[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 25USC399]
TITLE 25--INDIANS
CHAPTER 12--LEASE, SALE, OR SURRENDER OF ALLOTTED OR UNALLOTTED LANDS
Sec. 399. Leases of unallotted mineral lands withdrawn from
entry under mining laws
Authority of Secretary of the Interior to lease--The Secretary of
the Interior is authorized and empowered, under general regulations to
be fixed by him and under such terms and conditions as he may prescribe,
not inconsistent with the terms of this section, to lease to citizens of
the United States, or to any association of such persons, or to any
corporation organized under the laws of the United States or of any
State or Territory thereof, any part of the unallotted lands within any
Indian reservation within the States of Arizona, California, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, or Wyoming withdrawn
prior to June 30, 1919, from entry under the mining laws for the purpose
of mining for deposits of gold, silver, copper, and other valuable
metalliferous minerals, and nonmetalliferous minerals, not including oil
and gas, which leases shall be irrevocable, except as herein provided,
but which may be declared null and void upon breach of any of their
terms.
Location of mining claims--Unallotted lands, or such portion thereof
as the Secretary of the Interior shall determine, within Indian
reservations withheld prior to June 30, 1919, from disposition under the
mining laws may be declared by the Secretary of the Interior to be
subject to exploration for the discovery of deposits of gold, silver,
copper, and other valuable metalliferous minerals and nonmetalliferous
minerals, not including oil and gas, by citizens of the United States,
and after such declaration mining claims may be located by such citizens
in the same manner as mining claims are located under the mining laws of
the United States.
Preference right of locators of claims to lease of lands--The
locators of all such mining claims, or their heirs, successors, or
assigns, shall have a preference right to apply to the Secretary of the
Interior for a lease, under the terms and conditions of this section,
within one year after the date of the location of any mining claim, and
any such locator who shall fail to apply for a lease within one year
from the date of location shall forfeit all rights to such mining claim.
Filing copies of location notices--Duplicate copies of the location
notice shall be filed within sixty days with the superintendent in
charge of the reservation on which the mining claim is located, and
application for a lease under this section may be filed with such
superintendent for transmission, through official channels, to the
Secretary of the Interior.
Lands excepted from entry as mining claims--Lands containing
springs, water holes, or other bodies of water needed or used by the
Indians for watering livestock, irrigation, or water-power purposes
shall not be designated by the Secretary of the Interior as subject to
entry under this section.
Term of lease; renewal--Leases under this section shall be for a
period of twenty years, with the preferential right in the lessee to
renew the same for successive periods of ten years, upon such reasonable
terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the
Interior, unless otherwise provided by law at the time of the expiration
of such periods.
Relinquishment of rights by lessee--The lessee may, in the
discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, be permitted at any time to
make written relinquishment of all rights under such a lease and upon
acceptance thereof be thereby relieved of all future obligations under
said lease.
Lease of additional land for camp sites and other purposes--In
addition to areas of mineral land to be included in leases under this
section the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, may grant to
the lessee the right to use, during the life of the lease, subject to
the payment of an annual rental of not less than $1 per acre, a tract of
unoccupied land, not exceeding forty acres in area, for camp sites,
milling, smelting, and refining works, and for other purposes connected
with and necessary to the proper development and use of the deposits
covered by the lease.
Reservation of surface of leased land to United States; easements--
The Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, in making any lease
under this section, may reserve to the United States the right to lease
for a term not exceeding that of the mineral lease, the surface of the
lands embraced within such lease under existing law or laws hereafter
enacted, insofar as said surface is not necessary for use of the lessee
in extracting and removing the deposits therein: Provided, That the said
Secretary, during the life of the lease, is hereby authorized to issue
such permits for easements herein provided to be reserved.
Rights and duties of successors to lessees--Any successor in
interest or assignee of any lease granted under this section, whether by
voluntary transfer, judicial sale, foreclosure sale, or otherwise, shall
be subject to all the conditions of the lease under which such rights
are held and also subject to all the provisions and conditions of this
section to the same extent as though such successor or assign were the
original lessee hereunder.
Forfeiture of leases; notice--Any lease granted under this section
may be forfeited and canceled by appropriate proceedings in the United
States district court for the district in which said property or some
part thereof is situated whenever the lessee, after reasonable notice in
writing, as prescribed in the lease, shall fail to comply with the terms
of this section or with such conditions not inconsistent herewith as may
be specifically recited in the lease.
Royalties payable by lessees--For the privilege of mining or
extracting the mineral deposits in the ground covered by the lease the
lessee shall pay to the United States, for the benefit of the Indians, a
royalty which shall not be less than 5 per centum of the net value of
the output of the minerals at the mine, due and payable at the end of
each month succeeding that of the extraction of the minerals from the
mine, and an annual rental, payable at the date of such lease and
annually thereafter on the area covered by such lease, at the rate of
not less than 25 cents per acre for the first calendar year thereafter;
not less than 50 cents per acre for the second, third, fourth, and fifth
years, respectively; and not less than $1 per acre for each and every
year thereafter during the continuance of the lease, except that such
rental for any year shall be credited against the royalties as they
accrue for that year.
Development work by locators or lessees; damage to land--In addition
to the payment of the royalties and rentals as herein provided the
lessee shall expend annually not less than $100 in development work for
each mining claim located or leased in the same manner as an annual
expenditure for labor or improvements is required to be made under the
mining laws of the United States: Provided, That the lessee shall also
agree to pay all damages occasioned by reason of his mining operations
to the land or allotment of any Indian or to the crops or improvements
thereon.
Cutting timber by lessees--No timber shall be cut upon the
reservation by the lessee except for mining purposes and then only after
first obtaining a permit from the superintendent of the reservation and
upon payment of the fair value thereof.
Examination of books and accounts of lessees--The Secretary of the
Interior is authorized to examine the books and accounts of lessees, and
to require them to submit statements, representations, or reports,
including information as to cost of mining, all of which statements,
representations, or reports so required shall be upon oath, unless
otherwise specified, and in such form and upon such blanks as the
Secretary of the Interior may require; and any person making any false
statement, representation, or report under oath or in any declaration,
certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury as
permitted under section 1746 of title 28 shall be subject to punishment
as for perjury.
Disposition of rentals and royalties--All moneys received from
royalties and rentals under the provisions of this section shall be
deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the
Indians belonging and having tribal rights on the reservation where the
leased land is located, which moneys shall be at all times subject to
appropriation by Congress for their benefit, unless otherwise provided
by treaty or agreement ratified by Congress: Provided, That such moneys
shall be subject to the laws authorizing the pro rata distribution of
Indian tribal funds.
Protection of interests of Indians--The Secretary of the Interior is
authorized to perform any and all acts and to make such rules and
regulations not inconsistent with this section as may be necessary and
proper for the protection of the interests of the Indians and for the
purpose of carrying the provisions of this section into full force and
effect: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed or
held to affect the right of the States or other local authority to
exercise any rights which they may have to levy and collect taxes upon
improvements, output of mines, or other rights, property, or assets of
any lessee.
Mining locations by and leases to Indians declared competent--Mining
locations, under the terms of this section, may be made on unallotted
lands within Indian reservations by Indians who have heretofore or may
hereafter be declared by the Secretary of the Interior to be competent
to manage their own affairs; and the said Secretary is authorized and
empowered to lease such lands to such Indians in accordance with the
provisions of this section.
Mining locations by and leases to other Indians--The Secretary of
the Interior is authorized to permit other Indians to make locations and
obtain leases under the provisions of this section, under such rules and
regulations as he may prescribe in regard to the working, developing,
disposition, and selling of the products, and the disposition of the
proceeds thereof of any such mine by such Indians.
``Metalliferous'' defined--Wherever the term ``metalliferous'' is
used in this section it shall be defined and construed by the Secretary
of the Interior to include magnesite, gypsum, limestone, and asbestos.
(June 30, 1919, ch. 4, Sec. 26, 41 Stat. 31; Mar. 3, 1
