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GAO-13-45R 1 (2012-11-15)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacgra0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Acona ity * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 November 15, 2012 The Honorable Rail M. Grijalva Ranking Member Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands Committee on Natural Resources House of Representatives The Honorable Tom Udall United States Senate Subject: Mineral Resources: Mineral Volume, Value, and Revenue The Department of the Interior (Interior) administers minerals found in over 700 million acres of federal lands, 57 million acres on Indian lands, and 1.8 billion acres below offshore waters. Operators who lease these lands and extract these minerals pay billions of dollars annually that are shared among federal, state, and Indian tribal governments and are one of the largest nontax sources of revenue to the federal government. Some of these minerals, such as oil, gas, and coal, are available through leases requiring payments in the form of rents and bonuses, which are required to secure and maintain a lease, and royalties, which are based on the value of the minerals that are extracted. These minerals are generally known as leasable minerals. The Department of the Interior's Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) is responsible for compiling data on the volume and value of leasable minerals produced from all federal and Indian lands where there is a trust responsibility, and collecting the appropriate payments. In contrast, other minerals, such as gold, silver, and copper, are governed by the General Mining Act of 1872, which makes these minerals available to operators through a federal claim-patent system that provides the right to explore, extract, and develop the federal mineral deposit without having to pay a royalty.1 These minerals are generally known as hardrock minerals.2 You asked us to review minerals extracted from federal lands. Our objectives were to provide information on the (1) volume and dollar value of leasable minerals extracted 1Since 1995, under provisions in the annual appropriations act, Congress has enacted a series of 1-year moratoria on the issuance of mineral patents. 2In addition to leasable and hardrock minerals, there is a third category, known as saleable minerals, which include such materials as sand, stone, and gravel; these minerals are generally widespread, of low value, and available for sale through Interior's Bureau of Land Management. We do not discuss saleable minerals in this report. GAO-13-45R Mineral Resources

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