Title 30, Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-102

§704 Purchase of Substitute Lands; Limitations; Conditions; Payment; Conveyance of Less Than a Fee

Title 30 › CHAPTER 20 — CONVEYANCES TO OCCUPANTS OF UNPATENTED MINING CLAIMS › § 704

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior may let a person who otherwise qualifies buy, for a home, up to five acres from public lands or from lands covered by another federal classification rule when the usual consent is not given. The sale won’t happen until the person agrees to leave their unpatented mining claim and pay any costs from unauthorized use. The right to buy expires five years after it is granted unless used sooner. The price is set by the chapter’s payment rules. If the sale gives less than full ownership, it must allow the buyer to remove any buildings or other property when the sale term ends, or within one year after the buyer’s death if the interest ends then.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §704

Mineral Lands and Mining, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)If the Secretary of the Interior determines that conveyance of an interest under section 701 of this title is otherwise justified but the consent required by section 703 of this title is not given, he may, in accordance with such procedural rules and regulations as he may prescribe, grant the applicant a right to purchase, for residential use, an interest in another tract of land, five acres or less in area, from tracts made available by him for sale under this chapter (1) from the unappropriated and unreserved lands of the United States, or (2) from lands subject to classification under section 315f of title 43. Said right shall not be granted until arrangements satisfactory to the Secretary have been made for termination of the applicant’s occupancy of his unpatented mining claim and for settlement of any liability for the unauthorized use thereof which may have been incurred and shall expire five years from the date on which it was granted unless sooner exercised. The amount to be paid for the interest shall be determined in accordance with section 705 of this title.

(b)Any conveyance of less than a fee made under this chapter shall include provision for removal from the tract of any improvements or other property of the applicant at the close of the period for which the conveyance is made, or if it be an interest terminating on the death of the applicant, within one year thereafter.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 704

Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102