§ 98h–6 — Development And Conservation Of Reliable Sources

(a) Subject to subsection (d), the National Defense Stockpile Manager shall encourage the development and appropriate conservation of reliable sources of strategic and critical materials— (1) by purchasing, or making a commitment to purchase, strategic and critical materials from reliable sources when such materials are needed for the stockpile; (2) by contracting with facilities located in and owned and controlled by reliable sources, or making a commitment to contract with such facilities, for the processing or refining of strategic and critical materials in the stockpile when processing or refining is necessary to convert such materials into a form more suitable for storage or disposition or meeting stockpile requirements; (3) by qualifying facilities located in and owned and controlled by reliable sources, or qualifying strategic and critical materials produced by such facilities, to meet stockpile requirements; (4) by contracting with facilities located in and owned and controlled by reliable sources to recycle strategic and critical materials to meet stockpile requirements or increase the balance of the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund under section 98h of this title; and (5) by entering into an agreement to co-fund a bankable feasibility study for a project for the development of strategic and critical materials located in and owned and controlled by a reliable source, if the agreement— (A) limits the liability of the stockpile to not more than the total funding provided by the Federal Government; (B) limits the funding contribution of the Federal Government to not more than 50 percent of the cost of the bankable feasibility study; and (C) does not obligate the Federal Government to purchase strategic and critical materials from the reliable source. (A) The term of a contract or commitment made under subsection (a) may not exceed ten years. (B) A contract entered into before December 22, 2023, for a term of more than ten years may be extended, on or after December 22, 2023, for a total of not more than an additional ten years pursuant to any option or options set forth in the contract. (2) To the extent authorized by Congress pursuant to the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) and determined to be required by the President pursuant to that Act, the National Defense Stockpile Manager may provide for loans or procure debt issued by other entities to carry out a project for the development of strategic and critical materials with respect to which a study was carried out under subsection (a)(5). (c) Descriptions of proposed transactions under subsection (a) shall be included in the Annual Materials and Operations Plan. Changes to any such transaction, or the addition of a transaction not included in such plan, shall be made in accordance with section 98d(a)(2) of this title. (d) The authority of the National Defense Stockpile Manager to enter into obligations under this section is effective for any fiscal year only to the extent that funds in the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund under section 98h of this title are adequate to meet such obligations. (e) In this section, the term “bankable feasibility study” means a comprehensive technical and economic study— (1) of the selected option for a strategic and critical materials development project that includes appropriately detailed assessments of realistically assumed extraction, processing, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social, and governmental considerations and any other relevant operational factors and detailed financial analysis, that are necessary to demonstrate at the time of reporting that production is reasonably justified; and (2) that may reasonably serve as the basis for a final decision by a proponent of a project or financial institution to proceed with, or finance, the development of the project.