§ 4b. — Cooperation with individuals, municipalities, etc.; contracts with owners; agreements as to prices.
[Laws in effect as of January 7, 2003]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 7, 2003 and December 19, 2003]
[CITE: 30USC4b]
TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
CHAPTER 1--UNITED STATES BUREAU OF MINES
Sec. 4b. Cooperation with individuals, municipalities, etc.;
contracts with owners; agreements as to prices
The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly
are hereby authorized, within their discretion, to cooperate under
formal agreement with individuals, associations, corporations, States,
and municipalities, educational institutions, or other bodies, for the
purposes of this section: Provided, That before undertaking drilling
operations upon any tract or tracts of land, the mineral deposits of
which are not the property of the United States, the Secretary of the
Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly shall enter into a
contract or contracts with the owners or lessees, or both, of the
mineral rights therein, and the aforesaid contract or contracts shall
provide, among other things, that, if deposits of potash minerals or oil
shall be discovered in pursuance of operations under said contract or
contracts and if and when said mineral deposits shall be mined and sold,
the owners or lessees, or both, of said mineral rights shall pay to the
Government and its cooperators a royalty of not less than 2\1/2\ per
centum of the sale value of any potash minerals and oil therefrom, said
payments to continue until such time as the total amount derived from
said royalty is equal to not more than the cost of the exploration, as
may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Commerce jointly: Provided further, That all Federal claims for
reimbursement under this section shall automatically expire twenty years
from the date of approval of the contracts entered into, in accordance
with the provisions thereof, unless sooner terminated by agreement
between the owners or lessees of the potash mineral rights and oil and
the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly:
Provided further, That said contract or contracts shall not restrict the
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly in the
choice of drilling locations within the property or in the conduct of
the exploratory operations, so long as such selection or conduct do not
interfere unreasonably with the surface of the land or with the
improvements thereof, and said contract or contracts shall provide that
the United States shall not be liable for damages on account of such
reasonable use of the surface as may be necessary in the proper conduct
of the work.
(June 25, 1926, ch. 674, Sec. 2, 44 Stat. 768; Mar. 3, 1927, ch. 356, 44
Stat. 1388.)
Amendments
1927--Act Mar. 3, 1927, amended provisions generally.
