General Mining Law of 1872
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The General Mining Law of 1872 regulates the mining of certain mineral resources on federal public domain lands. The law permits individuals and corporations to prospect on public domain lands and to stake claims on mineral discoveries they make. The 42nd United States Congress passed the legislation in April 1872 and President Ulysses S. Grant (R) signed it into law the next month.[1][2]
Terms and definitions
- According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a mining claim "entitles the holder to develop the minerals" in a selected location. Under the General Mining Law, once a prospector discovers minerals on a parcel of federal public domain land, he or she may stake a claim on the deposit.[3]
- According to CRS, public domain lands (those that are subject to the provisions of the General Mining Law) are defined as lands "retained under federal ownership since their original acquisition by treaty, cession, or purchase as part of the general territory of the United States." Public domain lands are distinct from acquired lands, which are defined as lands "obtained from a state or private owner through purchase, gift, or condemnation for particular federal purposes rather than as general territory of the United States."[1]
- According to The Northern Miner, a lode is defined as a mineral deposit occurring in solid rock. A vein is "a fissure, fault, or crack in a rock filled by minerals that have traveled upwards from some deep source."[4]
- AccordA\ to The Northern Miner, a placer is a "deposit of sand or gravel containing valuable metals such as gold, tin or diamonds."[4]
Background
Early Western prospectors (such as those of the 1849 California gold rush) sometimes staked claims on public lands without the express consent of the federal government. In 1866, Congress passed the Lode Law, which permitted private lode development on public lands. In 1870, this law was extended to include the development of placers. These two laws were later subsumed by the General Mining Law of 1872.[5]
According to the Congressional Research Service, the primary purposes of the 1872 law were to "promote mineral exploration and development on federal lands in the western United States, offer an opportunity to obtain a clear title to mines already being worked, and help settle the West."[1]
Legislative history
General Mining Law of 1872 |
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| United States Congress |
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| Legislative history |
| Introduced: January 15, 1872 in the House |
| House vote: Approved; January 23, 1872 |
| Senate vote: Approved with amendment; April 16, 1872 (House agreed to Senate amendment on April 29, 1872) |
| President: Ulysses S. Grant |
| Signed: May 10, 1872 |
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Representative Aaron A. Sargent (R-California) introduced the General Mining Law in the United States House of Representatives on January 15, 1872. The House passed the bill on January 23, 1872. The United States Senate passed an amended version of the bill on April 16, 1872. The House accepted the Senate amendment on April 29, 1872. President Ulysses S. Grant (R) signed the bill into law on May 10, 1872.[2]
Subsequent legislation
The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 moved certain minerals (including oil, natural gas, coal, oil shale, phosphates and sodium) to a lease-based system, under which the federal government retains ownership. The Materials Act of 1947 established separate processes for the sale of federally owned "common variety minerals such as sand, stone, gravel, cinders and pumice." A series of laws enacted in the 1960s and 1970s (including the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act, the National Forest Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Federal Land Policy Management Act) "addressed environmental protection, multiple use, and management of federal land generally." As a result, some lands were withdrawn from development.[1]
According to the Congressional Research Service, the 1872 law remains unchanged for those minerals and lands that are still subject to it.[1]
Components
Claim and patent system
Under the General Mining Law, any individual U.S. citizen or corporation may explore federal public domain lands in search of valuable minerals. In the event that the prospector discovers an area that he or she believes contains valuable minerals subject to the law, he or she may stake a claim on that land. There is no limit to the number of claims an individual or corporation may stake, and it is not required that production of the claim ever begin. The claimant is required to pay certain fees to maintain the claim.[1][3]
If a claimant determines that a deposit to which he or she has staked a claim is "economically recoverable" and he or she has performed development work on the claim equaling at least $500, he or she may file for a patent to obtain title to both the surface and mineral rights of the land. It is not necessary, however, that a claimant file for a patent in order to develop minerals on his or her claim. Filing for a patent requires the payment of a one-time $250 application fee. Provided that the application is approved, the claimant can purchase title to the land's surface and mineral rights. For a lode claim, the cost per acre is $5. For a placer claim, the cost per acre is $2.50. Lode claims may exceed 20 acres, but placer claims cannot exceed 20 acres. Starting in fiscal year 1995, Congress implemented a moratorium on the patent program, effectively barring new claimants from filing for a patent. The moratorium remained in place as of 2014.[1][3]
Under the claim and patent system, claimants are not required to pay royalties to the federal government on minerals recovered from public domain lands.[1][3]
According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, there were 19 states open to mining under the 1872 law as of 2014:[3]
See also
External links
- General Mining Act of 1872 (included in Title 30, Chapter 2 of the United States Code)
- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "The General Mining Act of 1872 has left a legacy of riches and ruin," June 10, 2001</ref>
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Congressional Research Service, "Issue Brief for Congress: Mining on Federal Lands," updated June 11, 2002
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Library of Congress, "Congressional Globe: Debates and Proceedings, 1833-1873," accessed August 14, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 U.S. Bureau of Land Management, "Mining Claims and Sites on Federal Lands," accessed August 15, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Northern Miner, "Glossary of Terms," accessed August 15, 2014
- ↑ Environmental Law Reporter, "The Enduring Vitality of the General Mining Law of 1872," accessed August 14, 2014
