An Act to amend the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920
PL 86-705 (H.R.10455), enacted 09/02/1960

74 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
781 
TITLE III—EXPOET-IMPORT BANK OF 
WASHINGTON 
The Export-Imj)ort Bank of Washington is hereby authorized to 
make such expenditures within the limits of funds and borrowing 
authority available to such corporation, and in accord with law, and 
to make such contracts and commitments without regard to fiscal year 
limitations as provided by section 104 of the Government Corporation 
Control Act, as amended, as may be necessary in carrying out the 
programs set forth in the budget for the current fiscal year for such 
corporation, except as hereinafter provided: 
LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES, EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF 
WASHINGTON 
Not to exceed $2,675,000 (to be computed on an accrual basis) of the 
funds of the Export-Import Bank of Washington shall be available 
during the current fiscal year for administrative expenses of the 
Bank, including services as authorized by section 15 of the Act of 
August 2, 1946 (5 U.S.C. 55a) at rates not to exceed $75 per diem 
for individuals, purchase of one passenger motor vehicle (for replace-
ment only) at not to exceed $6,250, and not to exceed $9,000 for 
entertainment allowances for members of the Board of Directors; 
and, in addition, not to exceed the equivalent of $200,000 of the aggre-
gate amount of foreign currencies made available to the Export-
Import Bank for loans pursuant to the Agricultural Trade Develop-
ment and Assistance Act of 1954, as amended, shall be available during 
the current fiscal year for expenses incurred by the Export-Import 
Bank incident to such loans: Provided^ That fees or dues to inter-
national organizations of credit institutions engaged in 
financing 
foreign trade and necessary expenses (including special services per-
formed on a contract or fee basis, but not including other personal 
services) in connection with the acquisition, operation, maintenance, 
improvement, or disposition of any real or personal property belong-
ing to the Bank or in which it has an interest, including expenses of 
collections of pledged collateral, or the investigation or appraisal of 
any property in respect to which an application for a loan has been 
made, shall be considered as nonadministrative expenses for the pur-
poses hereof. 
TITLE IV 
SEC. 401. This Act may be cited as the "Mutual Security and Re-
lated Agencies Appropriation Act, 1961". 
Approved September 2, 1960. 
61 Stat. 584. 
31 u s e 849. 
60 Stat. 810. 
68 Stat. 454. 
7 u s e 1691 note. 
Short title. 
Public Law 86-705 
AN ACT 
To amend the Minei-al Leasing Act of February 25,1920. 
September 2, 1960 
[H. R. 10455] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,, That this Act may 
be cited as the "Mineral Leasing Act Revision of 1960". 
SEC. 2. Section 17, 17(a), and 17(b) of the Act entitled "An Act to 
promote the 'mining of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas, and sodium 
on the public domain", approved February 25, 1920, as amended (30 
U.S.C. 226, 226d, and 226e) are further amended to read as follows: 
Mineral Leasing 
A c t Revision of 
1960. 
41 Stat. 443; 60 
Stat. 951-954. 
782 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
[74 ST AT 
Known geologi-
cal structure. 
Competitive bid-
ding. 
Not within known 
geological 
struc-
ture. 
F i r s t 
qualified 
applicant. 
Annual rentals. 
Primary terms. 
Termination. 
"SEC. 17. (a) All lands subject to disposition under this Act which 
are known or believed to contain oil or gas deposits may be leased by 
the Secretary. 
"(b) If the lands to be leased are within any known geological 
structure of a producing oil or gas field, they shall be leased to the 
highest responsible qualified bidder by competitive bidding under 
general regulations in units of not more than six hundred and forty 
acres, which shall be as nearly compact in form as possible, upon the 
payment by the lessee of such bonus as may be accepted by the Secre-
tary and of such royalty as may be fixed in the lease, which shall be 
not less than 121/^ per centum in amount or value of the production 
removed or sold from the lease. 
"(c) If the lands to be leased are not within any known geological 
structure of a producing oil or gas field, the person first making appli-
cation for the lease who is qualified to hold a lease under this Act shall 
be entitled to a lease of such lands without competitive bidding. 
Such 
leases shall be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee of a royalty 
of 121/^ per centum in amount or value of the production removed or 
sold from the lease. 
"(d) All leases issued under this section shall be conditioned upon 
payment by the lessee of a rental of not less than 50 cents per acre for 
each year of the lease. Each year's lease rental shall be paid in 
advance. A minimum royalty of $1 per acre in lieu of rental shall be 
payable at the expiration of each lease year beginning on or after a 
discovery of oil or gas in paying quantities on the lands leased. 
"(e) Competitive leases issued under this section shall be for a pri-
mary term of five years and noncompetitive leases for a primary term 
of ten years. Each such lease shall continue so long after its primary 
term as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities. 
Any lease issued 
under this section for land on which, or for which under an approved 
cooperative or unit plan of development or operation, actual drilling 
operations were commenced prior to the end of its primary term and 
are being diligently prosecuted at that time shall be extended for two 
years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying 
quantities. 
"(f) No lease issued under this section which is subject to termina-
tion because of cessation of production shall be terminated for this 
cause so long as reworking or drilling operations which were com-
menced on the land prior to or within sixty days after cessation of 
production are conducted thereon with reasonable diligence, or so 
long as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities as a result of 
such operations. No lease issued under this section shall expire because 
operations or production is suspended under any order, or with 
the consent, of the Secretary. 
No lease issued under this section 
covering lands on which there is a well capable of producing oil or 
gas in paying quantities shall expire because the lessee fails to 
produce the same unless the lessee is allowed a reasonable time, which 
shall be not less than sixty days after notice by registered or certified 
mail, within which to place such well in producing status or unless, 
after such status is established, production is discontinued on the leased 
premises without permission granted by the Secretary under the 
provisions of this Act. 
74 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
783 
"(g) Whenever it appears to the Secretary that lands owned by the 
Drainage agree-
United States are being drained of oil or gas by wells drilled on '"^"*^* 
adjacent lands, he may negotiate agreements whereby the United 
States, or the United States and its lessees, shall be compensated for 
such drainage. Such agreements shall be made with the consent of 
the lessees, if any, affected thereby. 
If such agreement is entered 
into, the primary term of any lease for which compensatory royalty 
is being paid, or any extension of such primary term, shall be extended 
for the period during which such compensatory royalty is paid and 
for a period of one year from discontinuance of such payment and 
so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities. The 
Secretary shall report to Congress at the beginning of each regular 
Report to con-
session all such agreements entered into during the previous year ^''*^^' 
which involve unleased Government lands. 
"(h) If, during the primary term or any extended term of any 
Mining claims. 
lease issued under this section, a verified statement is filed by any 
mining claimant pursuant to subsection (c) of section 7 of the Multiple 
Mineral Development Act of August 13, 1954 (68 Stat. 708), as 
amended (30 U.S.C. 527), whether such filing occur prior to enact-
ment of the Mineral Leasing Act Revision of 1960 or thereafter, 
asserting the existence of a conflicting unpatented mining claim or 
claims upon which diligent work is being prosecuted as to any lands 
covered by the lease, the running of time under such lease shall be 
suspended as to the lands involved from the first day of the month 
following the filing of such verified statement until a final decision 
is rendered in the matter. 
"(i) The Secretary of the Interior shall, upon timely application 1^33^3^^"^^ °^ 
therefor, issue a new lease in exchange for any lease issued for a term of 
twenty years, or any renewal thereof, or any lease issued prior to 
August 8, 1946, in exchange for a twenty-year lease, such new lease 
to be for a primary term of five years and so long thereafter as oil or 
gas is produced in paying quantities and at a royalty rate of not less 
than 121/^ per centum in amount or value of the production removed 
or sold from such leases, except that the royalty rate shall be 12% P^r 
centum in amount or value of the production removed or sold from said 
leases as to (1) such leases, or such parts of the lands subject thereto 
and the deposits underlying the same, as are not believed to be within 
the productive limits of any producing oil or gas deposit, as such 
productive limits are found by the Secretary to have existed on 
August 8,1946; and (2) any production on a lease from an oil or gas 
deposit which was discovered after May 27, 1941, by a well or wells 
drilled within the boundaries of the lease, and which is determined 
by the Secretary to be a new deposit; and (3) any production on or 
allocated to a lease pursuant to an approved cooperative or unit plan 
of development or operation from an oil or gas deposit which was 
discovered after May 27, 1941, on land committed to such plan, and 
which is determined by the Secretary to be a new deposit, where such 
lease, or a lease for wnich it is exchanged, was included in such plan 
at the time of discovery or was included in a duly executed and filed 
application for the approval of such plan at the time of discovery. 
"(j) For the purpose of more properly conserving the natural re- 
cooperative or 
sources of any oil or gas pool, field, or like area, or any part thereof 
(whether or not any part of said oil or gas pool, field, or like area, is 
then subject to any cooperative or unit plan of development or opera-
784 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
[74 ST A T . 
Authority to alter 
or modify. 
Communiti zation 
or drilling 
agree-
ments. 
Lease term. 
Conditions. 
tioii), lessees thereof and their representatives may unite with each 
other, or jointly or separately with others, in collectively adopting 
and operating under a cooperative or unit plan of development or 
operation of such pool, field, or like area, or any part thereof, when-
ever determined and certified by the Secretary of the Interior to be 
necessary or advisable in the public interest. The Secretary is there-
unto authorized, in his discretion, with the consent of the holders of 
leases involved, to establish, alter, change, or revoke drilling, produc-
ing, rental, minimum royalty, and royalty requirements of such leases 
and to make such regulations with reference to such leases, with like 
consent on the part of the lessees, in connection with the institution and 
operation of any such cooperative or unit plan as he may deem neces-
sary or proper to secure the proper protection of the public interest. 
Tlie Secretary may provide that oil and gas leases hereafter issued 
under this Act shall contain a provision requiring the lessee to operate 
under such a reasonable cooperative or unit plan, and he may prescribe 
such a plan under which such lessee shall operate, which shall ade-
quately protect the rights of all parties in interest, including the 
United States. 
"Any plan authorized by the preceding paragraph which includes 
lands owned by the United States may, in the discretion of the Secre-
tary, contain a provision w^hereby authority is vested in the Secretary 
of the Interior, or any such person, committee, or State or Federal 
officer or agency as may be designated in the plan, to alter or modify 
from time to time the rate of prospecting and development and the 
quantity and rate of production under such plan. All leases operated 
under anj^ such plan approved or prescribed by the Secretary shall be 
excepted in determining holdings or control under the provisions of 
any section of this Act. 
"When separate tracts cannot be independently developed and 
operated in conformity with an established well-spacing or develop-
ment program, any lease, or a portion thereof, may be pooled with 
other lands, whether or not owned by the United States, under a com-
munitization or drilling agreement providing for an apportionment of 
production or royalties among the separate tracts of land comprising 
the drilling or spacing unit when determined by the Secretary of the 
Interior to be in the public interest, and operations or production 
pursuant to such an agreement shall be deemed to be operations or 
production as to each such lease committed thereto. 
"Any lease issued for a term of twenty years, or any renewal thereof, 
or any portion of such lease that has become the subject of a coopera-
tive or unit plan of development or operation of a pool, field, or like 
area, which plan has the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, 
shall continue in force until the termination of such plan. Any other 
lease issued under any section of this Act which has heretofore or may 
hereafter be committed to any such plan that contains a general pro-
vision for allocation of oil or gas shall continue in force and effect as 
to the land committed so long as the lease remains subject to the plan: 
Provided. That production is had in paying quantities under the plan 
prior to the expiration date of the term of such lease. Any lease here-
tofore or hereafter committed to any such plan embracing lands that 
are in part, within and in part outside of the area covered by any such 
plan shall be segregated into separate leases as to the lands committed 
and the lands not committed as of the elfective date of unitization: 
Provided, hotoever. That any such lease as to the nonunitized portion 
shall continue in force and effect for the term thereof but for not less 
than two years from the date of such segregation and so lon^ there-
after as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities. The minimum 
royalty or discovery rental under any lease that has become subject 
74 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
785 
to any cooperative or unit plan of development or operation, or other 
plan that contains a general provision for allocation of oil or gas, 
shall be payable only with respect to the lands subject to such lease to 
which oil or gas shall be allocated under such plan. Any lease which 
shall be eliminated from any such approved or prescribed plan, or 
from any communitization or drilling agreement authorized by this 
section, and any lease which shall be in effect at the termination of any 
such approved or prescribed plan, or at the termination of any such 
communitization or drilling agreement, unless relinquished, shall con-
tinue in effect for the original term thereof, but for not less than two 
years, and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying 
quantities. 
"The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, on such con-
ditions as lie may prescribe, to approve operating, drilling, or develop-
ment contracts made by one or more lessees of oil or gas leases, with 
one or more persons, associations, or corporations whenever, in his 
discretion, the conservation of natural products or the public con-
venience or necessity may require it or the interests of the United 
States may be best subserved thereby. All leases operated under such 
approved operating, drilling, or development contracts, and interests 
thereunder, shall be excepted in determining holdings or control under 
the provisions of this Act. 
'^The Secretary of the Interior, to avoid waste or to promote con-
S'^rvation of natural resources, may authorize the subsurface storage of 
oil or gas, whether or not produced from federally owned lands, in 
lands leased or subject to lease under this Act. 
Such authorization 
may provide for the payment of a storage fee or rental on such stored 
oil or ^as or, in lieu of such fee or rental, for a royalty other than that 
prescribed in the lease when such stored oil or gas is produced in con-
]unction with oil or gas not previously produced. 
Any lease on which 
storage is so authorized shall be extended at least for the period of 
storage and so long thereafter as oil or gas not previously produced is 
produced in paying quantities." 
SEC. 3. Section 27 of said Act, as amended (30 U.S.C. 184), is 
further amended to read as follows: 
"SEC. 27. (a) (1) No person, association, or corporation, except as 
otherwise provided in this subsection, shall take, hold, own or control 
at one time, whether acquired directly froiri the Secretary under this 
Act or otherwise, coal leases or permits on an aggregate of more than 
ten thousand two hundred and forty acres in any one State. 
"(2) A person, association, or corporation may apply for coal leases 
or permits for acreage in addition to that which is permissible under 
paragraph (1) of this subsection, but the additional acreage shall not 
exceed five thousand one hundred and twenty acres in any one State. 
Each application shall be for forty acres or a multiple thereof and 
shall contain a statement that the granting of a lease or permit for the 
additional lands is necessary to enable the applicant to carry on busi-
ness economically and that it is believed to be in theTpublic interest. 
On the filing of such an application, the coal deposits in the lands cov-
ered by it shall be temporarily set aside and withdrawn from all forms 
of disposal under this Act. 
The Secretary shall, after posting notice 
of the pending application in the local land office, conduct public hear-
ings on it. 
After such hearings the Secretary may, under such regu-
lations as he may prescribe and to such extent as he finds to be in the 
public interest and necessary to enable the applicant to carry on busi-
ness economically, permit the applicant to take and hold coal leases or 
permits for additional acreage as hereinbefore provided. 
The Sec-
retary may, in his own discretion or whenever sufficient public interest 
is manifested, reevaluate a lessee's or permittee's need for all or any 
Approval of oper-
ating, drilling, o r 
development con-
tracts. 
Sub stir 
face stor-
age. 
60 Stat. 954. 
Co£il leases or 
permits. 
Acreage limita-
tions. 
Additional acre-
age. 
Regulations. 
48232 O-61-50 
786 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
[74 S T A T . 
As signments, 
transfers, or sales. 
Sodium leases or 
permits. 
Acreage limita-
tions. 
P h o s p h a t e 
leases. 
Acreage limita-
tions. 
Oil or gas leases. 
Acreage limita-
tions. 
Alaska. 
Options. 
part of the additional acreage and may cancel any lease or permit cov-
ering all or any part of such acreage if he finds that cancellation is in 
the public interest or that the coal deposits in said acreage are no 
longer necessary for the lessee or permittee to carry on business eco-
nomically or that the lessee or permittee has divested himself of all or 
any part of his first ten thousand two hundred and forty acres or no 
longer has facilities which, in the Secretary's opinion, enable him to 
exploit the deposits under lease or permit. 
No assignment, transfer, 
or sale of any part of the additional acreage may be made without the 
approval of the Secretary. 
"(b) (1) No person, association, or corporation, except as otherwise 
provided in this subsection, shall take, hold, own, or control at one 
time, whether acquired directly from the Secretary under this Act or 
otherwise, sodium leases or permits on an aggregate of more than five 
thousand one hundred and twenty acres in any one State. 
"(2) The Secretary may, in his discretion, where the same is neces-
sary in order to secure the economic mining of sodium compounds 
leasable under this Act, permit a person, association, or corporation to 
take or hold sodium leases or permits on up to fifteen thousand three 
hundred and sixty acres in any one State. 
"(c) 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, phosphate leases or permits on an aggre-
gate of more than ten thousand two hundred and forty acres in the 
United States. 
"(d) (1) No person, association, or corporation, except as otherwise 
provided in this Act, shall take, hold, own or control at one time, 
whether acquired directly from the Secretary under this Act or other-
wise, oil or gas leases (including options for such leases or interests 
therein) on land held under the j)rovisions of this Act exceeding in 
the aggregate two hundred forty-six thousand and eighty acres in any 
one State other than Alaska. 
In the case of the State of Alaska, the 
limit shall be three hundred thousand acres in the northern leasing 
district and three hundred thousand acres in the southern leasing 
district, and the boundary between said two districts shall be the left 
limit of the Tanana River from the border between the United States 
and Canada to the confluence of the Tanana and Yukon Rivers, and 
the left limit of the Yukon River from said confluence to its principal 
southern mouth. 
"(2) No person, association, or corporation shall take, hold, own, 
or control at one time options to acquire interests in oil or gas leases 
under the provisions of this Act which involve, in the aggregate, more 
than two hundred thousand acres of land in any one State other than 
Alaska or, in the case of Alaska, more than two hundred thousand 
acres in each of its two leasing districts, as hereinbefore described. No 
option to acquire any interest in such an oil or gas lease shall be 
enforcible if entered into for a period of more than three years (which 
three years shall be inclusive of any renewal period if a right to renew 
is reserved by any party to the option) without the prior approval 
of the Secretary. 
In any case in which an option to acquire the 
optionor's entire interest in the whole or a part of the acreage under 
a lease is entered into, the acreage to which the option is applicable 
shall be charged both to the optionor and to the optionee, but the 
charge to the optionor shall cease when the option is exercised. 
In 
any case in w^hich an option to acquire a part of the optionor's interest 
in the whole or a part of the acreage under a lease is entered into, 
the acreage to which the option is applicable shall be fully charged 
to the optionor and a share thereof shall also be charged to the 
optionee as his interest may appear, but after the option is exercised 
S e m i a n n u a l 
statements. 
74 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
787 
said acreage shall be charged to the parties pro rata as their interests 
may appear. In any case in which an assignment is made of a part 
of a lessee's interest in the whole or part of the acreage under a lease 
or an application for a lease, the acreage shall be charged to the 
parties pro rata as their interests may appear. No option or renewal 
thereof shall be enforcible until notice thereof has been filed with 
the Secretary or an officer or employee of the Department of the 
Interior designated by him to receive the same. Each such notice 
shall include, in addition to any other matters prescribed by the Secre-
tary, the names and addresses of the parties thereto, the serial number 
of the lease or application for a lease to which the option is applicable, 
and a statement of the number of acres covered thereby and of the 
interests and obligations of the parties thereto and shall be subscribed 
by all parties to the option or their duly authorized agents. An option 
which has not been exercised shall remain charged as hereinbefore 
provided until notice of its relinquishment or surrender has been 
filed, by either party, with the Secretary or any officer or employee of 
the Department of the Interior designated by him to receive the 
same. In addition, each holder of any such option shall file with the 
Secretary or an officer or employee of the Department of the Interior 
as aforesaid within ninety days after the 30th day of June and the 
81st day of December in each year a statement showing, in addition 
to any other matters prescribed by the Secretary, his name, the name 
and address of each grantor of an option held by him, the serial 
number of every lease or application for a lease to which such an 
option is applicable, the number of acres covered by each such option, 
the total acreage in each State to which such options are applicable, 
and his interest and obligation under each such option. The failure 
of the holder of an option so to file shall render the option unenforcible 
by him. 
The unenforcibility of any option under the provisions 
of this paragraph shall not diminish the number of acres deemed 
to be held under option by any person, association, or corporation 
in computing the amount chargeable under the first sentence of this 
paragraph and shall not relieve any party thereto of any liability 
to cancellation, forfeiture, forced disposition, or other sanction pro-
vided by law. 
The Secretary may prescribe forms on which the 
notice and statements required by this paragraph shall be made. 
"(e) (1) No person, association, or corporation shall take, hold, own 
A s s ociation or 
^ • ' v / , - ' ^ , . ' 
. , 
' 
^
, 
„ 
. ' . . ' 
stockholder inter-
or control at one time any interest as a member oi an association or as ests. 
a stockholder in a corporation holding a lease, option, or permit under 
the provisions of this Act which, together with the area embraced in 
any direct holding, ownership or control by him of such a lease, option, 
or permit or any other interest which he may have as a member of other 
associations or as a stockholder in other corporations holding, owning 
or controlling such leases, options, or permits for any kind of minerals, 
exceeds in the aggregate an amount equivalent to the maximum num-
ber of acres of the respective kinds of minerals allowed to any one 
lessee, optionee, or permittee under this Act, except that no person 
shall-be charged with his pro rata share of any acreage holdings of 
any association or corporation unless he is the beneficial owner of 
more than 10 per centum of the stock or other instruments of owner-
ship or control of such association or corporation, and except that 
within three years after the enactment of the Mineral I^easing Act 
Revision of 1960 no valid option in existence prior to the enactment 
of said Act held by a corporation or association at the time of enact-
ment of said Act shall be chargeable to any stockholder of such cor-
poration or to a member of such association so long as said option 
shall be so held by such corporation or association under the provisions 
of this Act. 
T88 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
[74 S T AT 
Combined inter-
ests. 
C anc ell ation, 
forfeiture, etc. 
Suits to cancel. 
"(2) No contract for development and operation of any lands 
leased under this Act, whether or not coupled with an interest in such 
lease, and no lease held, owned, or controlled in common by two or 
more persons, associations, or corporations shall be deemed to create 
a separate association under the preceding paragraph of this subsec-
tion between or among the contracting parties or those who hold, 
own or control the lease in conmion, but the proportionate interest of 
each such party shall be charged against the total acreage permitted to 
be held, owned or controlled by such party under this Act. The total 
acreage so held, owned, or controlled in common by two or more 
parties shall not exceed, in the aggregate, an amount equivalent 
to the maximum number of acres of the resj)ective kinds of minerals 
allowed to any one lessee, optionee, or permittee under this Act. 
"(f) Nothing contained m subsection (e) of this section shall be 
construed (i) to limit sections 18, 19, and 22 of this Act or (ii), 
subject to the approval of the Secretary, to prevent any number of 
lessees under this Act from combining their several interests so far as 
may be necessary for the purpose of constructing and carrying on the 
business of a refinerjr or of establishing and constructing, as a com-
mon carrier, a pipeline or railroad to be operated and used by them 
jointly in the transportation of oil from their several wells or from 
the wells of other lessees under this Act or in the transportation of 
coal or (iii) to increase the acreage which may be taken, held, owned, 
or controlled under section 27 of this Act. 
"(g) Any ownership or interest otherwise forbidden in this Act 
which may be acquired by descent, will, judgment, or decree may be 
held for two years after its acquisition and no longer. 
"(h)(1) If any interest in any lease is owned, or controlled, di-
rectly or indirectly, by means of stock or otherwise, in violation of any 
of the provisions of this Act, the lease may be canceled, or the interest 
so owned may be forfeited, or the person so owning or controlling the 
interest may be compelled to dispose of the interest, in any appropriate 
proceeding instituted by the Attorney General. 
Such a proceeding 
shall be instituted in the United States district court for the district in 
which the leased property or some part thereof is located or in which 
the defendant may be found. 
"(2), The right to cancel or forfeit for violation of any of the pro-
visions of this Act shall not apply so as to affect adversely the title or 
interest of a bona fide purchaser of any lease, interest in a lease, option 
to acquire a lease or an interest therein, or permit which lease, interest, 
option, or permit was acquired and is held by a qualified j)erson, as-
sociation, or corporation in conformity with those provisions, even 
though the holdings of the person, association, or corporation from 
which the lease, interest, option, or permit was acquired, or of his 
predecessor in title (including the original lessee of the United States) 
may have been canceled or forfeited or may be or may have been sub-
ject to cancellation or forfeiture for any such violation. 
If, in any 
such proceeding, an underlying lease, interest, option, or permit is 
canceled or forfeited to the Government and there are valid interests 
therein or valid options to acquire the lease or an interest therein 
which are not subject to cancellation, forfeiture, or compulsory dis-
position, the underlying lease, interest^ option, or permit shall be sold 
by the Secretary to the highest responsible qualified bidder by competi-
tive bidding under general regulations subject to all outstanding valid 
interests therein and valid options pertaining thereto. Likewise if, in 
any such proceeding, less than the whole interest in a lease, interest, 
option, or permit is canceled or forfeited to the Government, the par-
tial interests so canceled or forfeited shall be sold by the Secretary to 
the highest responsible qualified bidder by competitive bidding under 
general regulations. If competitive bidding fails to produce a satis-
74 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-SEPT. 2, 1960 
789 
factory offer the Secretary may, in either of these cases, sell the interest 
in question by such other method as he deems appropriate on terms not 
less favorable to the Government than those of the best competitive 
bid received. 
" (3) The commencement and conclusion of every proceeding under 
this subsection shall be promptly noted on the appropriate public 
records of the Bureau of Land Management. 
"(i) Effective September 21, 1959, any person, association, or cor-
poration who is a party to any proceeding with respect to a violation 
of any provision of this Act, whether initiated prior to said date or 
thereafter, shall have the right to be dismissed promptly as such a 
party upon showing that he holds and acquired as a bona fide pur-
chaser the interest involving him as such a party without violating 
any provisions of this Act. No hearing upon any such showing shall 
be required unless the Secretary presents prima facie evidence indi-
cating a possible violation of the Mineral Leasing Act on the part of 
the alleged bona fide purchaser. 
"(j) If during any such proceeding, a party thereto files with the 
Secretary a waiver of his rights under his lease (including particu-
larly, where applicable, rights to drill and to assign) or if such rights 
are suspended by the Secretary pending a decision in the proceeding, 
whether initiated prior to enactment of this Act or thereafter, pay-
ment of rentals and running of time against the term of the lease or 
leases involved shall be suspended as of the first day of the month 
following the filing of the waiver or suspension of the rights until 
the first day of the month following the final decision in the proceed-
ing or the revocation of the waiver or suspension. 
"(k) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, if any lands or 
deposits subject to the provisions of this Act shall be subleased, 
trusteed, possessed, or controlled by any device permanently, tem-
porarily, directly, indirectly, tacitly, or in any manner whatsoever, 
so that they form a part of or are in any wise controlled by any com-
bination in the form of an unlawful trust, with the consent of the 
lessee, optionee, or permittee, or form the subject of any contract or 
conspiracy in restraint of trade in the mining or selling of coal, 
phosphate, oil, oil shale, native asphalt, solid and semisolid bitumen, 
bituminous rock, gas, or sodium entered into by the lessee, optionee, 
or permittee or any agreement or understanding, written, verbal, or 
otherwise, to which such lessee, optionee, or permittee shall be a party, 
of which his or its output is to be or become the subject, to control the 
price or prices thereof or of any holding of such lands by any indi-
vidual, partnership, association, corporation, or control in excess of 
the amounts of lands provided in this Act, the lease, option, or permit 
shall be forfeited by appropriate court proceedings." 
SEC. 4. (a) Upon the expiration of the initial five-year term of any 
noncompetitive oil or gas lease which was issued prior to enactment 
of this Act and which has been maintained in accordance with appli-
cable statutory requirements and regulations, the record titleholder 
thereof shall be entitled to a single extension of the lease, unless then 
otherwise provided by law, for such lands covered by it as are not, on 
the expiration date of the lease, withdrawn from leasing. A with-
drawal, however, shall not affect the right to an extension if actual 
drilling operations on such lands were commenced prior to the effec-
tive date of the withdrawal and were being diligently prosecuted on 
the expiration date of the lease. No withdrawal shall be effective 
within the meaning of this section until ninety days after notice 
thereof has been sent by registered or certified mail to each lessee to 
be affected by such withdrawal. 
Waiver or s u s-
pension of rights. 
Unlawful trusts. 
N o n competitive 
oil or gas leases, 
extension. 
790 
PUBLIC LAW 86-705-8EPT. 2, 1960 
[74 STAT. 
(b) As to lands not within the known geologic structure of a pro-
ducing oil or gas field, a noncompetitive oil or gas lease to which this 
section is applicable shall be extended for a period of five years and 
so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities. As 
to lands w'ithin the known geologic structure of a producing oil or gas 
field, a noncompetitive lease to which this section is applicable shall 
be extended for a period of two years and so long thereafter as oil or 
gas is produced in paying quantities. 
(c) Any noncompetitive oil or gas lease extended under this section 
shall be subject to the rules and regulations in force at the expira-
tion of the initial five-year term of the lease. No extension shall be 
granted, however, unless within a period of ninety days prior to the 
expiration date of the lease an application therefor is filed by the 
record titleholder or an assignee whose assignment has been filed for 
approval or an operator whose operating agreement has been filed 
for approval. 
unft^pf^^u^ases' 
(^) ^^.Y l^ase issued prior to the enactment of the Mineral Leasing 
extension. 
' Act Revisiou of 1960 which has been maintained in accordance with 
applicable statutory requirements and regulations and which pertains 
to land on which, or for w^iich under an approved cooperative or unit 
plan of development or operation, actual drilling operations were 
commenced prior to the end of its primary ^erm and are being dili-
gently prosecuted at that time shall be extended for two years and so 
long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities. 
41 Stat. 437. 
SEC. 5. The Act of February 25, 1920, as amended (30 U.S.C. 181 
and the following), is amended by adding a section 42 thereto to read 
as follow^s: 
contT^f.^^imeiy 
"SEC. 42. No action contesting a decision of the Secretary involving 
filing. 
' 
any oil and gas lease shall be maintained unless such action is com-
menced or taken within ninety days after the final decision of the Sec-
retary relating to such matter. 
No such action contesting such a 
decision of the Secretary rendered prior to enactment of the Mineral 
Leasing Act Revision of 1960 shall be maintained unless the same be 
commenced or taken within ninety days after such enactment." 
SEC. 6. The last sentence of sec*^ion 30(a) of the Act of February 
60 Stat. 955. 
25, 1920, as amended (30 U.S.C. 187a), is amended to read as follows: 
^ s^e gr e g ated "XJpon the Segregation by an assignment of a lease issued after the 
effective date of the Mineral Leasing Act Revision of 1960 and held 
beyond its primary term by production, actual or suspended, or the 
payment of compensatory royaPy, the segregated lease of an undevel-
oped, assigned, or retained part shall continue for two years, and so 
lonsr thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities." 
The provisions of this section 6 shall not be applicable to any lease 
issued prior to the effective date of this Act. 
SEC. 7. (a) Section 1 of the Act of February 25, 1920, as amended 
st^° 44t 4io' ^^ ^^^ U-S.C. 181), section 21 of said Act (30 U.S.'C. 241), and section 34 
' 
* 
of said Act (30 U.S.C. 182) are amended by the insertion of the 
words "native asphalt, solid and semisolid bitumen, and bituminous 
rock (including oil-impregnated rock or sands from which oil is 
recoverable only by special treatment after the deposit is mined or 
quarried)" immediately after the words "oil shale," in the first sen-
oii shale. 
^ence of each section. 
Section 21 of said Act (30 U.S.C. 241) is further 
amended by striking out the period at the end of the last sentence and 
adding these words "except that with respect to leases for native 
asphalt, solid and semisolid bitumen, and bituminous rock (including 
oil-impregnated rock or sands from which oil is recoverable only by 
special treatment after the deposit is mined or quarried) no person, 
association, or corporation shall acquire or hold more than seven 
74 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-706-SEPT. 6, 1960 
791 
thousand six hundred eighty acres in any one State without respect 
to the number of leases." 
(b) Section 21 of said Act is further amended by inserting the 
designation (a) immediately after the term "section 21" and by adding 
two new subsections to read as follows: 
"(b) If an offer for a lease under the provisions of this section for 
deposits other than oil shale is based upon a mineral location, the 
validity of which might be questioned because the claim was based 
on a placer location rather than on a lode location, or vice versa, the 
offeror shall have a preference right to a lease if the offer is filed not 
more than one year after the enactment of the Mineral leasing Act 
Revision of 1960. 
"(c) With respect to native asphalt, solid and semisolid bitumen, 
and bituminous rock (including oil-impregnated rock or sands from 
which oil is recoverable only by special treatment after the deposit 
is mined or quarried) a lease under the multiple use principle may 
issue notwithstanding the existence of an outstanding lease issued 
under any other provision of this Act." 
SEC. 8. No amendment made by this Act shall affect any valid right 
in existence on the effective date of the Mineral Leasing Act Revision 
of 1960. 
Approved September 2, 1960. 
P r o t e ction 
o f 
valid rights. 
Public Law 86-706 
AN ACT 
To exempt from taxation certain property of the National Woman's Party, Inc., 
in the District of Columbia. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That certain prop-
erty in the District of Columbia, known in the sixteen hundreds and 
seventeen hundreds as. Ceme Abbey Manor; later the property of 
members of the distinguished Carroll and Sewall families; still later 
the office and residence of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, 
1801-1813, who here directed the financing of the Louisiana Purchase; 
since 1929 the headquarters of the National Woman's - Party and 
known as the Alva Belmont House—described as lots numbered 863, 
864, and 885 in square numbered 725, together with improvements 
thereon and outbuildings, and the furniture, furnishings, and other 
personal property therein, owned by the National Woman's Party, 
Inc., a nonprofit corporation organized and existing under the laws 
of the District of Columbia—shall be exempt from taxation, in recog-
nition of the patriotic efforts made by the National Woman's Party, 
Inc., to preserve this historic monument, so long as the same property 
is owned by said National Woman's Party, Inc., and is not used for 
commercial purposes or for the purpose of securing a rent or income, 
subject to the proviso that said corporation shall maintain the said 
property as historical buildings which shall be preserved for their 
architectural, historical, and educational significance, which buildings 
shall be accessible to members of the general public without charge or 
payment of a fee of any kind at such reasonable hours and under such 
regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by said corpora-
tion, subject to the provisions of sections 2, 3, and 5 of the Act entitled 
"An Act to define the real property exempt from taxation in the Dis-
trict of Columbia", approved December 24, 1942 (56 Stat. 1091; D.C. 
Code, sees. 47-801b, 47-801c, and 47-801e). 
SEC. 2. The tax exemption authorized by this Act shall take effect 
on July 1, 1960. 
Approved September 6, 1960. 
September 6, 1960 
[S. 2306] 
National 
Wom-
an's 
Party, Inc., 
D. C. 
Tax exemption.