GAO urges BLM to verify citizenship of hardrock mining claimants

The Government Accountability Office issued report GAO-27-108094 recommending that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) require mining claimants to provide citizenship information and document compliance with U.S. mining-law citizenship requirements. The recommendation targets individuals and business entities that hold hardrock mining claims on federal lands.

U.S. mining statutes stipulate that claimants must be U.S. citizens, which includes individuals and entities incorporated in a U.S. state or territory. Foreign entities are ineligible, although subsidiaries incorporated domestically may qualify. GAO found that BLM's current regulations and guidance collect only basic identifying data and do not require claimants to disclose citizenship or corporate ownership structures.

In a nongeneralizable sample of 15 business claimants, GAO could not verify that seven were incorporated in the United States, noting that BLM lacked the information needed to make that determination. GAO concluded that, without a systematic collection and documentation process, BLM does not have reasonable assurance that only qualified claimants hold mining rights.

The report cites Australia and Canada as examples of mineral-producing nations that gather detailed foreign-investment data and impose restrictions on foreign state-owned enterprises in the critical-minerals sector. GAO notes that the President has called for expanded mining on federal lands amid concerns about U.S. reliance on imported critical minerals.

GAO's sole recommendation directs the BLM Director to instruct staff to collect citizenship information from claimants and to document that each claimant meets the statutory requirements. The Department of the Interior has not provided comments on the report, and GAO will update its status when the agency's response is available.