Title 30 — Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-73

§612 Unpatented mining claims

Title 30 › Chapter CHAPTER 15— - SURFACE RESOURCES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - MINING LOCATIONS › § 612

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

If someone stakes a mining claim under U.S. law and a patent has not yet been issued, they may only use the land for prospecting, mining, processing, or activities closely tied to those operations. Before a patent is issued, the United States can manage or dispose of the vegetation and other surface resources on the claim (but not the mineral deposits). The government, and those it permits or licenses, can use as much of the surface as needed for those purposes or to reach nearby land, so long as their use does not endanger or seriously interfere with the claimant’s mining work. If the government has removed timber from the claim and the claimant then needs more timber, the claimant must be given, free of charge, similar timber from the nearest federally managed area that is ready to be harvested. These rules do not change state water laws for states wholly or partly west of the ninety-eighth meridian. Except for what is needed for mining, building, clearing, or what the United States allows, claimants may not cut, remove, or use vegetative or other surface resources that the United States manages or disposes of. Any allowed timber removal (other than clearing) must follow sound forest management.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §612

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)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.

(b)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 subchapter and section 601 and 603 of this title 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.

(c)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.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 612

Title 30 — Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73