An Act to amend section 27 of the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended, in order to promote the development of coal on the public domain and for other purposes
PL 88-526 (H.R.8960), enacted 08/31/1964

710 
PUBLIC LAW 88-526-AUG. 31, 1964 
[78 STAT. 
Public Law 88-526 
August 31, 1964 
[H. R. 8960] 
Mineral Leas-
ing Act, amend-
ment. 
74 Stat. 785. 
AN ACT 
62 Stat. 289, 
Collective 
prospecting. 
Maximum hold-
ings, exceptions. 
To amend section 27 of the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25,1920, as amended, 
in order, to promote the development of coal on the public domain and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That subsection (a) 
(1) of section 27 of the Act of February 25, 1920, as amended (30 
U.S.C. 184), is further amended to read as follows: 
" (a) (1) No person, association, or corporation shall take, hold, own, 
or control at one time, whether acquired directly from the Secretary 
under this Act or otherwise, coal leases or permits on an aggregate of 
more than forty-six thousand and eighty acres in any one State." 
SEG. 2. (a) Subsection (a) of section 2 of the Act of February 25, 
1920, as amended (30 U.S.C. 201(a)), is further amended by the 
deletion from the first sentence of the words "but in no case exceeding 
two thousand five hundred and sixty acres in any one leasing tract.". 
(b) Subsection (b) of section 2 of the Act of February 25, 1920, as 
amended (30 U.S.C. 201(b)), is further amended by changing the 
words "two thousand five hundred and sixty acres" in the first sentence 
thereof to "five thousand one hundred and twenty acres". 
(c) For the purpose of more properly conserving the natural 
resources of any coalfield or prospective coal area, or any part or zone 
thereof, lessees and permittees and their representatives may enter 
into a contract with each other or others for collective prospecting, 
development, or operation of such field or prospective coal area, or any 
part or zone thereof, whenever determined and certified by the Secre-
tary of the Interior to be in the public interest. A contract approved 
hereunder shall not provide for an apportionment of production or 
royalties among the separate tracts comprising the contract area, but 
may provide for the cormningling of production with appropriate 
allocation to the tracts from which produced. Notwithstanding any 
provision of this section to the contrary, the Secretary may, with the 
consent of the lessees or permittees involved, establish, alter, change, 
or revoke mining, producing, rental, minimum royalty, and royalty 
requirements of such leases or permits, and issue regulations that are 
applicable to such leases or permits or contracts. The Secretary is 
authorized to enter into a contract with a single lessee or permittee 
embracing his leases or permits. The Secretary may authorize the 
consolidation of separate Federal permits or leases into a lesser number 
of permits or leases, or into a single permit or lease. 
(d) Coal leases and permits operated under a contract approved or 
executed by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (c) of this section 
may be excepted from limitations on maximum holdings or control 
imposed by this Act if the Secretary finds that such exception is 
required to permit economic development of the coal resources and is 
otherwise consistent with the public interest. 
Approved August 31, 1964.