30 U.S.C. § 203 — Additional lands or deposits

(a) In general — (1) Except as (3) says otherwise, once the Secretary makes the finding described in (2), anyone holding a coal lease under this chapter can — with the Secretary of the Interior's approval — expand the lease by adding nearby or adjoining coal land or deposits. (2) The Secretary must find that the change: (A) serves the interest of the United States; (B) doesn't push out any competing interest in the land; and (C) doesn't include land that could instead be developed as part of another operation. (3) The added land can never: (A) total more than 960 acres, or (B) be larger than the acreage in the original lease. (b) Terms and conditions — The Secretary sets terms for the modified lease that must match this chapter and apply to the whole modified lease. However, the Secretary doesn't have to apply the production or mining-plan rules from sections 202a(2) and 207(c) to it. (c) Royalties — The minimum royalty rule in section 207(a) doesn't apply to land added by this kind of modification until the original lease's term (or its extension) — the one in effect before this Act — has ended.