Rare Earths -- North Dakota Legislature Introduces Bill -- January 28, 2025

Locator: 48412B.

Rare earths are tracked here.

A reader, thank you very much, alerted me to this announcement.  

Rare Earths. North Dakota. Just a matter of time. Link here.

North Dakota House Bill 1459: A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new chapter to title 38 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to regulations, development, and production of critical minerals and rare earth elements; to amend and reenact section 47-10-24 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to descriptions and definitions of minerals in leases and conveyances; and to provide a penalty.

The legislation creates a new chapter in the state's legal code that defines key terms such as "critical minerals" (which include 35 specific minerals essential to economic or national security) and "rare earth elements" (metallic elements like lanthanide series, yttrium, and scandium). 

The bill also amends existing mineral rights law to clarify that leases for coal are now deemed to include critical minerals and rare earth elements associated with coal seams, unless specifically excluded.

Twelve sponsors: eleven Republicans, one Democrat. 

The "coal lobby" is going to like how "they" were grandfathered in to this potential windfall.