§ 612. — Unpatented mining claims.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 30USC612]
TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
CHAPTER 15--SURFACE RESOURCES
SUBCHAPTER II--MINING LOCATIONS
Sec. 612. Unpatented mining claims
(a) Prospecting, mining or processing operations
Any mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the
United States shall not be used, prior to issuance of patent therefor,
for any purposes other than prospecting, mining or processing operations
and uses reasonably incident thereto.
(b) Reservations in the United States to use of the surface and surface
resources
Rights under any mining claim hereafter located under the mining
laws of the United States shall be subject, prior to issuance of patent
therefor, to the right of the United States to manage and dispose of the
vegetative surface resources thereof and to manage other surface
resources thereof (except mineral deposits subject to location under the
mining laws of the United States). Any such mining claim shall also be
subject, prior to issuance of patent therefor, to the right of the
United States, its permittees, and licensees, to use so much of the
surface thereof as may be necessary for such purposes or for access to
adjacent land: Provided, however, That any use of the surface of any
such mining claim by the United States, its permittees or licensees,
shall be such as not to endanger or materially interfere with
prospecting, mining or processing operations or uses reasonably incident
thereto: Provided further, That if at any time the locator requires more
timber for his mining operations than is available to him from the claim
after disposition of timber therefrom by the United States, subsequent
to the location of the claim, he shall be entitled, free of charge, to
be supplied with timber for such requirements from the nearest timber
administered by the disposing agency which is ready for harvesting under
the rules and regulations of that agency and which is substantially
equivalent in kind and quantity to the timber estimated by the disposing
agency to have been disposed of from the claim: Provided further, That
nothing in this subchapter and sections 601 and 603 of this title shall
be construed as affecting or intended to affect or in any way interfere
with or modify the laws of the States which lie wholly or in part
westward of the ninety-eighth meridian relating to the ownership,
control, appropriation, use, and distribution of ground or surface
waters within any unpatented mining claim.
(c) Severance or removal of timber
Except to the extent required for the mining claimant's prospecting,
mining or processing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto, or
for the construction of buildings or structures in connection therewith,
or to provide clearance for such operations or uses, or to the extent
authorized by the United States, no claimant of any mining claim
hereafter located under the mining laws of the United States shall,
prior to issuance of patent therefor, sever, remove, or use any
vegetative or other surface resources thereof which are subject to
management or disposition by the United States under subsection (b) of
this section. Any severance or removal of timber which is permitted
under the exceptions of the preceding sentence, other than severance or
removal to provide clearance, shall be in accordance with sound
principles of forest management.
(July 23, 1955, ch. 375, Sec. 4, 69 Stat. 368.)
References in Text
The mining laws of the United States, referred to in text, are
classified generally to this title.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 613, 614 of this title.
