II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2458

To provide for the conveyance of certain public lands in and around historic 

mining townsites in Nevada, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 20, 2004

Mr. REID (for himself and Mr. ENSIGN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

A BILL

To provide for the conveyance of certain public lands in 

and around historic mining townsites in Nevada, and 

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nevada Mining Town5 site Conveyance Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISPOSAL OF PUBLIC LANDS IN MINING TOWN7 SITES, ESMERALDA AND NYE COUNTIES, NE8 VADA. 

9 (a) FINDINGS.— Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) The Federal Government owns real property 

2 in and around historic mining townsites in the coun3 ties of Esmeralda and Nye in the State of Nevada. 

4 (2) While the real property is under the juris5 diction of the Secretary of the Interior, acting 

6 through the Bureau of Land Management, some of 

7 the real property land has been occupied for decades 

8 by persons who took possession by purchase or other 

9 documented and putatively legal transactions, but 

10 whose continued occupation of the real property con11 stitutes a ‘‘trespass’’ upon the title held by the Fed12 eral Government. 

13 (3) As a result of the confused and conflicting 

14 ownership claims, the real property is difficult to 

15 manage under multiple use policies and creates a 

16 continuing source of friction and unease between the 

17 Federal Government and local residents. 

18 (4) All of the real property is appropriate for 

19 disposal for the purpose of promoting administrative 

20 efficiency and effectiveness, and the Bureau of Land 

21 Management has already identified certain parcels of 

22 the real property for disposal. 

23 (5) Some of the real property contains historic 

24 and cultural values that must be protected. 
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1 (6) To promote responsible resource manage2 ment of the real property, certain parcels should be 

3 conveyed to the county in which the property is situ4 ated in accordance with land use management plans 

5 of the Bureau of Land Management so that the 

6 county can, among other things, dispose of the prop7 erty to persons residing on or otherwise occupying 

8 the property. 

9 (b) MINING TOWNSITE DEFINED.—In this section, 

10 the term ‘‘mining townsite’’ means real property in the 

11 counties of Esmeralda and Nye, Nevada, that is owned 

12 by the Federal Government, but upon which improvements 

13 were constructed because of a mining operation on or near 

14 the property and based upon the belief that—

15 (1) the property had been or would be acquired 

16 from the Federal Government by the entity that op17 erated the mine; or 

18 (2) the person who made the improvement had 

19 a valid claim for acquiring the property from the 

20 Federal Government. 

21 (c) CONVEYANCE AUTHORITY.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sections 

23 202 and 203 of the Federal Land Policy and Man24 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712, 1713), the 

25 Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau 
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1 of Land Management, shall convey, without consid2 eration, all right, title, and interest of the United 

3 States in and to mining townsites (including im4 provements thereon) identified for conveyance on the 

5 maps entitled ‘‘Original Mining Townsite Ione Land 

6 Disposal Map Nye County’’ and ‘‘Original Mining 

7 Townsite Gold Point Land Disposal Map Esmeralda 

8 County’’ dated October 29, 2003. 

9 (2) AVAILABILITY OF MAPS.—The maps re10 ferred to in paragraph (1) shall be on file and avail11 able for public inspection in the appropriate offices 

12 of the Secretary of the Interior, including the office 

13 of the Bureau of Land Management located in the 

14 State of Nevada. 

15 (d) RECIPIENTS.—

16 (1) ORIGINAL RECIPIENT.—Subject to para17 graph (2), the conveyance of a mining townsite 

18 under subsection (c) shall be made to the county in 

19 which the mining townsite is situated. 

20 (2) RECONVEYANCE TO OCCUPANTS.—In the 

21 case of a mining townsite conveyed under subsection 

22 (c) for which a valid interest is proven by one or 

23 more persons, under the provisions of Nevada Re24 vised Statutes Chapter 244, the county that received 

25 the mining townsite under paragraph (1) shall re-
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1 convey the property to that person or persons by ap2 propriate deed or other legal conveyance as provided 

3 in that State law. For purposes of proving a valid 

4 interest, the person making the claim must have oc5 cupied the mining townsite for at least 15 years im6 mediately before the date of the enactment of this 

7 Act. The county is not required to recognize a claim 

8 under this paragraph submitted more than 10 years 

9 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

10 (e) PROTECTION OF HISTORIC AND CULTURAL RE11 SOURCES.—As a condition on the conveyance or reconvey12 ance of a mining townsite under subsection (c), all historic 

13 and cultural resources (including improvements) on the 

14 mining townsite shall be preserved and protected in ac15 cordance with applicable Federal and State law. 

16 (f) VALID EXISTING RIGHTS.—The conveyance of a 

17 mining townsite under this section shall be subject to valid 

18 existing rights, including any easement or other right-of19 way or lease in existence as of the date of the conveyance. 

20 All valid existing rights and interests of mining claimants 

21 shall be maintained, unless those rights or interests are 

22 deemed abandoned and void or null and void under—

23 (1) section 2320 of the Revised Statutes (30 

24 U.S.C. 21 et seq.); 
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1 (2) the Federal Land Policy and Management 

2 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 

3 (3) subtitle B of title X of the Omnibus Budget 

4 Reconciliation Act of 1993 (30 U.S.C. 28(f)–(k)), in5 cluding regulations promulgated under section 

6 3833.1 of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations or 

7 any successor regulation. 

8 (g) SURVEY.—A mining townsite to be conveyed by 

9 the United States under this section shall be sufficiently 

10 surveyed to legally describe the land for patent convey11 ance. 

12 (h) RELEASE.—On completion of the conveyance of 

13 a mining townsite under subsection (c), the United States 

14 shall be relieved from liability for, and shall be held harm15 less from, any and all claims arising from the presence 

16 of improvements and materials on the conveyed property. 

17 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

18 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the Inte19 rior such amounts as may be necessary to carry out the 

20 conveyances required by this section, including funds to 

21 cover the costs of cadastral and mineral surveys, mineral 

22 potential reports, hazardous materials, biological, cultural 

23 and archaeological clearances, validity examinations and 

24 other expenses incidental to the conveyances.

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