16 U.S.C. § 460mm–3 — Rights of holders of unperfected mining claims

submitted 46 years ago by Pub. L. 96-487 to r/title-16-CONSERVATION · 825 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law protects certain unfinished mining claims in Alaska's Steese and White Mountains areas. Claim holders get a temporary shield from legal challenges if they keep working their claims. If they later prove a real mineral discovery, they can still get a mining patent.

(a) "Unperfected mining claim" defined: This means a mining claim inside the White Mountains National Recreation Area or Steese National Conservation Area where the claim holder had not yet made a valid mineral discovery (as U.S. mining law defines that) by the date the area was closed off from new mining claims. (b) Moratorium on contest proceedings: To protect an unperfected claim under this section, the holder must have kept maintaining it under federal and state law, and, where required, must have gotten and followed any Interior Department mining-access permit during the 1979 mining season. Before September 30, 1982, the United States cannot challenge a properly maintained unperfected claim for lacking a valid mineral discovery — but only if the holder keeps actively working the claim during this protected period. Any mining activity done under this protection — exploring, developing, or extracting — must follow reasonable regulations the Secretary sets, to keep the activity as consistent as practical with protecting the area's scenic, scientific, cultural, and other resources. (c) Valid mineral discovery: If a claim holder tells the Secretary, by filing a patent application, that mining under subsection (b) turned up a valid mineral discovery, and the Secretary agrees, the holder can get a patent for the minerals only. The holder can also use as much of the surface as needed for mining. All mining after the discovery must still follow the Secretary's reasonable regulations from subsection (b). (d) Validity determination: If a patent application is filed under subsection (c), or the United States starts a challenge after September 30, 1982, the claim's validity is judged as of the patent-application date or September 30, 1982 — whichever comes first. A holder who hasn't filed a patent application by September 30, 1982 must give the Secretary, within 180 days after that date, all mineral data gathered during the protected period that would support a valid discovery. Data submitted late cannot be used later to prove the claim's validity. Nothing here changes the normal mining-law rules used to judge whether an unperfected claim is valid, except as specifically stated in this section. (e) Access to claims: Under this section and section 3170 of this title, the holder gets reasonable access to an unperfected claim, to make a valid discovery, until September 30, 1982. (f) Preference rights: If someone's unperfected claim was properly located, recorded, and maintained under federal and state law before November 16, 1978, on land now inside the Steese or White Mountains areas, that person gets special rights during the two years after the Secretary reopens that land to mining under section 460mm–1 or 460mm–4: either (1) a preference right to re-record the claim and develop it under section 460mm–1, or (2) the right to get a lease removing non-leasable minerals from the claim under section 460mm–4.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

(a) “Unperfected mining claim” defined

The term “unperfected mining claim” as used in this section, means a mining claim which is located on lands within the boundaries of the White Mountains National Recreation Area or Steese National Conservation Area established pursuant to this subchapter with respect to which a valid mineral discovery within the meaning of the mining laws of the United States, was not made as of the date of the withdrawal of such area from further appropriation under the mining laws of the United States.

(b) Moratorium on contest proceedings

Any holder of an unperfected mining claim seeking to protect such claim pursuant to this section must have maintained and must continue to maintain such claim in compliance with applicable Federal and State laws, and where applicable, must have obtained and complied with any mining access permit requirements imposed by the Department of the Interior during the 1979 mining season. Prior to September 30, 1982, no unperfected mining claim which has been maintained in accordance with this subsection shall be contested by the United States for failure to have made a valid mineral discovery within the meaning of the mining laws of the United States: Provided, That such claim shall be diligently prosecuted during this moratorium on contest proceedings as a condition for the moratorium. Any mining operation undertaken pursuant to this subsection, including but not limited to exploration, development, and extraction, shall be subject to such reasonable regulations as the Secretary may prescribe to assure that such operations will, to the maximum extend practicable, be consistent with protection of the scenic, scientific, cultural, and other resources of the Steese National Conservation Area or the White Mountains National Recreation Area or any affected conservation system units established or expanded by this Act.

If the holder of an unperfected mining claim notifies the Secretary by filing an application for a patent that, as a result of mining operations in compliance with the requirements of subsection (b), he has made a valid mineral discovery of such claim within the meaning of the mining laws of the United States, and if the Secretary determines that such claim contains a valid mineral discovery, the holder of such claim shall be entitled to the issuance of a patent only to the minerals in such claim pursuant to the mining laws of the United States. The holder of such a patent shall also be entitled to the use of so much of the surface estate of the lands comprising the claim as may be necessary for mining purposes: Provided, That all mining operations conducted upon a claim after such a valid mineral discovery has been made, shall be in accordance with such reasonable regulations as may be issued by the Secretary pursuant to the authority granted in subsection (b) of this section.

(d) Validity determination

If an application for a patent is filed by the holder of an unperfected mining claim pursuant to subsection (c) or if a contest proceeding is initiated by the United States after September 30, 1982, the validity of each claim shall be determined as of the date of the patent application or September 30, 1982, whichever is earlier. the holder of an unperfected mining claim not subject to a patent application filed prior to September 30, 1982, shall submit to the Secretary within one hundred and eighty days after such date all mineral data compiled during the contest proceeding moratorium which would support a valid mineral discovery within the meaning of the mining laws of the United States. Failure to submit such data within the one-hundred-and-eighty-day period shall preclude its consideration in a subsequent determination of the validity of each affected claim. Except as specifically provided for in this section, nothing shall alter the criteria applied under the general mining laws of the United States to adjudicate the validity of unperfected mining claims.

(e) Access to claims

Pursuant to the provisions of this section and section 3170 of this title, reasonable access shall be granted to an unperfected mining claim for purposes of making a valid discovery of mineral until September 30, 1982.

(f) Preference rights

The holder of any unperfected mining claim which was, prior to November 16, 1978, located, recorded, and maintained in accordance with applicable Federal and State laws on lands located within the boundaries of the Steese National Conservation Area, or the White Mountains National Recreation Area established by this subchapter, shall be entitled during a two-year period after the date that the Secretary exercises his authority under section 460mm–1 or 460mm–4 of this title to open an area containing such claim to mining, (1) to a preference right to rerecord his claim under applicable law and to develop such claim under section 460mm–1 of this title or (2) to obtain a lease to remove nonleasable minerals from the claim under section 460mm–4 of this title.

Source credit: (Pub. L. 96–487, title IV, § 404, Dec. 2, 1980, 94 Stat. 2397.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1980Enacted · Pub. L. 96-487 · 94 Stat. 2397

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 96-487 on 1980-12-02.

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