The bill creates a Mineral and Mining Innovation Initiative inside the Department of Energy. The Secretary of Energy must set up the initiative within 180 days of enactment. The initiative will support research, development, testing, demonstration, and commercialization of technologies and practices for identifying, mining, extracting, processing, recycling, and reprocessing minerals used across many industries. The initiative must coordinate with the Secretary of the Interior and other agencies (for example, NIOSH, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and MSHA) on safety and innovation.
The initiative’s duties include studying hard rock mining and unconventional mineral recovery technologies to improve resource identification and mapping, environmental performance (air, water, energy use, tailings and waste), efficiency and productivity, data collection and sharing, mine safety, reclamation and remediation, community engagement and consultation with Indian Tribes, workforce training, and reuse or repairability of products that contain critical minerals. Research focus areas include advanced exploration methods (geophysical and geochemical surveys, uncrewed survey platforms, core scanning), production and remediation methods (advanced drilling, digital mining, in-situ recovery, geometallurgy, beneficiation, co-mineral recovery, multimineral refining, whole rock processing), critical mineral recycling including battery recycling, and social acceptance and community engagement research. The Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior must submit a report to Congress within 3 years describing results. The initiative must re-evaluate research priorities at least every 5 years with input from Indian Tribes, academia, labs, and industry.
The initiative may enter into cooperative agreements, contracts, or partnerships with Indian Tribes, academic institutions (with a prioritization of mining universities), industry, nongovernmental entities, and certain foreign partners. The bill authorizes $100,000,000 per year for each fiscal year 2026 through 2035, to remain available until expended.
The bill authorizes $100,000,000 for each fiscal year 2026 through 2035 to carry out the initiative, with those funds to remain available until expended. That authorization equals $1,000,000,000 over the ten fiscal years named. No publicly available information on actual appropriations, spending plans, or other implementation costs beyond this authorization.
The bill’s stated purposes are to advance domestic mineral resources, circularity (reuse/recycling), economic growth, and national security by accelerating research, development, deployment, and commercialization of advanced mining and mineral recovery technologies. Supporters would point to better resource mapping, improved environmental performance, higher productivity, stronger data and safety practices, reclaimed and reused lands, and stronger community engagement and workforce development as intended outcomes described in the bill text.
No publicly available information on opponents’ views or specific criticisms in the provided bill text or metadata.