GAO: Federal Land Agency Rarely Checks Whether Mining Claim Holders Are U.S. Citizens, as the Law Requires

The federal agency that manages mining claims on public land "generally does not know whether mining claimants are qualified to hold mining claims," because it rarely collects or checks citizenship information, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Oct. 16.

U.S. mining laws require mining claimants to be U.S. citizens, which can include business entities incorporated in a U.S. state or territory. "Foreign entities are not qualified to be claimants, but their subsidiaries can hold claims if they are incorporated in the U.S.," the report says.

What GAO Found on Mining Claimants' Citizenship

According to GAO, the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management "generally does not collect citizenship information and does not document if mining claimants meet the U.S. citizenship requirements." The report adds that "BLM officials said the agency rarely verifies the citizenship of mining claimants."

GAO also notes that mining claimants "are not required to disclose to BLM if they are a subsidiary of another entity, foreign or domestic, and they do not have to provide information on any foreign investment they may receive."

To test the system, GAO picked a sample of 15 mining claimants that appeared to be business entities. The sample included all seven claimants that matched records of companies incorporated in foreign countries, "all of which were from Canada," plus eight chosen at random. GAO says it "could not find evidence that seven of the claimants were incorporated in the U.S., as required."

GAO describes the sample as "nongeneralizable," meaning it does not show how common the problem is across all claims, and says "it is possible that some of these entities may be incorporated in the U.S." But "BLM was unable to help determine if these entities met the requirement to be incorporated in the U.S. because it did not have the necessary information to do so," the report says.

Foreign-Owned Subsidiaries at Critical Mineral Mines

A companion GAO report, GAO-27-108094, looked at who owns the companies behind critical mineral mines on federal land. As of February 2026, it says, "there were 632 approved hardrock mining plans of operation on federal land."

GAO reviewed ownership information for 43 claimants and operators tied to critical mineral mines. It determined ownership for 32 of them "and found that 14 were subsidiaries of foreign entities."

None of the 14 had Chinese-owned parent companies, according to GAO, "but in at least two cases, Chinese entities had financial interest in the foreign parent companies." In one case, a U.S. subsidiary operating a critical mineral mine had a parent company in the United Kingdom that "was at least 11 percent owned by a Chinese state-owned company," the report says, citing S&P Capital IQ. In another, "a Chinese-owned entity held an approximately 12 percent ownership stake in the Canadian parent company, and a member of that Canadian company's board also held a board position in the Chinese entity."

"According to BLM officials, U.S. mining laws and regulations do not prevent a company based in an adversarial country from holding ownership over a U.S.-incorporated subsidiary," the report says.

The companion report also found that in 2025, the U.S. exported "over 2 billion kilograms of selected hardrock critical minerals, not including any waste or scrap minerals, valued at more than $11 billion," based on Census Bureau trade data.

How Australia and Canada Do It

GAO compared the U.S. approach with two of the world's top mineral producers. "Australia and Canada—examples of top mineral-producing countries—collect detailed information on foreign investors in businesses in their countries," the report says, and both "limit the ability of foreign state-owned enterprises and other foreign investors to acquire control of businesses involving critical minerals."

What GAO Recommended

GAO made one recommendation: that the director of BLM "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."

Until that happens, GAO says, "BLM lacks reasonable assurance that only qualified individuals and business entities hold mining claims that allow them to extract and profit from the minerals produced on federal lands."

The Interior Department, which oversees BLM, "did not provide comments on the report," according to GAO. The Department of Agriculture, which includes the Forest Service, "did not have any comments on the report."

The reports come as, in GAO's words, "the President has called for expanding mineral production from federal lands." GAO said it was asked by members of Congress to review foreign involvement in mining on federal lands.

Sources: U.S. Government Accountability Office, "Critical Minerals: BLM Should Ensure Individuals and Businesses Meet Citizenship Requirements for Hardrock Mining Claims," GAO-27-108196, October 2026 (released Oct. 16, 2026): https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-27-108196 (PDF: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-27-108196.pdf); U.S. Government Accountability Office, "Critical Minerals: Limited Available Information on the Full Extent of Foreign Investment in Mining on Federal Lands," GAO-27-108094, Oct. 6, 2026 (released Oct. 16, 2026): https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-27-108094 (PDF: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-27-108094.pdf)