An Act to provide for entry and location, on discovery of a valuable source material, upon public lands of the United States classified as or known to be valuable for coal, and for other purposes
PL 84-357 (H.R.6994), enacted 08/11/1955

69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 357~AUG. 11, 1955 
679 
Public Law 357 
CHAPTER 795 
AN ACT 
To provide for entry and location, on discovery of a valuable source material, 
upon public lands of the United States classified as or known to be valuable 
for coal, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That, subject to the 
conditions and provisions of this Act and to any valid intervening 
rights acquired under the laws of the United States, public lands of 
the United States classified as or known to be valuable for coal subject 
to disposition under the mineral leasing laws and which are open to 
location and entry subject to the conditions and provisions of the Act 
of August 13,1954 (68 Stat. 708), unless embraced within a coal pros-
pecting permit or lease, shall also be open to location and entry under 
the mining laws of the United States upon the discovery of a valuable 
source material occurring within any seam, bed, or deposit of lignite 
in such lands: Provided, That a copy of the notice of any mining 
location made for source material occurring in any such bed, seam, or 
deposit, shall be filed for record in the land office of the Bureau of 
Land Management for the State in which the claim is situated within 
ninety days after the date of its location: Provided further. That the 
claimant to any such mining location shall report annually to the miAeV. 
Mining Supervisor of the Geological Survey the amount of lignite 
mined or stripped in the recovery of such valuable source material 
during each calendar year and tender payment to him of 10 cents per 
ton thereon. 
Any mineral patents issued hereunder shall be made 
subject to the recording and payment requirements of this section 
and shall contain a reservation to the United States of all I^easing Act 
minerals owned by the United States other than lignite containing 
valuable source material and lignite necessary to be stripped or mined 
in the recovery of such material. Mining claims located and mineral 
patents issued under the provisions of this Act shall not include rights 
to lignite not containing valuable source material except to the extent 
it may be necessary to mine or strip such lignite in order to mine the 
source material and, with respect to lode claims, shall not include 
extralateral rights. For all purposes of this Act "source material" 
and "lignite" shall have the meanings given in section 6 of this Act. 
SEC. 2. Any mining claim located in a manner prescribed by the 
mining laws of the United States upon lands of the character described 
in section 1 of this Act, prior to May 26,1955, if based upon a discovery 
of valuable source material contained in lignite shall be effective to 
the same extent as if such lands at the time of location, and at all 
times thereafter, had not been classified as or known to be valuable 
for coal subject to disposition under the mineral leasing laws, subject, 
however, to the provisions of section 1 hereoi: Provided, 
That no 
extralateral rights shall attach to any mining location validated under 
this section: And provided further, 
That the locator or locators of 
such a mining claim shall, not later than one hundred and eighty days 
from and after the date of this Act, post on the claim and file for 
record in the office where the notice or certificate of location is of 
record, an amended notice of the mining location stating that such 
amended notice is filed pursuant to the provisions of this Act and for 
the purpose of obtaining the benefits thereof; and that a copy of said 
amended notice is, within the said one-hundred-and-eighty-day period, 
filed in the land office of the Bureau of Land Management for the 
State in which the mining location is situated, and the mining locator 
thereafter complies with the requirements of this Act. 
August 11, 1955 
[H. R. 6994] 
Public lands. 
Valuable source 
materials. 
30 u s e 521-531. 
Report and pay-
ment for l i g n i t e 
C 1 a i ms located 
p r i o r to May 25, 
1955. 
680 
PUBLIC LAW 357-AUG. 11, 1955 
[69 S T A T . 
68 Stat. 708. 
30 use 521-531. 
42 u s e 
2011 
note. 
17 Stat. 91. 
30 u s e 22 et 
aeq. 
30 use 81. 
30 use 83-85. 
42 u s e 201 1 
note. 
30USC351note. 
42 u s e 20 11 
note. 
Definitions. 
48 use 432-452. 
30 use 22-287, 
paaaim. 
SEC. 3. Subject to the provisos of section 2 of this Act, any mining 
location made under the mining laws of the United States, including 
the Act of August 13, 1954, on lands of the character described in 
section 1 of this Act, except locations made for lands within the 
exterior boundaries of a prior coal prospecting permit or lease, if based 
upon a discovery of valuable source material in deposits other than 
deposits of Leasing Act minerals, shall include the right to mine, 
remove, and dispose of lignite containing valuable source material and 
lignite necessary to be stripped or mined in the recovery of source 
material contained in lignite, subject to the reporting and payment 
requirements of section 1 of this Act, and subject to the provisions of 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (68 Stat. 919), and upon filing in the 
land office designated in section 1 hereof, an adequate description of his 
claim or claims containing such lignite: Provided, That notliing in 
this section shall be construed to limit or restrict the rights acquired 
by virtue of a mining claim heretofore or hereafter located, under the 
1872 Mining Act, as amended, or to impose any additional obligation 
with respect to the mining and removal of source material which does 
not occui" within any seam, bed, or deposit of lignite. 
SEC. 4. The entryman or owner of any land or the assignee of rights 
therein, including lands granted to States, with respect to which the 
coal deposits have been reserved to the United States pursuant to the 
provisions of the Act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat. 844), or the Act of 
June 22, 1910 (36 Stat. 583), excepting lands embraced within a coal 
prospecting permit or lease, upon the discovery of valuable source 
material in lignite situated within such entered, granted, or patented 
lands, who, except for the reservation of coal to the United States 
would have the right to mine and remove such source material, shall 
have the exclusive right to mine, remove, and dispose of lignite con-
taining such source material and lignite necessary to be stripped or 
mined in the recovery of such material, subject to the reporting and 
payment requirements of section 1 of this Act, and subject to the 
provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, upon filing in the land 
office designated in section 1 hereof, an adequate description sufficient 
to identify the land containing such lignite. 
SEC. 5. The holders of coal leases issued under the provision of the 
mineral leasing laws, including the Act of August 7, 1947 (61 Stat. 
913), prior to the date of this Act, or thereafter if based upon a 
prospecting permit issued prior to that date, upon the discovery during 
the term of such lease of valuable source material in any bed or deposit 
of lignite situated within the leased lands, shall have the exclusive 
right to locate such source material under the provisions of this Act 
but the mining and disposal of such source material shall be subject to 
the operating provisions of the lease and to the provisions of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954: Provided, That the provisions of this 
section shall not apply to coal prospecting, permits or leases on lands 
embraced within entered, granted or patented lands described in sec-
tion 4 of this Act. 
SEO. 6. As used in this Act "mineral leasing laws" shall mean the 
Act of October 20, 1914 (38 Stat. 741); the Act of February 25, 1920 
(41 Stat. 437) ; the Act of April 17, 1926 (44 Stat. 301); the Act of 
February 7,1927 (44 Stat. 1057); and all Acts heretofore or hereafter 
enacted which are amendatory of or supplementary to any of the fore-
going Acts; "Leasing Act minerals" shall mean all minerals which, 
upon the effective date of this Act, are provided in the mineral leas-
ing laws to be disposed of thereunder; "lignite" shall mean coal classi-
fied as ASTM designation: D 388-38, according to the standards estab-
lished in the American Society for Testing Materials on Coal and 
Coke under standard specifications for Classification of Coals by Rank, 
69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 359-AUG. 11, 1955 
681 
contained in public-land deposits considered as valuable under the 
coal-land classification standards established by the Secretary of the 
Interior and prescribed in section 30, Code of Federal Regulations, 
part 201; and "source material" sliall mean uranium, thoriurn, or any 
other material which is determined by the Atomic Energy Commission 
pursuant to the provisions of section 61 of the Atomic Energy Act of 
1954 to be source material. 
SEC. 7. All moneys received under the provisions of this Act shall 
be paid into the Treasury of the United States and distributed in the 
same manner as provided in section 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act of 
1920, as amended, and section 9 of the Alaska Coal Leasing Act of 
October 20,1914 (38 Stat. 741). 
SEC. 8. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to issue such 
rules and regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to effectuate 
the purposes of this Act. 
SEC. 9. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to amend or repeal any 
provisions of the Act of August 13, 1954 (68 Stat. 708), or any right 
granted thereunder. 
SEC. 10. Twenty years after the effective date of this Act, all lands 
subject to the provisions of section 1 shall be withdrawn from all 
forms of entry under this Act. 
All claims made pursuant to the 
provisions of this Act shall expire at that time, except for (1) claims 
for which patent has already been issued, and (2) claims on which 
application for patent has already been made and on which patent is 
subsequently issued: Provided, That, if the President shall so provide 
by Executive order, the provisions of this section shall not become 
effective until thirty years after the effective date of this Act. 
Approved August 11, 1955. 
30CFR Part201. 
68 Stat. 932. 
4 2 u s e 2091. 
41 Stat. 450. 
30 u s e 191. 
48 u s e 437-439. 
30 u s e 521-531. 
Public Law 358 
CHAPTER 796 
AN ACT 
To amend the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to establish a commis-
sion for the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of 
Alexander Hamilton", approved August 20,1954. 
August 11, 1955 
[S.1395] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 7 of 
the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to establish a commis-
sion for the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth 
of Alexander Hamilton", approved August 20, 1954, is amended to 
read as follows: 
•'SEC. 7. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums, 
not to exceed $150,000 in addition to the sum of $25,000 heretofore 
appropriated, as the Congress may determine to be necessary to carry 
out the provisions of this joint resolution." 
Approved August 11, 1955. 
Alexander Ham-
ilton. 
B i c e n t e n n i a l , 
eommission. 
68 Stat. 747. 
Appropriation. 
Ante, p. 460. 
Public Law 359 
CHAPTER 797 
AN ACT 
To permit the mining, development, and utilization of the mineral resources of 
all public lands withdrawn or reserved for power development, and for other 
purposes. , 
August 11, 1955 
[H.R. 100] 
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 "Mining Claims Rights Restoration Act of 1955". 
Act of 1955.