§541 Entry and Location; Filing of Copy of Notice of Mining Location; Report and Payment for Lignite Mined; Mineral Patents; Reservation of Minerals to United States

Summary

Public lands that are known or classified as valuable for coal and that are open to entry (and not already under a coal prospecting permit or lease) can be claimed under the mining laws when someone finds valuable "source material" inside any seam, bed, or deposit of lignite. Claims are subject to the rules in this chapter and any valid prior rights. A copy of the notice of the mining location must be filed in the Bureau of Land Management land office for the State within 90 days. The claimant must report each year to the Mining Supervisor of the Geological Survey how much lignite was mined or stripped to get the source material, and must pay 10 cents per ton. Any mineral patent granted must follow the filing and payment rules above and must reserve to the United States all Leasing Act minerals except lignite that contains the source material and any lignite that must be removed to get that material. Claims and patents do not give rights to lignite that does not contain source material except as needed to recover the source material, and lode claims do not include extralateral rights. "Source material" and "lignite" have the meanings given in section 541e.