Title 30 — Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-73
§524 Reservation of minerals to United States
Title 30 › Chapter CHAPTER 12— - MULTIPLE MINERAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SAME TRACTS › § 524
Summary
The United States keeps ownership of minerals that are covered by the Mineral Leasing Act and keeps the right to go onto mining claims and millsites to look for, drill, mine, process, store, move, and remove those minerals. Claims or millsites located after August 13, 1954 must, before a patent is issued, include that reservation. Claims located earlier that qualify under sections 521–523 get those listed benefits, and the access rights are subject to the limits in section 526.
Full Legal Text
Title 30, §524
Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Every mining claim or millsite—
(2)located under the mining laws of the United States after August 13, 1954 shall be subject, prior to issuance of a patent therefor, to a reservation to the United States of all Leasing Act minerals and of the right (as limited in section 526 of this title) of the United States, its lessees, permittees, and licensees to enter upon the land covered by such mining claim or millsite and to prospect for, drill for, mine, treat, store, transport, and remove Leasing Act minerals and to use so much of the surface and subsurface of such mining claim or millsite as may be necessary for such purposes, and whenever reasonably necessary, for the purpose of prospecting for, drilling for, mining, treating, storing, transporting, and removing Leasing Act minerals on and from other lands; and any patent issued for any such mining claim or millsite shall contain such reservation as to, but only as to, such lands covered thereby which at the time of the issuance of such patent were—
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
30 U.S.C. § 524
Title 30 — Mineral Lands and Mining
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73