H.R. 3872, an act to amend the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands to make that act applicable to hardrock minerals

H.R. 3872 would authorize the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to lease all acquired federal land for hardrock mineral extraction. Acquired land is land that was previously owned by private or state entities, comprising about 10 percent of all federal land. Under current law, about one-quarter of that land is eligible for hardrock mineral leases.

The estimated budgetary effects of H.R. 3872 are shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).

Lessees pay the government annual rent as well as royalties based on the value of any hardrock minerals produced. Those payments are recorded in the budget as offsetting receipts, or reductions in direct spending. From 2023 to 2025, the government collected about $7 million each year, mostly from royalty payments. In CBO’s assessment, receipts from leases on newly eligible land would be proportional to those collected under current law.

CBO expects that lessees would spend several years developing sites before production begins and that as a result, the government would not collect royalty payments from new leases until halfway through 2032. On that basis, and including the effects of anticipated inflation, CBO estimates that receipts under the legislation would total $125 million over the 2026‑2036 period; of that amount, less than $500,000 would be attributable to rent.

Using the costs of managing and permitting existing hardrock mineral leases, CBO estimates that BLM would spend $15 million over the 2026-2031 period to manage additional leases under H.R. 3872. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Emma Uebelhor. The estimate was reviewed byChad Chirico, Director of Budget Analysis.