S. 3659 — SECURE Minerals Act of 2026

This section establishes the Strategic Resilience Reserve Corporation of the United States as a wholly owned government corporation. The corporation's purposes include supporting domestic and partner country production, processing, recycling, and infrastructure for critical minerals and materials (i.e., minerals essential for economic and national security, such as those used in batteries, electronics, and defense technologies); maintaining stable prices and adequate supplies; ensuring, to the maximum extent practicable, that at least 25% of each critical mineral or material's production occurs domestically or with partner countries and dependence on foreign sources does not exceed 75%; prioritizing domestic projects, recycling from waste, and minerals with 100% foreign dependence; and promoting responsible production standards. The section authorizes $2,500,000,000 for the corporation, to remain available until expended.

This section establishes a seven-member Board of Governors for the Reserve, with members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, not later than 180 days after enactment. It (1) requires designation of a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from the members, each for a four-year term; (2) sets member terms at 14 years, with initial staggered terms expiring January 31 of 2028, 2030, 2032, 2034, 2036, 2038, and 2040, respectively; (3) requires vacancies to be filled within 180 days for the remainder of the term; (4) compensates members at level III of the Executive Schedule under 5 U.S.C. 5314; and (5) imposes conflicts-of-interest restrictions during service and for two years after, enforceable by the Comptroller General with cure periods of up to 120 days, removal for noncompliance, and potential criminal referral. Board appointees must have expertise in critical minerals or materials and represent Tribal, labor, environmental, industrial, and commercial interests.

This section authorizes the Reserve, to the extent necessary to develop, operate, or maintain it, to—(1) issue rules, regulations, or orders; (2) acquire by purchase land or interests in land for storage and related facilities; (3) construct, purchase, lease, or otherwise acquire such facilities; (4) use, lease, maintain, sell, or otherwise dispose of such land, interests, or facilities under terms and conditions the Board considers necessary or appropriate; (5) acquire, subject to the Act's requirements, critical minerals or materials by purchase, exchange, or otherwise for storage; (6) store such minerals or materials in U.S.-owned and -controlled facilities or in facilities owned by authorized intermediaries if the Reserve has sufficient contractual certainty of access and those facilities are subject to U.S. audit; (7) execute contracts with private entities for storage in private facilities under similar access and audit conditions; (8) partner with the private sector, academia, and federal agencies to further the Reserve's purposes, including to advance development and commercialization of responsible reuse and recycling processes for critical minerals and materials; and (9) execute any contracts necessary to develop, operate, or maintain the Reserve.

This section directs the Reserve, in consultation with heads of specified federal departments and agencies, to establish and maintain a list of critical minerals and materials eligible for financing or acquisition support under section 206. (As background, the U.S. Geological Survey publishes a list of critical minerals and the Department of Energy publishes a list of critical materials essential to energy technologies with supply chain vulnerabilities, per the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606).) A mineral or material qualifies for inclusion only if (1) it appears on the most recent U.S. Geological Survey critical minerals list (30 U.S.C. 1606(c)), Department of Energy critical materials list (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)), or is designated by the Defense Logistics Agency director; and (2) the Reserve determines it is a non-fuel mineral or material with a vulnerable or concentrated supply chain necessary for national defense, energy infrastructure (e.g., pipelines, refining, power generation and storage, renewables), domestic manufacturing, agriculture, housing, telecommunications, health care, transportation, or economic security. In maintaining the list, the Reserve must (1) add qualifying minerals or materials based on updated agency lists; (2) remove those off agency lists for at least three years or no longer meeting eligibility criteria; (3) consider supply assessments (under sections 204 and 205), domestic and partner-country market dynamics, substitutability, demand projections, and other relevant factors; and (4) exclude oil, oil shale, natural gas, coal, uranium, water, ice, snow, or common varieties of sand, gravel, stone, pumice, cinders, or clay. The Reserve must publish and update the list at least annually, including separate lists of (1) items removed within the prior three years and (2) items not on the main list but subject to active Reserve positions, contracts, or transactions.

This section establishes within the Reserve the Division of Data Collection, led by a Director selected by the Board. To the extent practicable, the division must (1) develop and maintain a proprietary dataset for thorough analysis of global critical minerals and materials markets; (2) collect and maintain datasets on global, domestic, and partner country markets—including project-level data—to inform production, extraction, infrastructure, repurposing, and recycling costs; collection and recycling rates; and supply-demand forecasts; (3) collect actual transaction price data (including geographic data) and other necessary datasets, such as modeled data or derivatives from China; (4) use such data to support activities in §§204 and 206; (5) consult specified federal agency heads (e.g., Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Interior, State, and Treasury; CEO of U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; CIA Director; USGS Director; and Export-Import Bank President, among others); (6) include data collection mechanisms in loan terms, contracts, and agreements under the Act; and (7) prioritize existing government data.

This section establishes within the Reserve the Division of Risk and Vulnerability Evaluation, led by a Director selected by the Board, to (1) develop or use models evaluating threats and risks to critical mineral and material markets across U.S. industrial sectors including defense, energy, agriculture, transportation, health, and emerging technology; (2) maintain a database of price movements, supply chain vulnerabilities, production and processing capacities, and consumption patterns; (3) identify critical dependencies threatening national security or economic stability; (4) assess potential impacts of geopolitical events, natural disasters, technological disruptions, or market failures; (5) develop methodologies modeling shock impacts on the U.S. economy; (6) assess vulnerabilities such as price spikes, supply disruptions, transportation failures, export controls, and financial disturbances; (7) model cross-sectoral effects on inflation, employment, government finances, and consumer welfare; (8) evaluate disruptions to infrastructure, national security assets, and essential services; and (9) use existing government data to the extent practicable. This section requires the Reserve to submit biennial comprehensive risk and vulnerability assessments for critical minerals and materials to the appropriate congressional committees, the President, and heads of federal departments and agencies listed in section 203(6). Each assessment must identify supply and price threats; analyze market conditions including supplier concentration, transportation bottlenecks, and financial vulnerabilities; evaluate substitution possibilities and technological alternatives; and recommend risk mitigation strategies. Assessments must be unclassified but may include a classified annex with an unclassified summary.

This section establishes within the Reserve the Division of Production Standards, led by a Director selected by the Board. The division must (1) develop methodologies for evaluating relative risk in global environmental and labor standards and practices—such as transparency, traceability, and forced labor—for the production, extraction, processing, reuse, repurposing, and recycling of critical minerals and materials, incorporating existing research where possible; (2) conduct periodic risk-based assessments of such standards in foreign countries producing critical minerals and materials, and to the extent practicable, significant production projects; and (3) publish an annual report summarizing the methodologies, recent assessment results for each foreign country and project, and mitigation measures used in Reserve transactions and loans (without disclosing proprietary or sensitive commercial information).

This section authorizes the Reserve to deploy financing and acquisition tools to support producers and processors of critical minerals and materials, subject to prohibitions on benefiting foreign entities of concern and requirements to consider specified factors (e.g., section 205 assessments, resource efficiency, diversification, market developments, and producer financial condition) and leverage existing federal investments (e.g., from EXIM Bank, DFC, DOE loan programs, DOD Office of Strategic Capital, and DPA title III). The tools include (1) loans to authorized intermediaries for financing and purchasing agreements with producers and processors—with preferential terms such as Federal funds rate interest for U.S.- or partner-country focused projects, priority for U.S. suppliers, and default remedies including inventory recoupment, conservatorship or receivership with FDIC-like powers, asset liens, and bankruptcy preclusion; (2) acquisitions through solicitations, direct contracting, physically cleared financial instruments such as futures contracts, or options contracts; and (3) non-recourse lending to projects secured by expected production.

This section authorizes the Reserve to sell critical minerals or materials stored in the Reserve if the Board determines that a supply shortage or potential shortage threatens U.S. national or economic security or price stability in the mineral's value chain, or if the sale otherwise supports the Reserve's purposes. The section also permits sales of non-critical minerals (i.e., those no longer on the Reserve's list under section 202(a)) under similar conditions and allows their transfer for research—without substantial market value—to federal agencies, state governments, National Laboratories, and institutions of higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965). Sales may occur via direct contracting, futures or options contracts, public auctions, or other Board-determined transactions but are prohibited to foreign entities of concern.

This section authorizes the Reserve to exercise specified corporate powers necessary to carry out its functions, including (1) adopting and using a seal; (2) entering contracts, grants, and agreements with any person, including no-cost contracts and notwithstanding federal procurement laws (division C of subtitle I of title 41, U.S. Code); (3) acquiring, improving, and using real property; (4) using U.S. mails like executive departments; (5) contracting for personal services (not treated as federal employees); (6) obtaining passenger motor vehicles; (7) acquiring, holding, or disposing of any property or interests therein; (8) leasing office space; (9) indemnifying directors, officers, employees, and agents; (10) representing itself in legal proceedings notwithstanding other laws; (11) exercising federal priority in collecting debts from bankrupt or insolvent estates; (12) collecting or compromising obligations notwithstanding restrictions in 31 U.S.C. §3711(g)(1); (13) selling direct investments to private investors; and (14) other incidental powers. The section further authorizes the Reserve to complete, recondition, renovate, repair, maintain, operate, or sell any acquired property notwithstanding other federal laws on property acquisition, handling, or disposal.

This section authorizes the Board to (1) require any person to prepare and maintain records or accounts, as determined necessary by Board rule, to carry out the Act; (2) audit operations of storage facilities holding critical minerals or materials acquired under the Act; and (3) access and inspect such records/accounts and storage facilities at reasonable times.

This section directs the Reserve to establish, not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, (1) a risk committee responsible for formulating risk management policies; reviewing the global risk management framework; developing policies for enterprise, strategic, reputational, regulatory, operational, developmental, responsible production, and financial risks; developing the risk profile, including a risk management and compliance framework; monitoring Reserve participants to prevent them from becoming foreign entities of concern; and developing a mechanism to remove participants owned, controlled, directed, financed, or influenced by more than 25% by a foreign entity of concern; and (2) an audit committee responsible for the integrity of the Reserve's financial reporting, internal controls, and financial statements; the performance of its internal audit function; and its compliance with legal and regulatory requirements relating to finances. Both committees operate subject to the direction of the Board.

This section requires an annual independent audit of the Reserve's financial statements by a qualified public accountant selected by the Board—to begin not later than one year after enactment and with results publicly available—and specifies auditor qualifications (i.e., state-licensed, independent per 17 CFR 210.2–01, and registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board). The section further requires the Comptroller General to conduct a biennial review of the Reserve, including its most recent annual report under §403(a), Board-managed operations and functions, and Board performance in fulfilling the Reserve's purposes.

This section requires (1) the Board to submit an annual report on the Reserve's operations—including administration, compliance assessments, transaction summaries, and vulnerabilities—to the President, Comptroller General, Office of Management and Budget Director, and appropriate congressional committees; (2) the Chairperson to testify before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and House Committee on Natural Resources within 30 days after each report; and (3) the Reserve to maintain a generally public, user-friendly database of all section 206 transactions (with descriptions of project support), except for any national security-sensitive subset (which must be accessible to congressional committees and publicly released after three years).