Title 15 — Natural Resources and Economic Development

In every county in this state in which lands containing minerals still belong to the United States Government, the recording of mining claim notices of all kinds may be done with the ex officio recorders of the various counties in which the lands are situated.

(a) The fees for recording mining location notices shall be one dollar ($1.00) for notice, to be paid in United States currency, one-half (½) of which shall go into the county treasury to the credit of the record fund. (b) The fees for recording all other mining notices shall be …

On or before December 31 of any year in which the time in which the assessment work or improvement required by law to hold the claim expires, the owner of the claim or, in his or her absence, his or her agent or the party who was in charge of the work for the claimant may make an…

(a) When any owner or claimant of any mining claim on any of the lands subject to location as mining claims in this state under the laws of the United States shall have had possession of a claim for a period of three (3) years and shall have performed the necessary amount of annu…

(a) (1) It shall be the duty of the recorder of any county in which mining location notices and proof of labor performed are recorded to keep a suitable bound plat book properly arranged, showing all the legal subdivisions affected by notices, in which he or she shall keep a comp…

(a) Whenever any mineral lands in fee, or severed mineral rights and interests in, on, and under any lands situated in the State of Arkansas shall be owned, or held by two (2) or more persons, firms, or corporations in joint tenancy, in common or in coparceny, and there shall be …

(a) Summons shall be issued and served as in other cases in circuit court. (b) All persons, if any, whose names or whereabouts are stated in the petition to be unknown to the plaintiff shall be deemed and taken as defendants by the name or designation of “all whom it may concern”…

Any persons having or claiming an interest in mineral lands in fee, or in any segregated mineral rights, not made a party in the petition may appear and unite or intervene in the cause.

Any owners, partners, or corporate shareholders, or parties as set forth in § 15-56-301 desiring the leasing and operating of mineral lands or mineral interests shall file, in the circuit court in the county in which the mineral lands or mineral interests or the greater part ther…

(a) Upon the filing of the petition, the circuit court shall appoint a receiver, who shall be authorized to negotiate for and to execute, acknowledge, and deliver a lease on mineral lands or severed mineral interests for a cash, commodity in kind, or tonnage royalty, as is the cu…

(a) A lease executed by a receiver, when acknowledged and delivered, shall be binding on all parties subject only to approval or rejection by the court as herein provided. (b) Not later than thirty (30) days after making the lease, the receiver shall report the making of the leas…

The lease executed by the receiver under the approval of the court as provided in § 15-56-306 shall not terminate with the sale of the lands or mineral interests therein, thereon, or thereunder. Any person purchasing or holding thereafter shall take the land or mineral rights sub…

Upon any lease or contract being executed by the receiver appointed by the circuit court as provided in this subchapter, and upon the lease or contract's being reported, and approved by the court, and all considerations, if any, being accounted for by the receiver, with any money…

After discharge of the receiver, if it should become necessary for unit operating agreements, royalty unitization agreements, royalty pooling agreements, field unitization and repressure agreements, or other agreements and contracts relative thereto to be executed, the clerk of t…

The proceedings provided for in this subchapter shall be for all purposes an action in rem against the unleased interest in minerals as described in this subchapter.

Any person, firm, or corporation leasing lands in this state under written contracts providing for a royalty to be paid the lessor for ore deposits or minerals taken out of or off of the land, or any officer, agent, or employee of the lessee, who, with the intent to defraud the l…

This subchapter shall not apply to the execution of oil and gas leases and shall in no wise infringe upon or affect the provisions of §§ 15-73-301 — 15-73-308.

Whenever any land in this state is devised by will or conveyed by grant to any person by any language which at common law would have vested in that person an estate in fee tail, then the person who at common law would have been invested with a fee tail estate in the lands and who…

(a) Whenever any life tenant shall desire to lease any land for the production of any minerals, other than oil and gas, he or she shall file a verified petition with the circuit court of the county in which the lands, or the greater part of the lands, may be situated, praying for…

(a) The court shall consider the petition and may in its absolute discretion require that other persons as it deems proper be made parties to the proceeding. The court may hear testimony to determine whether or not the execution of the lease is advisable. (b) The court shall also…

(a) If the court after hearing as provided in § 15-56-404 shall determine that the lease should be executed, the judge shall enter an order authorizing the life tenant to execute the lease. (b) The court shall further:(1) Fix and determine the part of the bonus consideration paid…

(a) The trustee shall be under the continuing control of the circuit court. The court may remove the trustee at will, and upon the death, removal, or resignation of the trustee, the court may appoint his or her successor. (b) The trustee, by and with the consent and approval of t…

(a) After the trustee has executed the bond required by the court, the life tenant shall execute and present to the court for its examination the mineral lease so authorized. This lease shall reflect the portion of the consideration, rentals, other payments, if any, and royalties…

The order of the court fixing the proportionate part of the consideration, rentals, other payments, if any, and royalties reserved in and accruing under the lease allowed to the life tenant and the order confirming the execution of the lease shall operate to work a divestiture of…

Service of process shall be had upon the respondents in the manner provided by law as in other chancery cases, and the petition may be heard on oral testimony taken in open court.

All persons owning or controlling by lease or purchase any copper, lead, zinc, iron, marble, stone, rock, granite, slate, coal, or other mineral lands in this state shall have the same right to incorporate, own, construct, and operate short lines of railway or tramway as necessar…

(1) All incorporations provided for shall:(1) Be governed by the laws governing railway incorporations in this state; and(2) Have the same right to acquire rights-of-way over, under, or through any private or public lands; have and exercise the same right of eminent domain in acq…

When so incorporated and constructed, short lines of railway and tramway shall be and are entitled to all the rights, powers, and privileges of a common carrier.

All such short lines of railway or tramway shall have the same rights and privileges of connections, crossings, sidings, switches, and transfer, without prejudice or discrimination, as are extended by custom or granted by law to railroad corporations in this state.

All short lines of railway or tramway not exceeding six (6) miles in length shall not be required to maintain passenger equipment. However, if at their option they carry passengers, they shall be subject to the laws governing passenger traffic on railroads in this state.