MINERAL LANDS AND REGULATIONS IN GENERAL

United States Code

U.S. Code most recently checked for updates: Sep 22, 2023

§ 21. Mineral lands reserved

§ 21a. National mining and minerals policy; “minerals” defined; execution of policy under other authorized programs

§ 22. Lands open to purchase by citizens

§ 23. Length of claims on veins or lodes

§ 24. Proof of citizenship

§ 25. Affidavit of citizenship

§ 26. Locators’ rights of possession and enjoyment

§ 27. Mining tunnels; right to possession of veins on line with; abandonment of right

§ 28. Mining district regulations by miners: location, recordation, and amount of work; marking of location on ground; records; annual labor or improvements on claims pending issue of patent; co-owner’s succession in interest upon delinquency in contributing proportion of expenditures; tunnel as lode expenditure

§ 28-1. Inclusion of certain surveys in labor requirements of mining claims; conditions and restrictions

§ 28-2. Definitions

§ 28a. Omitted

§ 28b. Annual assessment work on mining claims; temporary deferment; conditions

§ 28c. Length and termination of deferment

§ 28d. Performance of deferred work

§ 28e. Recordation of deferment

§ 28f. Fee

§ 28g. Location fee

§ 28h. Co-ownership

§ 28i. Failure to pay

§ 28j. Other requirements

§ 28k. Regulations

§ 28l. Collection of mining law administration fees

§ 29. Patents; procurement procedure; filing: application under oath, plat and field notes, notices, and affidavits; posting plat and notice on claim; publication and posting notice in office; certificate; adverse claims; payment per acre; objections; nonresident claimant’s agent for execution of application and affidavits

§ 30. Adverse claims; oath of claimants; requisites; waiver; stay of land office proceedings; judicial determination of right of possession; successful claimants’ filing of judgment roll, certificate of labor, and description of claim in land office, and acreage and fee payments; issuance of patents for entire or partial claims upon certification of land office proceedings and judgment roll; alienation of patent title

§ 31. Oath: agent or attorney in fact, beyond district of claim

§ 32. Findings by jury; costs

§ 33. Existing rights

§ 34. Description of vein claims on surveyed and unsurveyed lands; monuments on ground to govern conflicting calls

§ 35. Placer claims; entry and proceedings for patent under provisions applicable to vein or lode claims; conforming entry to legal subdivisions and surveys; limitation of claims; homestead entry of segregated agricultural land

§ 36. Subdivisions of 10-acre tracts; maximum of placer locations; homestead claims of agricultural lands; sale of improvements

§ 37. Proceedings for patent where boundaries contain vein or lode; application; statement including vein or lode; issuance of patent: acreage payments for vein or lode and placer claim; costs of proceedings; knowledge affecting construction of application and scope of patent

§ 38. Evidence of possession and work to establish right to patent

§ 39. Surveyors of mining claims

§ 40. Verification of affidavits

§ 41. Intersecting or crossing veins

§ 42. Patents for nonmineral lands: application, survey, notice, acreage limitation, payment

§ 43. Conditions of sale by local legislature

§§ 44, 45. Omitted

§ 46. Additional land districts and officers

§ 47. Impairment of rights or interests in certain mining property

§ 48. Lands in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; sale and disposal as public lands

§ 49. Lands in Missouri and Kansas; disposal as agricultural lands

§ 49a. 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

§ 49b. Mining laws relating to placer claims extended to Alaska

§ 49c. Recording notices of location of Alaskan mining claims

§ 49d. Miners’ regulations for recording notices in Alaska; certain records legalized

§ 49e. Annual labor or improvements on Alaskan mining claims; affidavits; burden of proof; forfeitures; location anew of claims; perjury

§ 49f. Fees of recorders in Alaska for filing proofs of work and improvements

§ 50. Grants to States or corporations not to include mineral lands

§ 51. 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

§ 52. Patents or homesteads subject to vested and accrued water rights

§ 53. Possessory actions for recovery of mining titles or for damages to such title

§ 54. Liability for damages to stock raising and homestead entries by mining activities