Interior Secretary Haaland tours Arizona mine, meets Nevada leaders as DOI highlights critical minerals, workforce and BLM lease revenue

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited the San Xavier Mine in Arizona this week and met with local stakeholders and education leaders to spotlight workforce development in the critical‑minerals and mining sectors. The department also reported a substantial early‑2026 revenue figure from federal oil and gas lease sales during a separate stop in Nevada.

The visits in Arizona and Nevada, described in a Department of the Interior summary, included a tour of the San Xavier Mine with students from the University of Arizona’s mining program and a roundtable in Nevada with Governor Joe Lombardo and Bureau of Land Management staff. According to the department summary, the events focused on building the next generation of mining workers and discussing use of public lands for recreation and grazing while supporting local communities.

At the Arizona stop, the department emphasized workforce development as a priority for ensuring a domestic supply of critical minerals used in batteries, electronics and other technologies. The department’s summary says Congressmember Juan Ciscomani joined Haaland and local stakeholders for a discussion about the future of critical minerals and training pipelines for miners.

In Nevada, the Interior Department met with Bureau of Land Management staff and held roundtables that addressed recreation and grazing policy on federal lands. The department’s recap highlighted the BLM’s revenue from recent lease sales, reporting that the agency brought in nearly $593 million from oil and gas lease sales in early 2026. The summary framed that revenue as part of efforts to support domestic energy production, jobs and permitting efficiencies.

The department’s one‑paragraph weekly recap closed with a brief sign‑off. The Department of the Interior provided the summary of the visits; no direct quotes from Haaland, Ciscomani or Lombardo were included in the transcripted recap provided here.

The department’s summary does not include additional policy documents, new rulemakings or formal actions taken at these events. No motions or votes were recorded in the recap; the events were presented as site visits and stakeholder conversations. The department did not provide a detailed funding breakdown for programs discussed during the roundtables, and specifics about workforce programs were described at a high level in the summary rather than in a posted plan for implementation.

Looking ahead, the department’s summary does not specify follow‑up dates or deliverables tied to these discussions. The visits were presented as part of the Interior Department’s public outreach and land‑management work rather than as formal decisions or finalized policy actions.