Finding ORE Act Gives U.S. and Allied Companies 'First Dibs' on Global Critical Mineral Deposits

The “Finding Opportunities for Resource Exploration Act”—or the Finding ORE Act—is all about securing the supply chain for critical minerals and rare earth elements. Think of the materials that make your smartphone work, your electric car run, or your fighter jet fly. This bill gives the Secretary of the Interior, working through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the authority to set up formal agreements (Memorandums of Understanding, or MOUs) with other countries to jointly map out where these essential resources are buried. The goal, laid out in Section 3, is to make the supply chains for materials like neodymium (used in powerful magnets) and lithium (in batteries) more reliable internationally.

The Global Scramble for Resources

This Act is essentially a strategic move to lock in access to future resource development. The biggest change is a preference system: Once the U.S. helps a partner country map its resources, Section 3 requires that companies from the U.S. or from an “allied foreign country” must be offered the first chance to develop those newly mapped reserves. This means if you’re a U.S. mining or exploration company, this bill could open up exclusive, government-backed opportunities abroad. If you’re a company based in a non-allied nation, this provision locks you out of the initial bidding process.

Financing with Strings Attached

The bill also ties U.S. financial support to specific processing requirements. If private companies want to tap into funding from U.S. agencies like the Export-Import Bank or the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to develop these foreign mineral projects, the deal must include a commitment to process those raw materials either here in the United States or in an allied nation. This is a clear attempt to bring the entire supply chain—from the mine to the finished product—under the control of the U.S. and its allies. For everyday people, this means the government is actively trying to ensure that the materials needed for high-tech manufacturing are sourced from geopolitically friendly places, theoretically reducing the risk of sudden supply disruptions that could drive up costs for consumer goods.

Who Gets the Map Data, and Who Doesn't

Another critical, and potentially sensitive, part of Section 3 deals with data security. Any geological mapping data collected through this cooperation must be strictly protected. It cannot be shared with any government or private group based in a country that is not an official partner in the MOU or an official U.S. ally. While this protects strategic information, it also means the U.S. is creating a closed scientific and economic club. It limits scientific transparency and cooperation to only those countries that fit the U.S.’s strategic criteria, potentially excluding experts or researchers in countries that the U.S. needs to cooperate with on other global issues but doesn't consider an “ally.”

The Fine Print on Partnerships

While the goal is supply chain security, the bill’s structure raises a few questions. The definition of a “partner foreign country” in Section 2 is pretty broad—it’s simply “any country that supplies us with a critical mineral or a rare earth element.” This means the Secretary of the Interior could potentially enter into these high-stakes MOUs with nations that are not traditional U.S. allies, so long as they supply us with the goods. Before any MOU is signed, the Secretary must coordinate with the State Department and give Congress a 30-day heads-up. This oversight is crucial because these agreements grant significant authority to the Department of the Interior to direct international resource development and financing, setting up long-term strategic relationships that affect global markets.