30 Usc 611-615

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[Laws in effect as of January 20, 2004]

[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between

January 20, 2004 and December 23, 2004]

[CITE: 30USC611]

TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING

CHAPTER 15--SURFACE RESOURCES

SUBCHAPTER II--MINING LOCATIONS

Sec. 611. Common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice,

pumicite, or cinders, and petrified wood

No deposit of common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice,

pumicite, or cinders and no deposit of petrified wood shall be deemed a

valuable mineral deposit within the meaning of the mining laws of the

United States so as to give effective validity to any mining claim

hereafter located under such mining laws: Provided, however, That

nothing herein shall affect the validity of any mining location based

upon discovery of some other mineral occurring in or in association with

such a deposit. ``Common varieties'' as used in this subchapter and

sections 601 and 603 of this title does not include deposits of such

materials which are valuable because the deposit has some property

giving it distinct and special value and does not include so-called

``block pumice'' which occurs in nature in pieces having one dimension

of two inches or more. ``Petrified wood'' as used in this subchapter and

sections 601 and 603 of this title means agatized, opalized, petrified,

or silicified wood, or any material formed by the replacement of wood by

silica or other matter.

(July 23, 1955, ch. 375, Sec. 3, 69 Stat. 368; Pub. L. 87-713, Sec. 1,

Sept. 28, 1962, 76 Stat. 652.)

References In Text

The mining laws of the United States, referred to in text, are

classified generally to this title.

Amendments

1962--Pub. L. 87-713 defined ``petrified wood'', and provided that

no deposit of petrified wood shall be deemed a valuable mineral deposit

within the mining laws of the United States.

Regulations for Removal of Limited Quantities of Petrified Wood

Section 2 of Pub. L. 87-713 provided that: ``The Secretary of the

Interior shall provide by regulation that limited quantities of

petrified wood may be removed without charge from those public lands

which he shall specify.''

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[Laws in effect as of January 20, 2004]

[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between

January 20, 2004 and December 23, 2004]

[CITE: 30USC612]

TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING

CHAPTER 15--SURFACE RESOURCES

SUBCHAPTER II--MINING LOCATIONS

Sec. 612. Unpatented mining claims

(a) Prospecting, mining or processing operations

Any mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the

United States shall not be used, prior to issuance of patent therefor,

for any purposes other than prospecting, mining or processing operations

and uses reasonably incident thereto.

(b) Reservations in the United States to use of the surface and surface

resources

Rights under any mining claim hereafter located under the mining

laws of the United States shall be subject, prior to issuance of patent

therefor, to the right of the United States to manage and dispose of the

vegetative surface resources thereof and to manage other surface

resources thereof (except mineral deposits subject to location under the

mining laws of the United States). Any such mining claim shall also be

subject, prior to issuance of patent therefor, to the right of the

United States, its permittees, and licensees, to use so much of the

surface thereof as may be necessary for such purposes or for access to

adjacent land: Provided, however, That any use of the surface of any

such mining claim by the United States, its permittees or licensees,

shall be such as not to endanger or materially interfere with

prospecting, mining or processing operations or uses reasonably incident

thereto: Provided further, That if at any time the locator requires more

timber for his mining operations than is available to him from the claim

after disposition of timber therefrom by the United States, subsequent

to the location of the claim, he shall be entitled, free of charge, to

be supplied with timber for such requirements from the nearest timber

administered by the disposing agency which is ready for harvesting under

the rules and regulations of that agency and which is substantially

equivalent in kind and quantity to the timber estimated by the disposing

agency to have been disposed of from the claim: Provided further, That

nothing in this subchapter and sections 601 and 603 of this title shall

be construed as affecting or intended to affect or in any way interfere

with or modify the laws of the States which lie wholly or in part

westward of the ninety-eighth meridian relating to the ownership,

control, appropriation, use, and distribution of ground or surface

waters within any unpatented mining claim.

(c) Severance or removal of timber

Except to the extent required for the mining claimant's prospecting,

mining or processing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto, or

for the construction of buildings or structures in connection therewith,

or to provide clearance for such operations or uses, or to the extent

authorized by the United States, no claimant of any mining claim

hereafter located under the mining laws of the United States shall,

prior to issuance of patent therefor, sever, remove, or use any

vegetative or other surface resources thereof which are subject to

management or disposition by the United States under subsection (b) of

this section. Any severance or removal of timber which is permitted

under the exceptions of the preceding sentence, other than severance or

removal to provide clearance, shall be in accordance with sound

principles of forest management.

(July 23, 1955, ch. 375, Sec. 4, 69 Stat. 368.)

References in Text

The mining laws of the United States, referred to in text, are

classified generally to this title.

From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access

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[Laws in effect as of January 20, 2004]

[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between

January 20, 2004 and December 23, 2004]

[CITE: 30USC613]

TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING

CHAPTER 15--SURFACE RESOURCES

SUBCHAPTER II--MINING LOCATIONS

Sec. 613. Procedure for determining title uncertainties

(a) Notice to mining claimants; request; publication; service

The head of a Federal department or agency which has the

responsibility for administering surface resources of any lands

belonging to the United States may file as to such lands in the office

of the Secretary of the Interior, or in such office as the Secretary of

the Interior may designate, a request for publication of notice to

mining claimants, for determination of surface rights, which request

shall contain a description of the lands covered thereby, showing the

section or sections of the public land surveys which embrace the lands

covered by such request, or if such lands are unsurveyed, either the

section or sections which would probably embrace such lands when the

public land surveys are extended to such lands or a tie by courses and

distances to an approved United States mineral monument.

The filing of such request for publication shall be accompanied by

an affidavit or affidavits of a person or persons over twenty-one years

of age setting forth that the affiant or affiants have examined the

lands involved in a reasonable effort to ascertain whether any person or

persons were in actual possession of or engaged in the working of such

lands or any part thereof, and, if no person or persons were found to be

in actual possession of or engaged in the working of said lands or any

part thereof on the date of such examination, setting forth such fact,

or, if any person or persons were so found to be in actual possession or

engaged in such working on the date of such examination, setting forth

the name and address of each such person, unless affiant shall have been

unable through reasonable inquiry to obtain information as to the name

and address of any such person, in which event the affidavit shall set

forth fully the nature and results of such inquiry.

The filing of such request for publication shall also be accompanied

by the certificate of a title or abstract company, or of a title

abstractor, or of an attorney, based upon such company's abstractor's,

or attorney's examination of those instruments which are shown by the

tract indexes in the county office of record as affecting the lands

described in said request, setting forth the name of any person

disclosed by said instruments to have an interest in said lands under

any unpatented mining claim heretofore located, together with the

address of such person if such address is disclosed by such instruments

of record. ``Tract indexes'' as used herein shall mean those indexes, if

any, as to surveyed lands identifying instruments as affecting a

particular legal subdivision of the public land surveys, and as to

unsurveyed lands identifying instruments as affecting a particular

probable legal subdivision according to a projected extension of the

public land surveys.

Thereupon the Secretary of the Interior, at the expense of the

requesting department or agency, shall cause notice to mining claimants

to be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the county

in which the lands involved are situate.

Such notice shall describe the lands covered by such request, as

provided heretofore, and shall notify whomever it may concern that if

any person claiming or asserting under, or by virtue of, any unpatented

mining claim heretofore located, rights as to such lands or any part

thereof, shall fail to file in the office where such request for

publication was filed (which office shall be specified in such notice)

and within one hundred and fifty days from the date of the first

publication of such notice (which date shall be specified in such

notice), a verified statement which shall set forth, as to such

unpatented mining claim--

(1) the date of location;

(2) the book and page of recordation of the notice or

certificate of location;

(3) the section or sections of the public land surveys which

embrace such mining claims; or if such lands are unsurveyed, either

the section or sections which would probably embrace such mining

claim when the public land surveys are extended to such lands or a

tie by courses and distances to an approved United States mineral

monument;

(4) whether such claimant is a locator or purchaser under such

location; and

(5) the name and address of such claimant and names and

addresses so far as known to the claimant of any other person or

persons claiming any interest or interests in or under such

unpatented mining claim;

such failure shall be conclusively deemed (i) to constitute a waiver and

relinquishment by such mining claimant of any right, title, or interest

under such mining claim contrary to or in conflict with the limitations

or restrictions specified in section 612 of this title as to hereafter

located unpatented mining claims, and (ii) to constitute a consent by

such mining claimant that such mining claim, prior to issuance of patent

therefor, shall be subject to the limitations and restrictions specified

in section 612 of this title as to hereafter located unpatented mining

claims, and (iii) to preclude thereafter, prior to issuance of patent,

any assertion by such mining claimant of any right or title to or

interest in or under such mining claim contrary to or in conflict with

the limitations or restrictions specified in section 612 of this title

as to hereafter located unpatented mining claims.

If such notice is published in a daily paper, it shall be published

in the Wednesday issue for nine consecutive weeks, or, if in a weekly

paper, in nine consecutive issues, or if in a semiweekly or triweekly

paper, in the issue of the same day of each week for nine consecutive

weeks.

Within fifteen days after the date of first publication of such

notice, the department or agency requesting such publication (1) shall

cause a copy of such notice to be personally delivered to or to be

mailed by registered mail or by certified mail addressed to each person

in possession or engaged in the working of the land whose name and

address is shown by an affidavit filed as aforesaid, and to each person

who may have filed, as to any lands described in said notice, a request

for notices, as provided in subsection (d) of this section, and shall

cause a copy of such notice to be mailed by registered mail or by

certified mail to each person whose name and address is set forth in the

title or abstract company's or title abstractor's or attorney's

certificate filed as aforesaid, as having an interest in the lands

described in said notice under any unpatented mining claim heretofore

located, such notice to be directed to such person's address as set

forth in such certificate; and (2) shall file in the office where said

request for publication was filed an affidavit showing that copies have

been so delivered or mailed.

(b) Failure to file verified statement

If any claimant under any unpatented mining claim heretofore located

which embraces any of the lands described in any notice published in

accordance with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, shall

fail to file a verified statement, as provided in such subsection (a),

within one hundred and fifty days from the date of the first publication

of such notice, such failure shall be conclusively deemed, except as

otherwise provided in subsection (e) of this section, (i) to constitute

a waiver and relinquishment by such mining claimant of any right, title,

or interest under such mining claim contrary to or in conflict with the

limitations or restrictions specified in section 612 of this title as to

hereafter located unpatented mining claims, and (ii) to constitute a

consent by such mining claimant that such mining claim, prior to

issuance of patent therefor, shall be subject to the limitations and

restrictions specified in section 612 of this title as to hereafter

located unpatented mining claims, and (iii) to preclude thereafter,

prior to issuance of patent, any assertion by such mining claimant of

any right or title to or interest in or under such mining claim contrary

to or in conflict with the limitations or restrictions specified in

section 612 of this title as to hereafter located unpatented mining

claims.

(c) Hearings

If any verified statement shall be filed by a mining claimant as

provided in subsection (a) of this section, then the Secretary of

Interior shall fix a time and place for a hearing to determine the

validity and effectiveness of any right or title to, or interest in or

under such mining claim, which the mining claimant may assert contrary

to or in conflict with the limitations and restrictions specified in

section 612 of this title as to hereafter located unpatented mining

claims, which place of hearing shall be in the county where the lands in

question or parts thereof are located, unless the mining claimant agrees

otherwise. Where verified statements are filed asserting rights to an

aggregate of more than twenty mining claims, any single hearing shall be

limited to a maximum of twenty mining claims unless the parties affected

shall otherwise stipulate and as many separate hearing \1\ shall be set

as shall be necessary to comply with this provision. The procedures with

respect to notice of such a hearing and the conduct thereof, and in

respect to appeals shall follow the then established general procedures

and rules of practice of the Department of the Interior in respect to

contests or protests affecting public lands of the United States. If,

pursuant to such a hearing the final decision rendered in the matter

shall affirm the validity and effectiveness of any mining claimant's so

asserted right or interest under the mining claim, then no subsequent

proceedings under this section shall have any force or effect upon the

so-affirmed right or interest of such mining claimant under such mining

claim. If at any time prior to a hearing the department or agency

requesting publication of notice and any person filing a verified

statement pursuant to such notice shall so stipulate, then to the extent

so stipulated, but only to such extent, no hearing shall be held with

respect to rights asserted under that verified statement, and to the

extent defined by the stipulation the rights asserted under that

verified statement shall be deemed to be unaffected by that particular

published notice.

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\1\ So in original. Probably should be ``hearings''.

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(d) Request for copy of notice

Any person claiming any right under or by virtue of any unpatented

mining claim heretofore located and desiring to receive a copy of any

notice to mining claimants which may be published as provided in

subsection (a) of this section, and which may affect lands embraced in

such mining claim, may cause to be filed for record in the county office

of record where the notice or certificate of location of such mining

claim shall have been recorded, a duly acknowledged request for a copy

of any such notice. Such request for copies shall set forth the name and

address of the person requesting copies and shall also set forth, as to

each heretofore located unpatented mining claim under which such person

asserts rights--

(1) the date of location;

(2) the book and page of the recordation of the notice or

certificate of location; and

(3) the section or sections of the public land surveys which

embrace such mining claim; or if such lands are unsurveyed, either

the section or sections which would probably embrace such mining

claim when the public land surveys are extended to such lands or a

tie by courses and distances to an approved United States mineral

monument.

Other than in respect to the requirements of subsection (a) of this

section as to personal delivery or mailing of copies of notices and in

respect to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, no such

request for copies of published notices and no statement or allegation

in such request and no recordation thereof shall affect title to any

mining claim or to any land or be deemed to constitute constructive

notice to any person that the person requesting copies has, or claims,

any right, title, or interest in or under any mining claim referred to

in such request.

(e) Failure to deliver or mail copy of notice

If any department or agency requesting publication shall fail to

comply with the requirements of subsection (a) of this section as to the

personal delivery or mailing of a copy of notice to any person, the

publication of such notice shall be deemed wholly ineffectual as to that

person or as to the rights asserted by that person and the failure of

that person to file a verified statement, as provided in such notice,

shall in no manner affect, diminish, prejudice or bar any rights of that

person.

(July 23, 1955, ch. 375, Sec. 5, 69 Stat. 369; Pub. L. 86-507,

Sec. 1(26), June 11, 1960, 74 Stat. 201.)

Amendments

1960--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 86-507 inserted ``or by certified mail''

after ``registered mail'' in two places in last paragraph.

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[Laws in effect as of January 20, 2004]

[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between

January 20, 2004 and December 23, 2004]

[CITE: 30USC614]

TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING

CHAPTER 15--SURFACE RESOURCES

SUBCHAPTER II--MINING LOCATIONS

Sec. 614. Waiver of rights

The owner or owners of any unpatented mining claim heretofore

located may waive and relinquish all rights thereunder which are

contrary to or in conflict with the limitations or restrictions

specified in section 612 of this title as to hereafter located

unpatented mining claims. The execution and acknowledgment of such a

waiver and relinquishment by such owner or owners and the recordation

thereof in the office where the notice or certificate of location of

such mining claim is of record shall render such mining claim thereafter

and prior to issuance of patent subject to the limitations and

restrictions in section 612 of this title in all respects as if said

mining claim had been located after July 23, 1955, but no such waiver or

relinquishment shall be deemed in any manner to constitute any

concession as to the date of priority of rights under said mining claim

or as to the validity thereof.

(July 23, 1955, ch. 375, Sec. 6, 69 Stat. 372.)

From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access

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[Laws in effect as of January 20, 2004]

[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between

January 20, 2004 and December 23, 2004]

[CITE: 30USC615]

TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING

CHAPTER 15--SURFACE RESOURCES

SUBCHAPTER II--MINING LOCATIONS

Sec. 615. Limitation of existing rights

Nothing in this subchapter and sections 601 and 603 of this title

shall be construed in any manner to limit or restrict or to authorize

the limitation or restriction of any existing rights of any claimant

under any valid mining claim heretofore located, except as such rights

may be limited or restricted as a result of a proceeding pursuant to

section 613 of this title, or as a result of a waiver and relinquishment

pursuant to section 614 of this title; and nothing in this subchapter

and sections 601 and 603 of this title shall be construed in any manner

to authorized inclusion in any patent hereafter issued under the mining

laws of the United States for any mining claim heretofore or hereafter

located, of any reservation, limitation, or restriction not otherwise

authorized by law, or to limit or repeal any existing authority to

include any reservation, limitation, or restriction in any such patent,

or to limit or restrict any use of the lands covered by any patented or

unpatented mining claim by the United States, its lessees, permittees,

and licensees which is otherwise authorized by law.

(July 23, 1955, ch. 375, Sec. 7, 69 Stat. 372.)

References in Text

The mining laws of the United States, referred to in text, are

classified generally to this title.