PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

§122 Patents; Reservation in the United States of Reserved Deposits; Acquisition of Right to Remove Deposits; Application for Entry to Disprove Classification

Title 30 › CHAPTER 3 — LANDS CONTAINING COAL, OIL, GAS, SALTS, ASPHALTIC MATERIALS, SODIUM, SULPHUR, AND BUILDING STONE › SUBCHAPTER V — AGRICULTURAL ENTRY OF LANDS WITHDRAWN OR CLASSIFIED AS CONTAINING PHOSPHATE, NITRATE, POTASH, OIL, GAS, ASPHALTIC MINERALS, SODIUM, OR SULPHUR › § 122

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

If a person proves they followed the rules to locate, select, enter, or buy public land, they get a patent (title) to that land. That patent must keep the United States’ ownership of any mineral deposits found there, and the U.S. keeps the right to prospect for, mine, and remove those minerals unless a later law says otherwise. Minerals reserved under sections 121–123 that, when a patent is applied for, are already covered by valid mining rights obtained before February 25, 1920, can be disposed of to those rights holders by patent under whatever mining laws apply when the United States makes that disposal. Anyone allowed to get the reserved minerals may enter the land to prospect after the Secretary of the Interior approves a bond to pay for any damage to crops or buildings; such damages are fixed by agreement or by a court. A person who later acquires the right to mine the reserved minerals may use as much surface as reasonably needed for mining, but must pay damages or post a sufficient bond while damages are decided. People may also apply to prove lands classified as phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic are not mineral lands, and those who entered or bought land later classified this way can still show before final approval that the land is nonmineral.

Title 30, §122

Mineral Lands and Mining, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Upon satisfactory proof of full compliance with the provisions of the laws under which the location, selection, entry, or purchase is made, the locator, selector, entryman, or purchaser shall be entitled to a patent to the land located, selected, entered, or purchased, which patent shall contain a reservation to the United States of the deposits on account of which the lands so patented were withdrawn or classified or reported as valuable, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same, such deposits to be subject to disposal by the United States only as shall be hereafter expressly directed by law: Provided, however, That all mineral deposits heretofore or hereafter reserved to the United States under sections 121 to 123 of this title which are subject, at the time of application for patent, to valid and subsisting rights acquired by discovery and location under the mining laws of the United States made prior to the date of the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920 [30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.], shall hereafter be subject to disposal to the holders of those valid and subsisting rights by patent under the mining laws of the United States in force at the time of such disposal. Any person qualified to acquire the reserved deposits may enter upon said lands with a view of prospecting for the same upon the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of a bond or undertaking to be filed with him as security for the payment of all damages to the crops and improvements on such lands by reason of such prospecting, the measure of any such damage to be fixed by agreement of parties or by a court of competent jurisdiction. Any person who has acquired from the United States the title to or the right to mine and remove the reserved deposits, should the United States dispose of the mineral deposits in lands, may reenter and occupy so much of the surface thereof as may be required for all purposes reasonably incident to the mining and removal of the minerals therefrom, and mine and remove such minerals, upon payment of damages caused thereby to the owner of the land, or upon giving a good and sufficient bond or undertaking therefor in an action instituted in any competent court to ascertain and fix said damages. Nothing herein contained shall be held to deny or abridge the right to present and have prompt consideration of applications to locate, select, enter, or purchase, under the land laws of the United States, lands which have been withdrawn or classified as phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic mineral lands, with a view of disproving such classification and securing patent without reservation, nor shall persons who have located, selected, entered, or purchased lands subsequently withdrawn, or classified as valuable for said mineral deposits, be debarred from the privilege of showing, at any time before final entry, purchase, or approval of selection or location, that the lands entered, selected, or located are in fact nonmineral in character.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, referred to in text, is act Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437, which is classified generally to chapter 3A (§ 181 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 181 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1956—Act July 20, 1956, permitted disposal of mineral deposits which are subject, at the time of application for patent, to valid and subsisting rights acquired by discovery and location under the mining laws made prior to Feb. 25, 1920.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Lands in North Platte Reclamation Project; Mineral RightsPatents for lands in North Platte Reclamation Project not to contain reservations of minerals in certain cases, see section 125 of this title.