Title 15 — Natural Resources and Economic Development

(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.

Any land reclamation or improvement conducted by the owner of lands pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter shall be strictly on a voluntary basis. The reclamation or improvement shall not subject the lands or the owner to the provisions of the Arkansas Open-Cut Land Reclam…

(a) The owners of lands on which are situated open-cut mining pits that are not subject to the requirements of the Arkansas Open-Cut Land Reclamation Act of 1977 [repealed] or any other land reclamation laws of this state are authorized to make voluntary environmental or aestheti…

(a) Any owner of such lands who wishes to make environmental or aesthetic improvements to reclaim or improve the lands, as authorized in this subchapter, shall file written notice thereof with the Division of Environmental Quality before entering upon the improvements. (b) The pu…

(a) A person who owns both the surface rights and subsurface rights of private property that mines quartz crystal on the private property shall remove topsoil and spoil and store it on the mining site separately for future reclamation needs. (b) Upon completion of mining on priva…

This subchapter shall be known and cited as “The Arkansas Open-Cut Land Reclamation Act”.

It is declared to be the policy of this state to provide during and after completion of open-cut mining operations for the reclamation and restoration of affected lands to productive use, including, but not limited to, the planting of forests, the seeding of grasses and legumes f…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Affected land” means the area of land where open-cut mining has been or is taking place or upon which spoil has been deposited or any other surface disturbance, including haul roads, processing and loading facilities, or appurtenances related t…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to:(1) Violate any provision of this subchapter or any rule or order of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission or the Division of Environmental Quality issued pursuant to this subchapter;(2) Engage in open-cut mining without …

(a) Civil Penalties. The Division of Environmental Quality is authorized to institute a civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction to accomplish any or all of the following:(1) To restrain any violation of or to compel compliance with the provisions of this subchapter or…

The Division of Environmental Quality through the Director of the Division of Environmental Quality, and any representatives designated by the director, shall administer and enforce the provisions of this subchapter, except for those provisions specifically designated to the Arka…

The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission may adopt and promulgate rules necessary to administer the provisions of this subchapter.

The Division of Environmental Quality shall have the authority to cooperate with and receive technical and financial assistance from the United States, or any department, agency, or officer thereof, for any purposes relating to the reclamation of affected lands.

The Division of Environmental Quality or its designated representatives may enter upon the lands affected by open-cut mining at all reasonable times for the purpose of determining compliance with the provisions of this subchapter.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any operator to engage in open-cut mining without first obtaining from the Division of Environmental Quality a permit to do so in the form required by the division. (b) An operator shall be deemed to be engaged in open-cut mining when he or she affect…

(a) Any person desiring to engage in open-cut mining shall make written application to the Division of Environmental Quality for a permit. The application shall be made upon a form furnished by the division. (b) The applicant shall fully state the information required on the form…

Although issued to the operator, the permit is at all times the property of the State of Arkansas. Upon the expiration, suspension, or termination thereof, the operator shall promptly deliver the permit to the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission.

An operator may withdraw any land covered by a permit, except affected land, by notifying the Division of Environmental Quality, in which case the penalty of the bond or substituted security filed by the operator pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter shall be reduced prop…

Where the area for which a permit is in effect is not mined or where open-cut mining operations have not been completed during the permit term, the permit as to such area may be extended by the Division of Environmental Quality on the terms and conditions required by the division…

(1) Any operator of an open-cut mine will be subject to the following requirements with respect to the mining and reclamation of the site:(1) (A) (i) All affected land shall be graded to a rolling or terraced topography with adequate drainage.(ii) (a) No final slope will be steep…

(a) (1) (A) Any bond provided in this subchapter to be filed with the Division of Environmental Quality by the operator shall be in such form as the division shall prescribe, payable to the State of Arkansas through the division, conditioned that the operator shall faithfully per…

(a) The Division of Environmental Quality may institute proceedings to have the bond or substituted security of the operator forfeited for any of the following reasons, including, but not limited to:(1) Failure to abate any violation of this subchapter or any rule promulgated the…

The Division of Environmental Quality shall require registration of all existing unpermitted open-cut mines in which mining operations are not being conducted.

(a) A Land Reclamation Fund is established on the books of the Treasurer of State, the Auditor of State, and the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State. The Land Reclamation Fund shall consist of civil penalty and bond forfeiture amounts, gifts, grants, donations, and other funds as m…

(a) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to require any agent or employee of a county or municipal government or a landowner selling exclusively to those government entities to comply with any of the provisions of this subchapter when engaged in open-cut mining outside o…

A.C.A. § 15-57-321Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved