The Government Rarely Checks Who Mines Your Land

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You own the federal land out West. The Bureau of Land Management hands out hardrock mining claims on it, and the law says the claimant has to be a U.S. citizen or a company incorporated here. On Friday, Oct. 16, the Government Accountability Office reported that BLM generally does not collect citizenship information and does not document whether claimants meet that rule. BLM's own officials told GAO the agency "rarely verifies" citizenship.

So GAO checked a sample itself. Of 15 claimants that appeared to be businesses, GAO could not find evidence that 7 were incorporated in the United States, and BLM could not help resolve it.

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By the Numbers

• 7 of 15: sampled business claimants GAO could not confirm were incorporated in the U.S., as the law requires¹
• Rarely: how often BLM officials told GAO the agency verifies a claimant's citizenship¹
• 2: countries, Australia and Canada, that GAO says collect detailed foreign-investor information and can block or condition the investment¹

The Subsidiary Door

A foreign company cannot hold a federal mining claim. A U.S.-incorporated subsidiary of a foreign company can. GAO says claimants do not have to tell BLM whether they are anyone's subsidiary, foreign or domestic, and do not have to report foreign investment. The law draws a line, and the agency rarely checks which side of it a claimant stands on.

Read 7 of 15 for what it is. GAO calls its sample nongeneralizable, so it does not estimate the share of all claimants, and "could not find evidence" of U.S. incorporation is not proof of foreign ownership. It shows that the auditors went looking and the agency holding the records could not help them find the answer.

Australia and Canada run it differently. GAO says both collect detailed information on foreign investors, can prohibit or condition an investment, and limit the control foreign state-owned enterprises can take over critical-minerals businesses.

Washington says it wants the same thing those countries protect. GAO notes that the administration and Congress have voiced concern about relying on foreign critical minerals, and the President has called for expanding production on federal land. BTP argues you cannot cure foreign dependence by opening more of your land to claimants the government rarely identifies.

The minerals belong to the public. The public should at least know who holds the claim.

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Sources

1. U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-27-108196, "Critical Minerals: BLM Should Ensure Individuals and Businesses Meet Citizenship Requirements for Hardrock Mining Claims", October 16, 2026

Burn Notice: The ground belongs to you, and the government rarely asks who is digging in it.

Michael