GAO Report on Critical Minerals, BLM Should Ensure Individuals and Businesses Meet Citizenship Requirements for Hardrock Mining Claims
The Government Accountability Office examined the Bureau of Land Management’s process for mining claims on federal lands. The GAO found that the BLM rarely collected information to verify if individuals and businesses met citizenship requirements for these claims. This lack of verification meant the BLM generally did not know whether claimants were qualified to extract minerals from federal lands.
Mining Claim Citizenship Issues
The Bureau of Land Management administers mining claims for hardrock minerals on federal lands. U.S. mining laws require mining claimants to be U.S. citizens or business entities incorporated in a U.S. state or territory. Foreign entities cannot hold claims, but their subsidiaries can if incorporated in the U.S. BLM does not collect citizenship information from claimants. The agency does not document whether claimants meet U.S. citizenship requirements. GAO analyzed 15 mining claimants that appeared to be business entities. The analysis found evidence that seven of these claimants were not incorporated in the U.S. BLM lacked the necessary information to verify incorporation status.
Why GAO Looked Into It
The administration and Congress expressed concern about U.S. reliance on foreign sources for critical minerals. The President called for expanding mineral production from federal lands. GAO was asked to review issues related to foreign entities’ involvement in mining on federal lands. The review examined the extent to which BLM collects, documents, and reviews mining claimants’ citizenship information and how selected mineral-producing countries address foreign investments in mining.
What GAO Recommends
GAO made 1 recommendation to Bureau of Land Management:
- The Director of BLM should direct BLM staff to collect citizenship information from mining claimants and document that they meet the citizenship requirements under U.S. mining laws to hold mining claims.
The full report, Critical Minerals: BLM Should Ensure Individuals and Businesses Meet Citizenship Requirements for Hardrock Mining Claims, is on GAO’s site, publicly released Oct 16, 2026.