notice-level mineral exploration activities.

• Improve consistency of BLM and U.S.F.S. regulations to reduce developer confusion and eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.

• Clarify regulatory definitions of mining activities such as “reasonably incident” in greater detail to expedite agency oversight of developer submittals and ensure low impact activities do not unnecessarily require NEPA reviews due to ambiguity.

• Promulgate a categorical exclusion under NEPA that covers minor modifications to mine plans of operations such as changes to operational sequences.

• Rescind General Mining Law regulations that require developers to occupy each 2.5 acre segment of mill sites.

• Promote an efficient workforce culture at permitting agencies with pre-consultation meetings, independent liaisons, and public facing websites.

• Expedite the reclamation bond process by establishing pre-approved financial assurance amounts for developers.