Nevada Copper Corp NEVDQ

mineral royalty plan floated in Congress

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U.S. miners decry mineral royalty plan floated in Congress

 By Ernest Scheyder Sept 16 (Reuters) - U.S. mining companies are blasting proposals in Congress that would set royalties for copper, lithium and other minerals extracted from federal land, with executives saying the measures would hurt domestic production of the building blocks for solar panels, electric vehicles and other green technologies. The House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee added language to the proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation spending measure last week that would set an 8% gross royalty on existing mines and 4% on new ones. There would also be a 7 cent fee for every ton of rock moved.  That would mark one of the most-substantial changes to the law that has governed U.S. mining since 1872 and could raise about $2 billion over 10 years for federal coffers. [nL1N2QC013] The full House could reverse the committee's move and the legislation faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. Senate. "The race for electric vehicles and electrification of the economy requires metals and mining, and that needs to be incentivized, not stalled," said Rich Nolan, head of the National Mining Association, an industry trade group. Tensions are rising in the United States over how best to procure minerals needed to green the economy. President Joe Biden has yet to take a public stance on the issue, though privately he has signaled plans to rely on allies for EV metals, Reuters reported earlier this year. [nL2N2NC32W][nL2N2NM2PG] The 1872 law did not set royalties in order to encourage development of more than 350 million acres in the western United States. Miners say it should remain as-is, or be tweaked only slightly. Environmentalists have long said the law should be updated to require the industry to pay to extract minerals on taxpayer-owned land.