Title 5, PUBLIC PROPERTY, PURCHASES AND CONTRACTS

The commissioner of school and public lands may execute and issue in the name of the State of South Dakota, as lessor, under rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, leases for the exploration and development of, and production of, oil, gas, or geothermal resources f…

It is hereby specifically provided that all leases for prospecting for, producing, and marketing oil and gas, geothermal resources, bentonite, and gypsum, shall be, and for feldspar, mica, coal, and all other minerals or combinations thereof, may be, issued after advertising and …

Applications for the issuance of any such oil, gas, or geothermal resources lease shall be executed under oath by the applicant, or his agent or attorney duly authorized in writing, or by any officer or attorney in fact of the corporation, if the application is made by a corporat…

Whenever an application is made for such an oil and gas or geothermal resources lease the commissioner of school and public lands shall advertise the lands for lease by the publication, once in each week for at least two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation publ…

Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as requiring the commissioner of school and public lands to offer any tract of land for lease, nor to lease the same, but the commissioner may withhold any tract from leasing for oil, gas, other mineral or geothermal resources …

The term of all such oil and gas leases shall be for a period not to exceed ten years and as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced from the leased land. In no event, however, shall such leases covering lands granted to the state of South Dakota by the Enabling Act of February…

The term of all geothermal leases shall be for a period not to exceed ten years and as long as geothermal resources are produced from the leased lands. Source: SL 1980, ch 40 , § 8.

All such leases shall provide for delivery to the state in the pipeline to which the lessee may connect the wells of a royalty of not less than one - eighth of the oil and gas produced, saved, and marketed from the leased lands, or the equivalent proportion of the market value of…

All geothermal leases shall provide for the payments of royalty to the state. The royalty payments shall consist of: (1) Not less than ten percent of the gross revenue, exclusive of charges, approved by the commissioner of school and public lands, that were made or incurred with …

The commissioner of school and public lands may insert in oil, gas, and geothermal resources leases such general provisions as are customary and proper for the protection of the rights of the state and of the lessee and of the owners of the surface of the leased land and not inco…

The provisions of §§ 5-7-25 to 5-7-37 , inclusive, apply to geothermal resources. Source: SL 1980, ch 40 , § 10.

All oil, gas, and geothermal resources leases shall be assignable in whole or in part, provided no assignment of less than a legal subdivision shall be recognized or approved by the commissioner of school and public lands. The term "legal subdivision" as used herein shall be cons…

The assignments provided for in § 5-7-26 shall be executed and acknowledged in duplicate in the manner prescribed for conveyance of real estate in this state, and subject to recordation as other instruments conveying real estate and, in addition thereto, a duplicate original shal…

The commissioner of school and public lands shall have the right to refuse approval of any assignment not executed in proper form or by the proper person or persons, or when the lease is not in good standing as to the assigned tracts, or when litigation is pending affecting the l…

Upon approval by the commissioner of school and public lands of an assignment, the assignor shall stand relieved from all obligations to the state with respect to the lands embraced in the assignment and the state shall likewise be relieved from all obligations to the assignor as…

All coal, ores, asphaltum, metals, minerals, and other metallic or mineral products in or upon lands belonging to the state or in lands which subsequent to July 1, 1919, were or may hereafter be sold, granted, conveyed, or leased for agricultural, meadow, pasturage, or other purp…

The commissioner of school and public lands is hereby authorized to cancel any lease issued as provided in §§ 5-7-18 to 5-7-32 , inclusive, for nonpayment of rentals or nonperformance by the lessee of any requirement of the lease. With the exception of the nonpayment of rentals o…

Whenever any person, firm, or corporation has been granted a lease or leases and has not tested or prospected the land so leased and a mistake has been made in the description of the land, there may be substituted therefor other land for that leased, under such rules and regulati…

The commissioner of school and public lands is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to enter into agreements on behalf of the State of South Dakota for the pooling of acreage under his jurisdiction with other acreage for unit operations for the production of oil, gas, or geother…

The commissioner of school and public lands shall deposit the money realized from leasing of mineral interests owned by the state, or held in trust by the state with the state treasurer and direct that such money be credited to the appropriate fund. Source: SL 1953, ch 72 , § 1; …

All money received from the leasing of all common school, indemnity, and endowment lands for oil and gas and other mineral or geothermal resources leasing of said lands shall be apportioned as follows: Fifty percent shall be credited to the permanent school funds and fifty percen…

The commissioner of school and public lands shall keep in his office a full and complete record of all lease lettings, sales, copies of all leases, a record of the payment of the rentals, a record of the assignment of the leases, a record of the acquisition of all mineral interes…

The commissioner of school and public lands shall from time to time promulgate such rules and regulations, not in conflict with any of the provisions of this chapter, as may be necessary or proper for carrying out such provisions governing the duties of the commissioner in execut…

All leases granted by the commissioner of school and public lands for the development of geothermal resources for industrial or commercial heating or production of electricity or minerals in solution, are subject to all of the provisions of chapters 46-5 and 46-6 , inclusive. Sou…

Any oil and gas lease executed by the Governor and the commissioner of school and public lands prior to July 1, 1981, is, notwithstanding any omissions, irregularities, or defects in the procedures, including publications, taken by the State of South Dakota in leasing the same, h…

The state and all persons claiming under it shall have the right to enter upon such lands and to prospect for, mine, sell, and remove such coal, ores, asphaltum, metals, minerals, and other metallic and mineral products and for such purpose to construct all necessary roads, build…

No person may conduct mineral exploration upon state lands, including lands in which the state has a mineral interest, without obtaining a lease under the provisions of this chapter. Any person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand …

If any person has a vested right in any real property leased and desires to contest the validity of an oil and gas lease and no action to enforce such right is begun before July 1, 1983, such right shall be forever barred. No action so brought shall be of any force or effect, or …

The commissioner of school and public lands may, upon his own motion or upon petition by an interested person assign, specific state - owned minerals to oil and gas royalty increment status. The assignment shall be made pursuant to the contested case requirements of chapter 1-26 …

Notwithstanding the provisions of § 5-7-24 , the commissioner may offer oil and gas leases for lands assigned oil and gas royalty increment status with a royalty of one - sixteenth of the oil and gas produced, saved and marketed from the leased lands for the first three years of …

The royalty increments of an oil and gas lease for lands assigned royalty increment status may not be altered due to the shut - in of a well. If the mineral lands assigned oil and gas royalty increment status are pooled, unitized, or otherwise commingled with production from othe…

Royalty increment status leases may be offered only during the term in which the state - owned minerals are assigned royalty increment status. Source: SL 1992, ch 43 , § 4.

The commissioner may execute and issue in the name of the State of South Dakota, as lessor, leases for the sole and exclusive purpose of prospecting, exploration, and mining of all minerals upon or from any public lands over which the commissioner has jurisdiction, direction, con…

Any lessee of mineral lands under this chapter who conceals, or attempts to conceal any sale of ores or mineral products derived therefrom on which a royalty is payable, or who defrauds, or attempts to defraud, the state out of any such royalty is subject to a civil penalty of no…

The commissioner may inspect all records or books of account pertaining to the mining, extraction, transportation, reduction, and returns of all ores taken from such leased lands. Source: SL 1993, ch 53 , § 3.

Any lessee of lands subject to a mineral lease, or the heirs, successors or assigns of such lessee, have a preferential right to renew the lease or to purchase or lease any estate in such lands that the state intends to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of during the term of the …

The term, minerals, as used in this chapter means all mineral deposits, whether lode, placer, or otherwise. The term, lessee, as used in this chapter includes an assignee under an approved assignment. The term, legal subdivision, as used in this chapter, has its ordinary meaning,…

All prospecting permits and leases issued prior to July 1, 1993 which have not expired, or which have not been canceled legally for nonperformance, are hereby declared to be valid and existing contracts with the State of South Dakota according to their terms and provisions, and t…

Any legal owner of any prospecting permit issued by the commissioner prior to July 1, 1993, if not in default of any of the provisions thereof, may relinquish such permit to the state and, upon application filed at the time of filing such relinquishment, the commissioner shall is…

All leases issued under these provisions shall be for a primary term of three years and as long thereafter as any mineral or minerals in paying quantities be produced or mined from the lands, subject to the continued payment of annual rentals. If the lessee fails to discover and …

In all cases where the lessee of a valid lease issued under these provisions, or the record owner of an approved assignment of such lease, provides to the commissioner of school and public lands proof of discovery on such lease of an ore body containing valuable mineral deposits …

All leases issued by the commissioner shall provide for an annual rental to be paid by the lessee in advance, the amount thereof to be fixed by the commissioner, but in no case may the annual rental be less than one dollar per acre for the primary term nor less than two dollars p…

In addition to the annual rental, the lessee shall pay to the commissioner a royalty of not less than two percent of the gross returns from the sale of ores and mineral products derived therefrom, less reasonable transportation and smelting or reduction charges, if any, and such …

Any lease issued under the provisions of this chapter shall contain provisions requiring the lessee to market the mineral within a reasonable time after production is had. Source: SL 1993, ch 53 , § 12.

Before any lessee of minerals commences development or operations upon the lands, such lessee shall execute and file with the commissioner a good and sufficient bond or undertaking in an amount to be fixed by the commissioner, but not less than five thousand dollars, in favor of …

The commissioner or the commissioner's designee may inspect all records, books, or accounts pertaining to the mining, extraction, transportation, and returns of ores taken from such leased lands. At the request of the commissioner, the lessee shall furnish such reports, samples, …