43 C.F.R. § 3712.1

Current through September 30, 2024

Section 3712.1 - Restriction on use of unpatented mining claims

(a) The Act in section 4 provides:

Any mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the United States shall not be used, prior to issuance of patent therefor, for any purposes other than prospecting, mining or processing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto.

Rights under any mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the United States shall be subject, prior to issuance of patent therefor, to the right of the United States to manage and dispose of the vegetative surface resources thereof and to manage other surface resources thereof (except mineral deposits subject to location under the mining laws of the United States). Any such mining claim shall also be subject, prior to issuance of patent therefor, to the right of the United States, its permittees, and licensees, to use so much of the surface thereof as may be necessary for such purposes or for access to adjacent land: Provided, however, That any use of the surface of any such mining claim by the United States, its permittees or licensees, shall be such as not to endanger or materially interfere with prospecting, mining or processing operations or uses reasonably incident thereto: Provided, further, That if at any time the locator requires more timber for his mining operations than is available to him from the claim after disposition of timber therefrom by the United States, subsequent to the location of the claim, he shall be entitled, free of charge, to be supplied with timber for such requirements from the nearest timber administered by the disposing agency which is ready for harvesting under the rules and regulations of that agency and which is substantially equivalent in kind and quantity to the timber estimated by the disposing agency to have been disposed of from the claim: Provided, further, That nothing in this act shall be construed as affecting or intended to affect or in any way interfere with or modify the laws of the States which lie wholly or in part westward of the ninety-eighth meridian relating to the ownership, control, appropriation, use, and distribution of ground or surface waters within any unpatented mining claim.

Except to the extent required for the mining claimant's prospecting, mining or processing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto, or for the construction of buildings or structures in connection therewith, or to provide clearance for such operations or uses, or to the extent authorized by the United States, no claimant of any mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the United States shall, prior to issuance of patent therefor, sever, remove, or use any vegetative or other surface resources thereof which are subject to management or disposition by the United States under the preceding subsection (b). Any severance or removal of timber which is permitted under the exceptions of the preceding sentence, other than severance or removal to provide clearance, shall be in accordance with sound principles of forest management.

(b) The locator of an unpatented mining claim subject to the Act is limited in his use of the claim to those uses specified in the act, namely prospecting, mining, or processing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto. He is forbidden to use it for any other purpose such, for example, as for filling stations, curio shops, cafes, tourist, or fishing and hunting camps. Except as such interference may result from uses permitted under the act, the locator of an unpatented mining claim subject to the act may not interfere with the right of the United States to manage the vegetative and other surface resources of the land, or use it so as to block access to or egress from adjacent public land, or use Federal timber for purposes other than those permitted under the act, or block access to water needed in grazing use of the national forests or other public lands, or block access to recreational areas, or prevent agents of the Federal Government from crossing the locator's claim in order to reach adjacent land for purposes of managing wild-game habitat or improving fishing streams so as to thwart the public harvest and proper management of fish and game resources on the public lands generally, both on located and on adjacent lands.

(c) Mining claims located prior to the date of the act will be subject to the Act where determination has been made pursuant to section 5 of the Act, that the locator's surface rights are limited as provided in section 4 of the Act, or where the owners have waived and relinquished all rights under section 6 of the Act, which are contrary to or in conflict with the limitations and restrictions specified as to hereafter located unpatented mining claims in section 4 of the Act. See § 3714.3 as to effect on existing rights.

(d) On mining claims subject to the provisions of the Act, timber may be used by the claimants only for the purposes permitted under the Act, and, except where timber is removed to provide clearance for operations or uses permitted under the Act, such timber must be cut in accordance with sound principles of forest management. When timber on a mining claim is disposed of by the Government subsequent to the location of the claim, free use of timber by the mining claimant of like kind and quantity from the nearest timber administered by the disposing agency is provided for, but only when and to the extent that is required for their mining operations and only in kind and quantity substantially equivalent to the timber removed from the claim by the Government. Any such timber may be cut and removed only under the rules and regulations of the administering agency. Regulations governing applications and issuance of permits for the use of such timber on public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are contained in part 5510 of this chapter.

43 C.F.R. §3712.1