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Title 30, Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-102

§283 Lands Containing Valuable Deposits Not Covered by Permits or Leases; Authority to Lease; Acreage; Conditions; Renewals; Exemptions From Rentals and Royalties; Suspension of Operations

Title 30 › CHAPTER 3A — LEASES AND PROSPECTING PERMITS › SUBCHAPTER IX — POTASH › § 283

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must offer for lease public lands known to have the listed valuable deposits when those lands are not already under a permit or lease. Leases can be offered by advertisement, competitive bidding, or other rules the Secretary makes. Each lease area can be no larger than 2,560 acres. The lease must require a royalty of at least 2% of the quantity or gross value of potassium compounds and related products (except sodium) at the point of shipment. The lessee must prepay rent of $0.25 per acre for the first year or part of a year, $0.50 per acre for each of the second through fifth years, and $1.00 per acre each year after that. Rent paid for a year is credited against royalties for that year. Leases run for 20 years and continue as long as the lessee follows the lease terms. At each 20-year anniversary the Secretary may reasonably adjust the lease terms. Leases must include a required minimum yearly production or a minimum royalty payment, except when production stops because of strikes, weather, or accidents not caused by the lessee. The Secretary can allow suspension of operations if market conditions would make operating the lease a loss. If a lessee applies before a current lease in good standing expires, the Secretary must amend it to give the same term and conditions, including the 20-year adjustment rule. For leases that come from a prospecting permit, the Secretary may choose to limit rent above $0.25 per acre and royalties above the stated minimum for the first 20 years.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §283

Mineral Lands and Mining, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Lands known to contain valuable deposits enumerated in this subchapter and not covered by permits or leases shall be held subject to lease by the Secretary of the Interior through advertisement, competitive bidding, or such other methods as he may by general regulations adopt, and in such areas as he shall fix, not exceeding two thousand five hundred and sixty acres; all leases to be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee of such royalty as may be fixed in the lease, not less than 2 per centum of the quantity or gross value of the output of potassium compounds and other related products, except sodium, at the point of shipment to market, and the payment in advance of a rental of 25 cents per acre for the first calendar year or fraction thereof; 50 cents per acre for the second, third, fourth, and fifth years, respectively; and $1 per acre per annum thereafter during the continuance of the lease, such rental for any year being credited against royalties accruing for that year. Any lease issued under this subchapter shall be for a term of twenty years and so long thereafter as the lessee complies with the terms and conditions of the lease and upon the further condition that at the end of each twenty-year period succeeding the date of the lease such reasonable adjustment of the terms and conditions thereof may be made therein as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior unless otherwise provided by law at the expiration of such periods. Leases shall be conditioned upon a minimum annual production or the payment of a minimum royalty in lieu thereof, except when production is interrupted by strikes, the elements, or casualties not attributable to the lessee. The Secretary of the Interior may permit suspension of operations under any such leases when marketing conditions are such that the leases cannot be operated except at a loss. The Secretary upon application by the lessee prior to the expiration of any existing lease in good standing shall amend such lease to provide for the same tenure and to contain the same conditions, including adjustment at the end of each twenty-year period succeeding the date of said lease, as provided for in this subchapter. In the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior the area involved in any lease resulting from a prospecting permit may be exempt from any rental in excess of 25 cents per acre for twenty years succeeding its issue, and the production of potassium compounds under such a lease may be exempt from any royalty in excess of the minimum prescribed in this subchapter for the same period.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was not enacted as part of act Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437, known as the Mineral Leasing Act, which comprises this chapter.

Amendments

1948—Act June 3, 1948, increased renewal term from ten to twenty years, provided for reasonable adjustment of terms, provided minimum conditions, and permitted suspension of operations under certain conditions.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 283

Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102