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Leger Fernández Introduces Bill to Require Mining Companies to Pay Americans Their Fair Share in Royalties, Prohibit Adversaries Mining Federal Hardrock Minerals, and Invest in Domestic Critical Mineral Processing

Washington, October 29, 2026
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) introduced the American Minerals Royalty and Investment Act, landmark legislation to require companies extracting publicly owned hardrock minerals to pay a royalty and reinvest those revenues in American communities and domestic critical mineral processing.
Watch Congresswoman Leger Fernández announce the American Minerals Royalty and Investment Act.

The legislation was announced with a video filmed in a proposed uranium mining site in Canjilon, NM.

SANTA FE, NM — Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) introduced the American Minerals Royalty and Investment Act, landmark legislation to require companies extracting publicly owned hardrock minerals to pay a royalty and reinvest those revenues in American communities and domestic critical mineral processing.

The legislation would establish a royalty on covered federal hardrock minerals and create a Hardrock Mineral Reinvestment Fund to distribute the revenues. It would also establish a Department of the Interior financial assistance program to help domestic entities build, expand, or modernize critical mineral processing facilities and equipment in the United States. 

For over 150 years, the General Mining Act of 1872 has allowed corporations to mine publicly owned hardrock minerals like gold and silver without paying a royalty. Meanwhile, industries that extract other federal minerals like oil, natural gas, and coal have paid royalties for over 100 years, returning billions of dollars to American communities. Even foreign-owned corporations can set up shell companies to mine critical minerals for free, then ship them to our adversaries overseas. While mining corporations profit from our natural resources, American taxpayers are too often stuck with the cleanup costs. Nearly 90,000 abandoned hardrock mine features on federal lands still pose health or environmental risks.

“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. “Even Secretary Burgum agrees with me that foreign adversaries shouldn’t be mining our critical minerals. Why should China or Russia get our minerals—much less for free? My bill would stop adversaries from mining and use royalty revenues to build domestic processing facilities, invest in American workers, and clean up the abandoned mines left behind and invest in American mineral production. We should use America’s mineral wealth to build America’s mineral future. That should be bipartisan.”

Original cosponsors include Jared Huffman, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee and Representatives Kathy Castor, Melanie Stansbury, Sylvia Garcia, Jasmine Crockett, and Eleanor Holmes Norton.

The American Minerals Royalty and Investment Act would:

  • Establish a royalty on the sale or removal of federal hardrock minerals with a minimum royalty rate of 7 percent of gross income and a maximum royalty of 10 percent of gross income, which may vary by mineral.
  • Allowing royalty relief of up to 2 percent of gross income per condition if:
    • The mine operator or claim holder is a domestic entity; and/or 
    • The minerals produced from the claim are exported to a non-adversarial nation or processed domestically.
  • Allocates royalty revenues to States, Tribal Nations, the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Reclamation Program, and a new critical mineral financial assistance program.
  • Establishes a federal financial assistance program at the Department of the Interior to invest in domestic critical mineral processing facilities and equipment with strict environmental standards.
  • Prohibits foreign entities of concern or their subsidiaries from mining federal hardrock minerals.
The bill provides a transition period for production under plans or permits approved before enactment: no royalty for the first five years, half the otherwise applicable rate for the next five years, and the full applicable rate after ten years.

The legislation is supported by The Wilderness Society, National Parks Conservation Association, Earthjustice Action, New Mexico Wild, Earthworks, and Public Citizen.

“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 Charlie Olsen, Senior Policy Manager of Government Affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association. “This legislation is a solid step towards providing a tangible return for those public minerals extracted. NPCA supports the American Minerals Royalty and Investment Act and looks forward to working with Representative Leger Fernandez and the other bill sponsors to ensure that responsible mining respects the protections of our most special landscapes, our communities, and provides a fair return to the American people.”

“Mining on national public lands is the Wild West—a largely unregulated practice that poses serious risks to shared lands, waters and wildlife,” said Isabella Jaramillo, Government Relations Representative at The Wilderness Society. “It saddles the public with expensive cleanup costs and gives not a penny in return for extraction. This bill is a necessary step in reforming the outdated general mining law of 1872 and ensuring that the American people see a tangible return in this antiquated and exploited practice. Thank you Congresswoman Leger Fernández for your work to manage our national public lands on behalf of current and future generations.”

“For too long, outdated mining laws have allowed the industry to profit from public lands while leaving taxpayers and communities to bear the costs of environmental destruction,” said Abhilasha Bhola, climate campaigns director with Public Citizen’s Climate Program. “Congresswoman Leger Fernandez’s American Mineral Royalty and Investment Act is a critical step toward modernizing our outdated mining laws and ending the mining industry’s free ride. Congress must build on this momentum by passing further comprehensive reforms to ensure that mining companies, not taxpayers and communities, bear the costs of their operations and protect public health, the environment, and our public lands.”

“For too long, Americans have been forced to foot the bill for mining companies while bearing the brunt of the public health and environmental harms associated with abandoned hardrock mines,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, Senior Legislative Representative, Earthjustice Action. “With this bill, we would finally secure some initial steps for the mining reforms we need to shift the burden of costs away from American taxpayers, considerations for our environment, and secure Tribal and community protections.”

“For more than 150 years, outdated federal laws encouraged mining companies, foreign and domestic, to plunder America's minerals,” said Aaron Mintzes, Deputy Policy Director, Earthworks. “They also allowed mining on public lands without requiring companies to pay a royalty to taxpayers. Too often, the public has been left paying for cleanup. Rep. Leger Fernandez's bill requires companies to pay a portion of the profits earned by mining on public lands. It directs those funds where they are most needed — states, Tribes, abandoned mine cleanup, and conservation. Earthworks appreciates Congresswoman Leger Fernandez's leadership pursuing these overdue, common sense reforms.”

“New Mexicans and American taxpayers continue to be on the hook for legacy hardrock mining cleanup across the state, and new claims keep coming,” said Mark Allison, Executive Director of New Mexico Wild. “Adding insult to injury, under existing law, mining companies – including foreign based ones - pay the public no royalty for what they take from the public estate. The American Minerals Royalty and Investment Act provides a long overdue remedy. We’re grateful to Congresswoman Leger Fernández for her leadership introducing this desperately needed legislation.”

The bill text can be found here.

 
 
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