Title 38, Public Land

(a) The procedures in this section apply to the issuance of an exploration license under AS 38.05.132. (b) The licensing process is initiated by the commissioner preparing, or a prospective licensee submitting to the commissioner, a proposal that identifies a specific area to be …

If the licensee requests and the commissioner determines that the work commitment obligation set out in an exploration license issued under AS 38.05.132 has been met, the commissioner shall convert to one or more leases all or part, as the licensee may indicate, of the area descr…

(a) Except as otherwise provided, valuable mineral deposits in land belonging to the state shall be open to exploration, development, and the extraction of minerals. All land, together with tide, submerged, or shoreland, to which the state holds title to or to which the state may…

The commissioner is authorized to enter into cooperative mineral leasing agreements with the United States regarding land which is the subject of a title dispute between federal and state authorities. Any such lease need not conform to the provisions of state law applicable to st…

(a) A person may not take or hold coal leases or permits during the life of coal leases on state land exceeding an aggregate of 92,160 acres, except that a person may apply for coal leases or permits for acreage in addition to 92,160 acres, not exceeding a total of 5,120 addition…

(a) In addition to permits and authorizations otherwise required by law, a final authorization must be obtained from the legislature for a large-scale metallic sulfide mining operation located within the watershed of the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve designated in AS 38.05.140(f)…

(a) Deposits of coal, phosphates, oil shale, sodium, potassium, oil, gas, geothermal resources and state land containing these deposits are subject to disposition under regulations, recommended by the director and adopted by the commissioner, and the provisions of AS 38.05.145 — …

(a) The commissioner may, and upon the petition of a qualified applicant, shall divide coal land or the deposits of coal owned by the state into leasing tracts of 40 acres each, or multiples of 40 acres, and in the form which will permit the economical mining of the coal in the t…

(a) The commissioner may grant a prospecting permit to a qualified applicant. The permit gives the exclusive right to prospect for chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates, silicates, or nitrates of sodium in land belonging to the state for a period of not exceeding two years. T…

(a) Under regulations adopted by the commissioner, the commissioner shall grant a prospecting permit for sulphur to a qualified applicant. The permit gives the applicant the exclusive right to prospect for sulphur, in land belonging to the state, for a period not exceeding two ye…

(a) The commissioner may lease to qualified applicants land belonging to the state which contains deposits of phosphates and associated and related minerals, when it is in the public interest to do so. The commissioner may lease land through advertisement, competitive bidding, or…

(a) Under regulations adopted by the commissioner, the commissioner may grant a prospecting permit to a qualified applicant. The permit gives the applicant the exclusive right to prospect for chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates, silicates, or nitrates of potassium, in land …

(a) The commissioner may lease to a qualified person deposits of oil shale belonging to the state and the surface of as much of the land containing these deposits, or land adjacent to it, as may be required for the extraction and reduction of the lease minerals. The lease may not…

(a) The provisions of this section apply to nonconventional gas. (b) [Repealed, § 58 ch 49 SLA 2004.] (c) [Repealed, § 58 ch 49 SLA 2004.] (d) A lease (1) shall be automatically extended if and for so long thereafter as gas is produced in paying quantities from the lease and the …

(a) The legislature finds that (1) the people of Alaska have an interest in the development of the state's oil and gas resources to (A) maximize the economic and physical recovery of the resources; (B) maximize competition among parties seeking to explore and develop the resource…

(a) The commissioner may, under regulations adopted by the commissioner, grant prospecting licenses and leases to a qualified person to explore for, develop, or use geothermal resources. When title to the surface parcel is held by a person other than the state, that person shall …

(a) Any royalty provided for in AS 38.05.135 — 38.05.181 may be taken in kind rather than in money if the commissioner determines that the taking in kind would be in the best interest of the state. However, royalties on oil and gas shall be taken in kind unless the commissioner d…

(a) The sale, exchange, or other disposal of a mineral obtained by the state as a royalty under AS 38.05.182, the sale, exchange, or other disposal in whole or in part of a right to receive future mineral production under a state lease under this chapter, or the sale, exchange, o…

(a) The legislature finds that Kachemak Bay is an area of extraordinary abundance and diversity of marine life that has provided, and will continue to provide in the future, a basis for one of the state's most important commercial fisheries; that recent information discloses that…

(a) The acquisition and continuance of rights in and to deposits on state land of minerals, which on January 3, 1959, were subject to location under the mining laws of the United States, shall be governed by AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275. Nothing in AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 affects th…

(a) Except as provided in (b) of this section, exploration and mining rights under AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 may be acquired or held only by (1) citizens of the United States at least 18 years of age; (2) legal guardians, conservators, or trustees of citizens of the United States …

(a) Rights to deposits of minerals subject to AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 in or on state land that is open to claim staking may be acquired by discovery, location, and recording as prescribed in AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275. The locator has the exclusive right of possession and extracti…

Notices may be amended at any time and monuments changed to correspond with the amended location but a change may not be made that interferes with the rights of others. Whenever monuments are changed or an error is made in the notice or in the certificate of location, an amended …

(a) Prior discovery, location, and recording shall initiate prior rights to mineral deposits subject to AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 in or on state land, other than submerged land, which is open to mining leasing. Locations shall be made and certificates of location recorded in accor…

(a) Labor shall be performed or improvements made annually on or for the benefit or development of each mining claim, leasehold location, and mining lease on state land, except that, where adjacent claims, leasehold locations, or mining leases are held in common, including adjace…

(a) The holder of each mining claim, leasehold location, prospecting site, and mining lease, including a mining lease under AS 38.05.250, shall pay, in advance, rental for the right to continue to hold the mining claim, leasehold location, prospecting site, and mining lease, incl…

(a) In exchange for and to preserve the right to extract and possess the minerals produced, the holder of a mining claim, leasehold location, or mining lease, including a mining lease under AS 38.05.250, shall pay a royalty on all minerals produced from land subject to the claim,…

If one of several co-owners fails to contribute the proportion of the expenditures required for annual labor from the co-owner, the co-owners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the annual labor year, give the delinquent co-owner person…

(a) Within 120 days after personal service, or within 120 days after the completion of publication of the notice provided for in AS 38.05.215, the co-owner who claims the forfeiture shall record in the office of the recorder of the recording district in which the claim is located…

A person who holds a claim to or lien upon an unpatented mining claim under a certificate of sale, mortgage, attachment, levy, judgment, or other lien may, when necessary for the protection of the lien or claim, go upon the mining claim and perform or cause to be performed the an…

(a) The person performing or causing to be performed annual labor upon an unpatented mining claim as provided in AS 38.05.225 shall have a lien upon the claim for the assessment work, including the reasonable cost of transportation to and from the claim incurred in doing the work…

The lien given for the performance of annual labor by AS 38.05.230, if the work is done in good faith and necessarily for the protection either of possession under a certificate of sale or of an attachment, levy, mortgage, judgment, or other lien, remains in effect notwithstandin…

In AS 38.05.210 — 38.05.235, “labor” includes work performed or improvements made in good faith on or for the benefit of a mining claim, leasehold location, or mining lease that is directly related to exploring for, developing, or producing minerals, including (1) excavating, tun…

In AS 38.05.210 — 38.05.240, (1) “airborne survey” means a survey from the air for mineral deposits by the proper application of magnetometers, electromagnetic input systems, infrared detectors, side-looking radar, vertical and panoramic cameras, and other devices as they relate …

(a) Before the discovery of valuable minerals, an exclusive right to prospect by geophysical, geochemical, and similar methods may be acquired by establishing a prospecting site in accordance with the MTRSC system and regulations prescribed by the commissioner. A certificate of l…

(a) The exclusive right to prospect for deposits of minerals subject to AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 in or on tide and submerged state land may be granted by a permit issued by the director. A permit shall be granted to the first qualified applicant. A permit may not include an area …

(a) Extralateral rights under shoreland, tideland, and submerged land are confirmed and granted to an owner of a lode mining claim located before January 3, 1959, under the mining laws of the United States. (b) In this section, “extralateral rights” means rights given to an owner…

(a) Surface uses of land or water included within a mining property by the owners, lessees, or operators shall be limited to those necessary for the prospecting for, extraction of, or basic processing of minerals and shall be subject to reasonable concurrent uses. Leases for mill…

(a) Failure to perform the labor or make improvements or make a payment in lieu of labor under AS 38.05.210(a), timely record a certificate of location or statement of annual labor, timely pay any required annual rental, or timely pay any required production royalty under AS 38.0…

Evidence of a sale, lease, or other transfer of mining property or interest in mining property shall be recorded.

(a) Mining locations made on state land, including shoreland, tideland, or submerged land, or state selected land, under AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275 or in the manner described in AS 27.10, acquire for the locator mining rights under AS 38.05.185 — 38.05.275, subject to existing clai…

Disposal and use of state land shall conform to the constitution of the State of Alaska and the principles of multiple purpose use consistent with the public interest.

(a) The selection of grant, lieu and indemnity land shall conform to this chapter and the policy, orders and regulations adopted by the commissioner. The commissioner shall give preference of selection to the land which will provide the maximum benefits to the people of the state…

The commissioner shall establish a policy and adopt regulations by which parks and recreation areas, including public scenic overlooks and cultural sites, shall be developed and managed in a manner that will best serve the interests of the people of the state. The commissioner ma…

(a) The commissioner shall classify for surface use land in areas considered necessary and proper. This section does not prevent reclassification of land where the public interest warrants reclassification, nor does it preclude multiple purpose use of land whenever different uses…

(a) The department shall include in a document that conveys state land classified as agricultural land (1) a perpetual covenant for the benefit of all Alaska residents and running with the land that restricts or limits the use of the land for agricultural purposes; and (2) one of…