Title 30 — Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-73

§615 Limitation of existing rights

Title 30 › Chapter CHAPTER 15— - SURFACE RESOURCES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - MINING LOCATIONS › § 615

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Rules here and in sections 601 and 603 do not reduce the rights of anyone with a valid mining claim. Rights can only be limited by a formal proceeding under section 613 or by a waiver or relinquishment under section 614. These rules also do not let the government add new limits or reservations to future mining patents beyond what the law already allows, and they do not change existing legal authority to include limits in patents or to let the United States and its lessees, permittees, or licensees use the land as law permits.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §615

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Nothing in this subchapter and section 601 and 603 of this title shall be construed in any manner to limit or restrict or to authorize the limitation or restriction of any existing rights of any claimant under any valid mining claim heretofore located, except as such rights may be limited or restricted as a result of a proceeding pursuant to section 613 of this title, or as a result of a waiver and relinquishment pursuant to section 614 of this title; and nothing in this subchapter and section 601 and 603 of this title shall be construed in any manner to authorized inclusion in any patent hereafter issued under the mining laws of the United States for any mining claim heretofore or hereafter located, of any reservation, limitation, or restriction not otherwise authorized by law, or to limit or repeal any existing authority to include any reservation, limitation, or restriction in any such patent, or to limit or restrict any use of the lands covered by any patented or unpatented mining claim by the United States, its lessees, permittees, and licensees which is otherwise authorized by law.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 615

Title 30 — Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73