566
for such period, including an itemization of the ap-
plicable deductions described in subsection (c)(1).
(E) The estimated (or actual, if determined)
royalty due to the United States, or adjustment due
to the United States or such owner or co-owners, for
such period.
(3) In lieu of receiving a refund under subsection (h),
the owner or co-owners may elect to apply any adjustment
due to such owner or co-owners as an offset against royal-
ties due from such owner or co-owners to the United
States under this Act, regardless of whether such royalties
are due for production and sale from the same mining
claim or claims.
(g) RECORDKEEPING
AND REPORTING REQUIRE-
MENTS.—(1) An owner, operator, or other person directly
involved in the conduct of mineral activities, transpor-
tation, purchase, or sale of locatable minerals, con-
centrates, or products derived therefrom, subject to the
royalty under this section, through the point of royalty
computation, shall establish and maintain any records,
make any reports, and provide any information that the
Secretary may reasonably require for the purposes of im-
plementing this section or determining compliance with
regulations or orders under this section. Upon the request
of the Secretary when conducting an audit or investigation
567
pursuant to subsection (i), the appropriate records, re-
ports, or information required by this subsection shall be
made available for inspection and duplication by the Sec-
retary.
(2) Records required by the Secretary under this sec-
tion shall be maintained for 3 years after the records are
generated unless the Secretary notifies the record holder
that he or she has initiated an audit or investigation spe-
cifically identifying and involving such records and that
such records must be maintained for a longer period.
When an audit or investigation is under way, such records
shall be maintained until the earlier of the date that the
Secretary releases the record holder of the obligation to
maintain such records or the date that the limitations pe-
riod applicable to such audit or investigation under sub-
section (i) expires.
(h) INTEREST ASSESSMENTS.—(1) If royalty pay-
ments under this section are not received by the Secretary
on the date that such payments are due, or if such pay-
ments are less than the amount due, the Secretary shall
charge interest on such unpaid amount. Interest under
this subsection shall be computed at the rate published
by the Department of the Treasury as the ‘‘Treasury Cur-
rent Value of Funds Rate.’’ In the case of an
underpayment or partial payment, interest shall be com-
568
puted and charged only on the amount of the deficiency
and not on the total amount, and only for the number
of days such payment is late. No other late payment or
underpayment charge or penalty shall be charged with re-
spect to royalties under this section.
(2) In any case in which royalty payments are made
in excess of the amount due, or amounts are held by the
Secretary pending the outcome of any appeal in which the
Secretary does not prevail, the Secretary shall promptly
refund such overpayments or pay such amounts to the per-
son or persons entitled thereto, together with interest
thereon for the number of days such overpayment or
amounts were held by the Secretary, with the addition of
interest charged against the United States computed at
the rate published by the Department of the Treasury as
the ‘‘Treasury Current Value of Funds Rate.’’
(i) AUDITS, PAYMENT
DEMANDS
AND
LIMITA-
TIONS.—(1) The Secretary may conduct, after notice, any
audit reasonably necessary and appropriate to verify the
payments required under this section.
(2) The Secretary shall send or issue any billing or
demand letter for royalty due on locatable minerals pro-
duced and sold from any mining claim subject to royalty
required by this section not later than 3 years after the
date such royalty was due and must specifically identify
569
the production involved, the royalty allegedly due and the
basis for the claim. No action, proceeding or claim for roy-
alty due on locatable minerals produced and sold, or relat-
ing to such production, may be brought by the United
States, including but not limited to any claim for addi-
tional royalties or claim of the right to offset the amount
of such additional royalties against amounts owed to any
person by the United States, unless judicial suit or admin-
istrative proceedings are commenced to recover specific
amounts claimed to be due prior to the expiration of 3
years from the date such royalty is alleged to have been
due.
(j) TRANSITIONAL RULES.—Any mining claim for
which a patent is issued pursuant to section 9502(b) shall
not be subject to the obligation to pay the royalty pursu-
ant to this section. Royalty payments for any claim proc-
essed under section 9502(b) shall be suspended pending
final determination of the right to patent. For any such
claim that is determined not to qualify for the issuance
of a patent under section 9502(b), royalties shall be pay-
able under this section on production after the date of en-
actment of this Act, plus interest computed at the rate
published by the Department of the Treasury as the
‘‘Treasury Current Value of Funds Rate’’ on production
570
after such date of enactment and before the date of such
determination.
(k) DISBURSEMENT
OF REVENUES.—The receipts
from royalties collected under this section shall be dis-
bursed as follows:
(1) Two-thirds of such receipts shall be paid
into the Treasury of the United States and deposited
as miscellaneous receipts.
(2) One-third of such receipts shall be paid by
the Secretary of the Treasury to the State in which
the mining claim from which production occurred is
located.
(l) NO IMPLIED COVENANTS.—The owner of a min-
ing claim subject to the provisions of this title shall have
no obligation, express or implied, to explore for, develop,
produce or market locatable minerals as a result of the
obligation to pay a royalty hereunder, and the timing, na-
ture, extent and manner of exploring, developing, mining
and marketing such locatable minerals shall be in the sole
discretion of the claim owner.
SEC. 9504. MINERAL MATERIALS.
(a) DETERMINATIONS.—Section 3 of the Act of July
23, 1955 (30 U.S.C. 611), is amended as follows:
(1) Insert ‘‘(a)’’ before the first sentence.
571
(2) Add the following new subsection at the end
thereof:
‘‘(b)(1) Subject to valid existing rights, after the date
of enactment of this subsection, notwithstanding the ref-
erence to common varieties in subsection (a) and to the
exception to such term relating to a deposit of materials
with some property giving it distinct and special value, all
deposits of mineral materials referred to in such sub-
section, including the block pumice referred to in such
subsection, shall be subject to disposal only under the
terms and conditions of the Materials Act of 1947.
‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ‘valid
existing rights’ means that a mining claim located for any
such mineral material had some property giving it the dis-
tinct and special value referred to in subsection (a), or
as the case may be, met the definition of block pumice
referred to in such subsection, was properly located and
maintained under the general mining laws prior to the
date of the enactment of this subsection, and was sup-
ported by a discovery of a valuable mineral deposit within
the meaning of the general mining laws as in effect imme-
diately prior to such date of enactment and that such
claim continues to be valid under this Act.’’.
(b) IDENTIFIED DEPOSITS.—In order to assure that
the Secretary has the authority to provide for the develop-
572
ment of mineral materials which, in order to justify the
investment necessary for the development of the appro-
priate mine, quarry or other workings and related facili-
ties, may require longer and more secure tenure than is
provided by sales contracts under the Act entitled ‘‘An Act
to provide for the disposal of materials on the public lands
of the United States’’, approved July 31, 1947 (30 U.S.C.
602), and in order to provide flexibility with regard to the
manner of disposition of mineral materials section 2 of
such Act is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(b) IDENTIFIED DEPOSITS.—(1) Lands known to
contain valuable deposits of mineral materials subject to
this Act and subsequent amendments and not covered by
any contract, permit, or lease under this section shall also
be subject to disposition by lease under this Act by the
Secretary of the Interior through advertisement, competi-
tive bidding, or such other methods as he may by general
regulations adopt, and in such reasonably compact areas
as he shall fix.
‘‘(2) All leases will be conditioned upon—
‘‘(A) the payment by the lessee of such royalty
as may be fixed in the lease, not less than two per-
cent of the quantity or gross value of the output of
mineral materials, and
573
‘‘(B) the payment in advance of a rental of 25
cents per acre for the first calendar year or fraction
thereof; 50 cents per acre for the second, third,
fourth, and fifth years, respectively; and $1 per acre
per annum thereafter during the continuance of the
lease, such rental for that year being credited
against royalties accruing for that year.
‘‘(3)(A) Any lease issued under this subsection shall
be for a term of 20 years and so long thereafter as the
lessee complies with the terms and conditions of the lease
and upon the further condition that at the end of each
20-year period succeeding the date of the lease such rea-
sonable adjustment of the terms and conditions thereof
may be made therein as may be prescribed by the Sec-
retary of the Interior unless otherwise provided by law at
the expiration of such periods.
‘‘(B) Leases shall be conditioned upon a minimum
annual production or the payment of a minimum royalty
in lieu thereof, except when production is interrupted by
strikes, the elements, or casualties not attributable to the
lessee.
‘‘(C) The Secretary of the Interior may permit sus-
pension of operations under any such leases when market-
ing conditions are such that the leases cannot be operated
except at a loss.
574
‘‘(D) The Secretary upon application by the lessee
prior to the expiration of any existing lease in good stand-
ing shall amend such lease to provide for the same tenure
and to contain the same conditions, including adjustment
at the end of each 20-year period succeeding the date of
said lease, as provided for in this subsection.
‘‘(c) OTHER LANDS.—(1) The Secretary of the Inte-
rior is hereby authorized, under such rules and regulations
as he may prescribe, to grant to any qualified applicant
a prospecting permit which shall give the exclusive right
to prospect for mineral materials in lands belonging to the
United States which are not subject to subsection (b), and
are not covered by a contract, permit, or lease under this
Act, except that a prospecting permit shall not exceed a
period of 2 years and the area to be included in such a
permit shall not exceed 2,560 acres of land in reasonably
compact form.
‘‘(2) The Secretary of the Interior shall reserve and
may exercise the authority to cancel any prospecting per-
mit upon failure by the permittee to exercise due diligence
in the prosecution of the prospecting work in accordance
with the terms and conditions stated in the permit, and
shall insert in every such permit issued under the provi-
sions of this Act appropriate provisions for its cancellation
by him.
575
‘‘(3) Upon showing to the satisfaction of the Sec-
retary of the Interior that valuable deposits of one of the
mineral materials subject to the Materials Act of 1947
have been discovered by the permittee within the area cov-
ered by his permit, and that such land is valuable therefor,
the permittee shall be entitled to a lease for any or all
of the land embraced in the prospecting permit, at a roy-
alty of not less than two percent of the quantity or gross
value of the output of the mineral materials at the point
of shipment to market, such lease to be taken in compact
form by legal subdivisions of the public land surveys, or
if the land be not surveyed, by survey executed at the cost
of the permittee in accordance with regulations prescribed
by the Secretary of the Interior.’’.
(d) MINERAL
MATERIALS
DISPOSAL
CLARIFICA-
TION.—Section 4 of the Act of July 23, 1955 (30 U.S.C.
612), as amended as follows:
(1) In subsection (b) insert ‘‘and mineral mate-
rial’’ after ‘‘vegetative’’.
(2) In subsection (c) insert ‘‘and mineral mate-
rial’’ after ‘‘vegetative’’.
(e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1 of the
Act of July 31, 1947, entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the
disposal of materials on the public lands of the United
576
States’’ (30 U.S.C. 601 and following) is amended by
striking ‘‘common varieties of’’ in the first sentence.
(f) SHORT TITLES.—
(1) SURFACE
RESOURCES.—The Act of July
23, 1955, is amended by inserting after section 7
the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 8. This Act may be cited as the ‘Surface Re-
sources Act of 1955’.’’.
(2) MINERAL MATERIALS.—The Act of July 31,
1947, entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the disposal of
materials on the public lands of the United States’’
(30 U.S.C. 601 and following) is amended by insert-
ing after section 4 the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 5. This Act may be cited as the ‘Materials Act
of 1947’.’’.
(g) REPEALS.—(1) Subject to valid existing rights,
the Act of August 4, 1892 (27 Stat. 348, 30 U.S.C. 161),
commonly known as the Building Stone Act, is hereby re-
pealed.
(2) Subject to valid existing rights, the Act of Janu-
ary 31, 1901 (30 U.S.C. 162), commonly known as the
Saline Placer Act, is hereby repealed.
(h) AUTHORIZATION
FOR DISPOSAL
OF MINERAL
MATERIALS BY CONTRACT.—Section 2(a) of the Act enti-
tled ‘‘An Act to provide for the disposal of materials on
577
the public lands of the United States’’, approved July 31,
1947 (30 U.S.C. 602(a)), is amended—
(1) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (3) and inserting ‘‘or, if’’; and
(2) by adding after paragraph (3) the following:
‘‘(4) the material is a mineral material.’’.
(i) SODIUM.—Section 24 of the Mineral Leasing Act
(30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended by inserting after ‘‘2
per centum’’ in each place it appears the following: ‘‘and
not greater than five and one-half per centum’’. Any rate
under section 24 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C.
181) in excess of five and one-half per centum shall not
be allowed unless the following conditions are met:
(1) the Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-
retary of Commerce and the United States Trade
Representative, finds that any increase in the royalty
rate for sodium will not have an adverse effect on
the export of domestically produced soda ash;
(2) the Secretary reports this finding of no ‘‘ad-
verse effect’’ to Congress and recommends an addi-
tional proposed royalty rate increase; and
(3) the Congress, within 360 days, approves the
Secretary’s recommendation.
578
The Secretary shall, within 90 days, offer for competitive
bid all tracts for which there are applications pending on
sodium leases.
SEC. 9505. CLAIM MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS.
(a) MAINTENANCE FEES.—
(1) ANNUAL
MAINTENANCE
FEE.—After the
date of enactment of this Act, the owner of each
unpatented mining claim or site located pursuant to
the general mining laws, whether located before or
after the enactment of this Act, shall pay to the Sec-
retary in advance on or before September 1 of each
year, until a patent has been issued therefor, an an-
nual maintenance fee per mining claim or site.
(2) INITIAL MAINTENANCE FEE.—The owner of
each unpatented mining claim or site located after
the date of enactment of this Act pursuant to the
general mining laws shall pay to the Secretary, at
the time the copy of the notice or certificate of loca-
tion is filed with the Bureau of Land Management
pursuant to section 314(b) of the Federal Land Pol-
icy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.
1744(b)), the location fee required under subsection
(i) of this section, in lieu of the annual maintenance
fee of $100 per mining claim or site for the assess-
579
ment year which includes the date of location of
such mining claim or site.
(3) EXEMPTION.—The owner of any mining
claim or site who certifies in writing to the Secretary
on or before the first day of any assessment year
that access to such mining claim or site was denied
or impeded during the prior assessment year by the
action or inaction of any local, State, or Federal
governmental officer, agency, or court, or by any In-
dian tribal authority, shall be exempt from the an-
nual maintenance fee requirements of paragraph (1)
for the assessment year following the filing of the
certification.
(4) AMOUNT OF ANNUAL MAINTENANCE FEE.—
For each assessment year the annual maintenance
fee payable under paragraph (1) for a claim or site
referred to in paragraph (1) shall be in the amount
specified in Table 1.
TABLE 1
Assessment Year
Amount of Fee Per Site
or Claim
1 through 3 .................................................................
$100 per year
4 through 5 .................................................................
$150 per year
6 through 10 ...............................................................
$200 per year
11 through 15 .............................................................
$300 per year
16 and thereafter ........................................................
$500 per year
For purposes of applying Table 1 in the case of claims
filed before the enactment of this Act, the portion of the
580
assessment year in which this Act is enacted shall be treat-
ed as the first assessment year.
(5) EFFECT OF FORFEITURE.—No owner or co-
owner of a mining claim or site which has been for-
feited because the maintenance fee has not been paid
and no person who is a related person of any such
owner or co-owner may relocate a new claim on any
part of lands located within the forfeited claim for
a period of 18 months after the date of forfeiture.
(6) DEPOSIT OF FEES.—The full amount of all
fees paid under this subsection shall be deposited in
the General Fund of the Treasury.
(b) ANNUAL LABOR.—(1) Amounts expended on ac-
tivities that qualify as annual labor under the general min-
ing laws may be credited on a dollar for dollar basis to-
wards up to 75 percent of the annual maintenance fee pay-
able under this section for the following assessment year.
(2) Subject to the 75 percent limit set forth in para-
graph (1), the excess of amounts expended for annual
labor performed in any one year over such 75 percent limit
may be applied to the maintenance fee due in subsequent
years for a period of up to three years.
(3) In order to receive credit under this subsection
for annual labor work or excess annual labor, the descrip-
tion and value of the work must be included in the state-
581
ment required in subsection (e) and the statement must
be timely filed.
(4) Annual labor performed on an individual mining
claim or site within a group of contiguous claims may be
credited towards the aggregate amount of maintenance
fees due on all of the contiguous claims within that group.
(c) WORK QUALIFYING
AS ANNUAL LABOR.—(1)
Only work which directly benefits or develops a mining
claim or facilitates the extraction of ore qualifies as annual
labor. Acceptable labor and improvements include any of
the following:
(A) Drilling or excavating, including ore extrac-
tion.
(B) Mining costs directly associated with the
production of ore.
(C) Prospecting work which benefits the loca-
tion or a contiguous location.
(D) Development work toward an actual mine,
such as shafts, tunnels, crosscuts and drifts, settling
ponds and dams.
(E) Bringing in water for direct mining or mill-
ing purposes.
(F) Clearing of brush, timber, debris, or over-
burden where necessary to facilitate the extraction
or processing of minerals.
582
(G) Construction of trails, roads, or landing
strips providing access to claims.
(H) Construction costs of worker housing, mills,
and equipment storage buildings where reasonably
necessary for the development of the location.
(I) Reasonable value of the use of equipment
for prospecting, mining, or development purposes on
the location.
(J) Repairs of equipment used for prospecting,
sampling, or production of minerals provided that
such equipment has been on site during the assess-
ment year.
(K) Cost of moving workers, materials, and
equipment among contiguous locations.
(L) Watchman services of a bona fide employed
watchman on the property where reasonably nec-
essary to protect mining equipment of substantial
value.
(M) Activities covered under section 1 of the
Act of September 2, 1958 (30 U.S.C. 28–1), as
amended.
(N) Reclamation conducted pursuant to State
or Federal surface management regulations.
(O) Other activities which the Secretary may
determine qualify as annual labor.
583
(2) The following activities do not qualify as annual
labor:
(A) Work involved in maintaining the location
such as brushing and marking boundaries or replac-
ing corner posts and location notices.
(B) Transportation of workers to or from the
location.
(C) Prospecting or exploration work not con-
ducted within the location or a contiguous location.
(d) AMENDMENTS OF PUBLIC LAW 85–876.—The
Act of September 2, 1958 (Public Law 85–876; 30 U.S.C.
28–1), is amended as follows:
(1) Section 1 is amended by inserting ‘‘mineral
activities, environmental baseline monitoring, and’’
after ‘‘without being limited to’’ and before ‘‘geologi-
cal, geochemical and geophysical surveys’’ and by
striking ‘‘Such’’ at the beginning of the last sentence
and inserting ‘‘Airborne’’.
(2) Section 2(d) is amended by inserting ‘‘envi-
ronmental baseline monitoring or’’ after ‘‘experience
to conduct’’ and before ‘‘geological, geochemical or
geophysical surveys’’.
(3) Section 2 is amended by adding at the end
of the following new subsection at the end thereof:
584
‘‘(e) The term ‘environmental baseline monitoring’
means activities for collecting, reviewing and analyzing in-
formation concerning soil, vegetation, wildlife, mineral,
air, water, cultural, historical, archaeological or other re-
sources related to planning for or complying with Federal
and State environmental or permitting requirements appli-
cable to potential or proposed mineral activities on the
claim(s).’’.
(e) MAINTENANCE FEE STATEMENT.—Each pay-
ment under subsection (a) of this section shall be accom-
panied by a statement which reasonably identifies the min-
ing claim or site for which the maintenance fee is being
paid. The statement required under this subsection shall
be in lieu of any annual filing requirements for mining
claims or sites, under any other Federal law, but shall not
supersede any such filing requirement under applicable
State law.
(f) ANNUAL LABOR REPORT.—When the value of an-
nual labor is credited towards part or all of the mainte-
nance fee, subject to the 75-percent limit set forth in sub-
section (b)(1), the following shall apply:
(1) The maintenance fee statement required in
subsection (e) must also state the dates of perform-
ance of the labor, describe the character and total
value of the improvements made or the labor per-
585
formed, the amount of labor used as a credit toward
the maintenance fee for the current year, and the
value of excess labor performed in previous years
which is to be applied to the maintenance fee for the
current year.
(2) Documentation which reasonably supports
the activities or improvements claimed must accom-
pany the maintenance fee statement. Such docu-
mentation may include, but is not limited to, copies
of maps showing sample locations, drill locations, or
survey data; environmental baseline data; reports on
geology, geochemistry, or geophysics by qualified ex-
perts; drill results; or engineering reports by quali-
fied engineers.
(3) All supporting material filed pursuant to
paragraph (2) shall remain confidential in accord-
ance with section 552 of title 5 of the United States
Code as long as the location is maintained and for
a period of one year after the location is abandoned,
after which all data filed shall be considered public
information.
(g) EFFECT OF COMPLIANCE AS AGAINST SUBSE-
QUENT LOCATORS.—(1) Except as provided in paragraph
(2), after the date of enactment of this Act, compliance
with the requirements of this section shall, from the time