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Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-102

§508b National Forests in Minnesota; Authority to Prospect, Develop, Mine, Remove, and Utilize Mineral Resources

Title 16 › CHAPTER 2 — NATIONAL FORESTS › SUBCHAPTER I — ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION › § 508b

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Lets the Secretary of the Interior allow prospecting, mining, and use of minerals on public-domain lands (or lands exchanged for them or for timber) inside Minnesota national forest boundaries when those minerals are not covered by U.S. mining or leasing laws because they were withdrawn, reserved, limited by law, or otherwise excluded and no other law allows their use. The Secretary must create rules, set terms and time limits he thinks best, and must get the Secretary of Agriculture’s consent before allowing development. Money from permits or leases must go into the same Treasury accounts and be distributed the same way as national forest revenue under sections 499 to 501 of this title.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §508b

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Where, through withdrawal or reservation or by statutory limitation or otherwise, all or any part of the mineral resources in public-domain lands or lands received in exchange for public-domain lands or for timber on such lands situated within the exterior boundaries of the national forests in Minnesota, are not subject to development or utilization under the mining laws of the United States or the mineral leasing laws, and for the development and utilization of which no other statutory authority exists, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, under general regulations to be prescribed by him and upon such terms and for specified periods or otherwise as he may deem to be for the best interests of the United States, to permit the pros­pecting for and the development and utilization of such mineral resources: Provided, That the development and utilization of such mineral deposits shall not be permitted by the Secretary of the Interior except with the consent of the Secretary of Agriculture. All receipts derived from permits or leases issued under the authority of this section for prospecting for and the development and utilization of such mineral resources shall be paid into the same funds or accounts in the Treasury and shall be distributed in the same manner as prescribed for national forest revenue by sections 499 to 501 of this title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

Functions of Secretary of the Interior under this section, with respect to use and disposal from lands under jurisdiction of Secretary of Agriculture of those mineral materials which Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to dispose of from other lands under his jurisdiction under sections 601 to 604 and 611 to 615 of Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining, transferred to Secretary of Agriculture, see Pub. L. 86–509, June 11, 1960, 74 Stat. 205, set out as a

Transfer of Functions

note under section 2201 of Title 7, Agriculture.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 508b

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102