30 U.S.C. § 22 Lands open to purchase by citizens (Mining Law of 1872, R.S. § 2319)

§ 21 Sec. 43. 44, 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 49a. 49b. 49c. 49d. 49e. 49f. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. Conditions of sale by local legislature. Omitted. Additional land districts and officers. Impairment of rights or interests in certain mining property. Lands in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; sale and disposal as public lands. Lands in Missouri and Kansas; disposal as agricultural lands. Mining laws of United States extended to Alaska; exploration and mining for precious metals; regulations; conflict of laws; permits; dumping tailings; pumping from sea; reservation of roadway; title to land below line of high tide or high-water mark; transfer of title to future State. Mining laws relating to placer claims extended to Alaska. Recording notices of location of Alaskan mining claims. Miners’ regulations for recording notices in Alaska; certain records legalized. Annual labor or improvements on Alaskan mining claims; affidavits; burden of proof; forfeitures; location anew of claims; perjury. Fees of recorders in Alaska for filing proofs of work and improvements. Grants to States or corporations not to include mineral lands. Water users’ vested and accrued rights; enumeration of uses; protection of interest; rights-of-way for canals and ditches; liability for injury or damage to settlers’ possession. Patents or homesteads subject to vested and accrued water rights. Possessory actions for recovery of mining titles or for damages to such title. Liability for damages to stock raising and homestead entries by mining activities.

§ 21. Mineral lands reserved In all cases lands valuable for minerals shall be reserved from sale, except as otherwise expressly directed by law. (R.S. § 2318.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION R.S. § 2318 derived from act July 4, 1866, ch. 166, § 5, 14 Stat. 86.

§ 21a. National mining and minerals policy; ‘‘minerals’’ defined; execution of policy under other authorized programs The Congress declares that it is the continuing policy of the Federal Government in the national interest to foster and encourage private enterprise in (1) the development of economically sound and stable domestic mining, minerals, metal and mineral reclamation industries, (2) the orderly and economic development of domestic mineral resources, reserves, and reclamation of metals and minerals to help assure satisfaction of industrial, security and environmental needs, (3) mining, mineral, and metallurgical research, including the use and recycling of scrap to promote the wise and efficient use of our natural and reclaimable mineral resources, and (4) the study and development of methods for the disposal, control, and reclamation of mineral waste products, and the reclamation of Page 8 mined land, so as to lessen any adverse impact of mineral extraction and processing upon the physical environment that may result from mining or mineral activities. For the purpose of this section ‘‘minerals’’ shall include all minerals and mineral fuels including oil, gas, coal, oil shale and uranium. It shall be the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior to carry out this policy when exercising his authority under such programs as may be authorized by law other than this section. (Pub. L. 91–631, title I, § 101, formerly § 2, Dec. 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 1876; Pub. L. 104–66, title I, § 1081(b), Dec. 21, 1995, 109 Stat. 721; renumbered title I,

§ 101, Pub. L. 104–325, § 2(1), (2), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3994.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1995—Pub. L. 104–66 in last par. struck out at end ‘‘For this purpose the Secretary of the Interior shall include in his annual report to the Congress a report on the state of the domestic mining, minerals, and mineral reclamation industries, including a statement of the trend in utilization and depletion of these resources, together with such recommendations for legislative programs as may be necessary to implement the policy of this section.’’ Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 91–631, § 1, Dec. 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 1876, provided: ‘‘That this Act [enacting this section] may be cited as the ‘Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970’.’’

§ 22. Lands open to purchase by citizens Except as otherwise provided, all valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, shall 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. (R.S. § 2319.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION R.S. § 2319 derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 1, 17 Stat. 91. Words ‘‘Except as otherwise provided,’’ were editorially supplied on authority of act Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437, popularly known as the Mineral Lands Leasing Act, which is classified to chapter 3A (§ 181 et seq.) of this title. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries SHORT TITLE Sections 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 35, 37, 39 to 43, and 47 of this title are based on sections of the Revised Statutes which are derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, 17 Stat. 91, popularly known as the ‘‘General Mining Act of 1872’’ and as the ‘‘Mining Law of 1872’’. <!-- page break --> Page 9 TITLE 30—MINERAL LANDS AND MINING

§ 23. Length of claims on veins or lodes Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits, located prior to May 10, 1872, shall be governed as to length along the vein or lode by the customs, regulations, and laws in force at the date of their location. A mining claim located after the 10th day of May 1872, whether located by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, one thousand five hundred feet in length along the vein or lode; but no location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall extend more than three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing on the 10th day of May 1872 render such limitation necessary. The end lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other. (R.S. § 2320.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION R.S. § 2320 derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 2, 17 Stat. 91.

§ 24. Proof of citizenship Proof of citizenship, under sections 21, 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of this title and section 661 of title 43, may consist, in the case of an individual, of his own affidavit thereof; in the case of an association of persons unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent, made on his own knowledge, or upon information and belief; and in the case of a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State or Territory thereof, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter or certificate of incorporation. (R.S. § 2321.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT Sections 21, 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of this title and section 661 of title 43, referred to in text, were in the original ‘‘this chapter’’, meaning chapter 6 of title 32 of the Revised Statutes, consisting of R.S. §§ 2318 to 2352. CODIFICATION R.S. § 2321 derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 7, 17 Stat. 94.

§ 25. Affidavit of citizenship Applicants for mineral patents, if residing beyond the limits of the district wherein the claim is situated, may make any oath or affidavit required for proof of citizenship before the clerk of any court of record or before any notary public of any State or Territory. (Apr. 26, 1882, ch. 106, § 2, 22 Stat. 49.)

§ 27

§ 26. Locators’ rights of possession and enjoyment The locators of all mining locations made on any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain, their heirs and assigns, where no adverse claim existed on the 10th day of May 1872 so long as they comply with the laws of the United States, and with State, territorial, and local regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States governing their possessory title, shall have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical side lines of such surface locations. But their right of possession to such outside parts of such veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn downward as above described, through the end lines of their locations, so continued in their own direction that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges. Nothing in this section shall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends in its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed by another. (R.S. § 2322.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION R.S. § 2322 derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 3, 17 Stat. 91.

§ 27. Mining tunnels; right to possession of veins on line with; abandonment of right Where a tunnel is run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on the line thereof, not previously known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if discovered from the surface; and locations on the line of such tunnel of veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made by other parties after the commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence, shall be invalid; but failure to prosecute the work on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel. (R.S. § 2323.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION R.S. § 2323 derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, § 4, 17 Stat. 92. SHORT TITLE This section is popularly known as the Tunnel Site Act. <!-- page break -->