30 U.S.C. § 212 — Surveys; royalties; time payable; annual rentals; term of leases; readjustment on renewals; minimum production; suspension of operation

submitted 106 years ago by ch. 85 to r/title-30-MINERAL-LANDS-AND-MINING · 333 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law sets rules for phosphate mining leases on public land. Leases must describe the land, set royalties of at least 5%, and charge rising yearly rent. Leases last 20 years, renew with possible adjustments, and require minimum production or a penalty payment.

This section is a single, undivided rule setting the terms federal phosphate leases must include. Each lease must describe the leased land using the public-land survey system. Every lease must require the lessee to pay royalties to the United States. The Secretary of the Interior sets the royalty rate before offering the lease, and it must be at least 5% of the gross value of the phosphate, phosphate rock, and related minerals produced. Royalties are due either monthly or quarterly, on the last day of the month after the month or quarter in which the minerals were sold or removed from the leased land. Each lease must also require an annual rental payment, due when the lease starts and every year after. The rent must be at least: 25 cents per acre for the first year; 50 cents per acre for the second and third years; and $1 per acre for every year after that. Whatever rent is paid in a year is credited against that year's royalties, so the lessee is not paying both amounts in full. Leases run for a term of 20 years, and continue after that as long as the lessee follows the lease's terms and conditions. At the end of each 20-year period, the Secretary of the Interior may make reasonable readjustments to the lease's terms, unless some other law already governs what happens at that point. Leases must require either a minimum amount of annual production, or a minimum royalty payment in place of that production — except when strikes, weather, or accidents beyond the lessee's control interrupt production. The Secretary of the Interior may allow a lessee to suspend operations under the lease when market conditions are such that operating it would only lose money.

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

Each lease shall describe the leased lands by the legal subdivisions of the public-land surveys. All leases shall be conditioned upon the payment to the United States of such royalties as may be specified in the lease, which shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior in advance of offering the same, at not less than 5 per centum of the gross value of the output of phosphates or phosphate rock and associated or related minerals. Royalties shall be due and payable as specified in the lease either monthly or quarterly on the last day of the month next following the month or quarter in which the minerals are sold or removed from the leased land. Each lease shall provide for the payment of a rental payable at the date of the lease and annually thereafter which shall be not less than 25 cents per acre for the first year, 50 cents per acre for the second and third years, respectively, and $1 per acre for each year thereafter, during the continuance of the lease. The rental paid for any year shall be credited against the royalties for that year. Leases shall be for a term of twenty years and so long thereafter as the lessee complies with the terms and conditions of the lease and upon the further condition that at the end of each twenty-year period succeeding the date of the lease such reasonable readjustment of the terms and conditions thereof may be made therein as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior unless otherwise provided by law at the expiration of such periods. Leases shall be conditioned upon a minimum annual production or the payment of a minimum royalty in lieu thereof, except when production is interrupted by strikes, the elements, or casualties not attributable to the lessee. The Secretary of the Interior may permit suspension of operations under any such leases when marketing conditions are such that the leases cannot be operated except at a loss.

Source credit: (Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, § 10, 41 Stat. 440; June 3, 1948, ch. 379, § 3, 62 Stat. 290.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1920Enacted · Act of Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85 · 41 Stat. 440
1948Amended · Act of June 3, 1948, ch. 379 · 62 Stat. 290

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 85 on 1920-02-25.

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