* Act of May 10, 1872 (Ch. 152, 17 Stat. 91; 30 U.S.C. 22, 28, 28b)

Note-The U.S. Mining Laws, Act of May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 91), as amended (30 U.S.C. 22, 28), unless otherwise provided by law, apply to all mineral deposits in (1) National Forest lands reserved from the public domain or which were acquired by exchange under the Act of March 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 465; 16 U.S.C. 485), or simi-lar law, by the terms of which "public land" or the timber thereon is grant-ed and in exchange for land of equal value, and (2) National Gras-slands and other Title III lands transferred from the public do-main by Executive Order or otherwise, for ad-ministration under Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, except (a) oil, gas, oil shale, coal, potassium, sodium, phosphate, native asphalt, solid and semisolid bitumen, and bituminous rock (including oil-impregnated rock or sands from which oil is recoverable only by special treatment after the deposit is mined or quarried), and sulphur in Louisiana and New Mexico, which are commonly referred to as the "leasing act" minerals and (b) mineral mate-rials (including but not limited to common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, or cinders), which are commonly referred to as "common varieties", and to deposits of petrified wood. The "leasing act" minerals in public lands are subject to disposal by the Secretary of the Interior under the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended and supplemented (30 U.S.C. 181-287). Common varieties on lands reserved from the public domain are subject to disposal by the Secretary of Agriculture under the Materials Act of July 31, 1947, as amended (30 U.S.C. 602-604, 611).

The mining laws do not apply to lands situated in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin (30 U.S.C. 48); Alabama (30 U.S.C. 171); Missouri and Kansas (30 U.S.C. 49); and certain lands in Oklahoma (43 U.S.C. 1098, 1100, 1131). Similarly, they do not apply to lands within reclama-tion with-drawals (43 U.S.C. 416, 432); Federal power withdrawals, except under certain conditions (16 U.S.C. 818, 30 U.S.C. 621); Federal game refuges; mili-tary reserva-tions; or to lands other-wise specifically withdrawn from their operation. There are a number of acts which modify the mining laws as applied to local areas by prohibiting entry altogether or by limiting or restricting the use which may be made of the surface and the right, title, or interest which may pass through patent. (Legal advice may be required to determine whether or not the mining laws are applicable to a particular tract of National Forest land, National Grassland or other Title III land.)

The Act of July 23, 1955 (30 U.S.C. 612-615) limited the use of subsequently located mining claims prior to patent to purposes of prospecting, mining, or processing, and uses reasonably incident thereto; provided for management and disposal of timber and other vegetative surface resources and management of other surface resources (except mineral deposits subject to location) by the United States; and provided for a determination of surface rights on claims existing prior to July 23, 1955.

Lands Open to Purchase by Citizens

Sec. 1. Except as otherwise provided, all valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such, under regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or rules of miners, in the several mining-districts, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States. (30 U.S.C. 22)

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Mining District Regulations by Miners

Sec. 5. That the miners of each mining district may make regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States, or with the laws of the State or Territory in which the district is situated, governing the location, manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold possession of a mining claim, subject to the following requirements: The location must be distinctly marked on the ground so that its boundaries can be readily traced. All records of mining claims hereafter made shall contain the name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and such a description of the claim or claims located by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim. On each claim located after the passage of this act, and until a patent shall have been issued therefor, not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year. On all claims located prior to the passage of this act, $10 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made each year for each one hundred feet in length along the vein until a patent shall have been issued there-for; but where such claims are held in common such expenditure may be made upon any one claim; and upon a failure to comply with these condi-tions, the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be open to relocation in the same man-ner as if no location of the same had ever been made; Pro-viding, That the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal repre-sentatives, have not resumed work upon the claim after such failure and before such loca-tion. Upon the failure of any one of several coowners to contribute his propor-tion of the expenditures re-quired by this act, the coowners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent coowner personal notice in writing or notice by publication in the newspaper pub-lished nearest the claim, for at least once a week for ninety days, and if at the expira-tion of ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication such delin-quent should fail or refuse to contribute his proportion of the expenditure to comply -with this act, his interest in the claim shall be-come the property of his co-own-ers who have made the required expen-ditures. That the period within which the work required to be done annually on all unpatented mineral claims located since May 10, 1872, including such claims in the Territory of Alaska, shall commence at 12 o'clock meridian on the 1st day of September succeeding the date of location of such claim....(30 U.S.C. 28)

Annual Assessment Work on Mining Claims

The performance of not less than $100 worth of labor or the making of improvements aggregating such amount, which labor or improvements are required under the provisions of section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of the United States to be made during each year, may be deferred by the Secretary of the Interior as to any mining claim or group of claims in the United States upon the submission by the claimant of evidence satisfactory to the Secretary that such mining claim or group of claims is surrounded by lands over which a right-of-way for the performance of such assessment work has been denied or is in litigation or is in the process of acquisition under State law or that other legal impediments exist which affect the right of the claimant to enter upon the surface of such claim or group of claims or to gain access to the boundaries thereof. (30 U.S.C. 28b)