§611 — Title 30 Mineral Lands and Mining | U.S. Code

Summary

You may not treat deposits of common sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, cinders, or petrified wood as valuable minerals for making a mining claim under U.S. mining law. If you find some other mineral in or with one of those deposits, a claim based on that other mineral can still be valid. "Common varieties" does not include deposits that are valuable because they have a special property, and it does not include "block pumice" (natural pieces with at least one side two inches or larger). "Petrified wood" means wood turned to stone, such as agatized, opalized, petrified, silicified, or wood replaced by silica or other material.

Title 30, §611

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

No deposit of common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, or cinders and no deposit of petrified wood shall be deemed a valuable mineral deposit within the meaning of the mining laws of the United States so as to give effective validity to any mining claim hereafter located under such mining laws: Provided, however, That nothing herein shall affect the validity of any mining location based upon discovery of some other mineral occurring in or in association with such a deposit. “Common varieties” as used in this subchapter and section 601 and 603 of this title does not include deposits of such materials which are valuable because the deposit has some property giving it distinct and special value and does not include so-called “block pumice” which occurs in nature in pieces having one dimension of two inches or more. “Petrified wood” as used in this subchapter and section 601 and 603 of this title means agatized, opalized, petrified, or silicified wood, or any material formed by the replacement of wood by silica or other matter.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1962—Pub. L. 87–713 defined “petrified wood”, and provided that no deposit of petrified wood shall be deemed a valuable mineral deposit within the mining laws of the United States.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Regulations

for Removal of Limited Quantities of Petrified Wood Pub. L. 87–713, § 2, Sept. 28, 1962, 76 Stat. 652, provided that: “The Secretary of the Interior shall provide by regulation that limited quantities of petrified wood may be removed without charge from those public lands which he shall specify.”

§611 Common Varieties of Sand, Stone, Gravel, Pumice, Pumicite, or Cinders, and Petrified Wood