S.Amdt. 679

SA 679. Mr. UDALL submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2020 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle H of title X, add the following:

SEC. 10__. ROYALTIES FOR MINING; ABANDONED MINE RECLAMATION
FEES; LIMITATION ON PATENTS.

(a) In General.--Production of all locatable minerals,
including any minerals identified by the Secretary of
Commerce or the Secretary of the Interior as critical
minerals, from any mining claim located under the general
mining laws shall be subject to a royalty established by the
Secretary of the Interior by regulation of not less than 5
percent, and not more than 8 percent, of the gross income
from mining for production of all locatable minerals.
(b) Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fee.--Each operator of
a hardrock minerals mining operation shall pay to the
Secretary of the Interior a reclamation fee in an amount
established by the Secretary of the Interior by regulation of
not less than 1 percent, and not more than 3 percent, of the
value of the production from the hardrock minerals mining
operation for each calendar year.
(c) Limitation on Patents.--
(1) Determinations required.--No patent shall be issued by
the United States for any mining claim, millsite, or tunnel
site located under the general mining laws unless the
Secretary of the Interior determines that--
(A) a patent application was filed with the Secretary of
the Interior with respect to the claim not later than
September 30, 1994; and
(B) all requirements applicable to the patent application
under law were fully complied with by the date described in
subparagraph (A).
(2) Right to patent.--
(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B) and
notwithstanding paragraph (3), if the

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Secretary of the Interior makes the determinations under
subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) with respect to a
mining claim, millsite, or tunnel site, the claim holder
shall be entitled to the issuance of a patent in the same
manner and degree to which the claim holder would have been
entitled to a patent before the date of enactment of this
Act.
(B) Withdrawal.--The claim holder shall not be entitled to
the issuance of a patent if the determinations under
subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) are withdrawn or
invalidated by the Secretary of the Interior or, on review,
by a court of the United States.
(3) Repeal.--Section 2325 of the Revised Statutes (30
U.S.C. 29) is repealed.
______