Chapter 66. To promote the mining of potash on the public domain
1,018 words·~5 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-44/chapter-66-21659120·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 66.— An Act To promote the mining of potash on the public domain.February 7, 1927.[[H. R. 5243](/us/bill/69/hr/5243).][[Public, No. 579](/us/pl/69/579).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Potash.Permits to prospect for salts of potassium on public lands.*Ante*, p. 768. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to grant to any qualified applicant a prospecting permit which shall give the exclusive right to prospect for chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates silicates, or nitrates of potassium in*Post*, p. 1220. lands belonging to the United States for a period of not exceeding two years: *Provided*, That the area, to be included in such a permit*Provisos*.Area limited. shall not exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres of land in reasonably compact form: *Provided further*, That the prospectingSearles Lake, Calif, excepted. provisions of this Act shall not apply to lands and deposits in or adjacent to Searles Lake, California, which lands may be leased by the Secretary of the Interior under the terms and provisions of this Act.
Sec. 2. That upon showing to the satisfaction of the SecretaryLease to permittee on discovery. of the Interior that valuable deposits of one of the substances enumerated in this Act has been discovered by the permittee within the area covered by his permit, and that such laud is chiefly valuable therefor, the permittee shall be entitled to a lease for any or all of the land embraced in the prospecting permit, at a royalty of notRoyalty. less than 2 per centum of the quantity or gross value of the output of potassium compounds and other related products, except sodium, at the point of shipment to market, such lease to be taken in compact form by legal subdivisions of the public land surveys, or if the land be not surveyed, by survey executed at the cost of the permittee in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.
Sec. 3. That lands known to contain valuable deposits enumeratedLeases of lands with known deposits of potassium salts. in this Act and not covered by permits or leases shall be held subject to lease by the Secretary of the Interior through advertisement, competitive bidding, or such other methods as he may by genera! regulations adopt, and in such areas as he shall fix, not exceeding two thousand five hundred and sixty acres; all leases to be conditionedRates of royalty, except sodium. upon the payment by the lessee of such royalty as may be fixed in the lease, not less than 2 per centum of the quantity or gross value of the output of potassium compounds and other related products, except sodium, at the point of shipment to market, andRental. the payment in advance of a rental of 25 cents per acre for the first calendar year or fraction thereof; 50 cents per acre for the second, third, fourth, and fifth years, respectively: and $1 per acre per annum thereafter during the continuance of the lease, such rental for any year being credited against royalties accruing for that year.
Leases under this Act shall be for a period of 20 years, with preferentialTerm of lease. 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 1058 Discretionary rental exemption.by law at the expiration of such periods. In the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior the area involved in any lease resulting from a prospecting permit may be exempt from any rental in excess of 25 cents per acre for twenty years succeeding its issue, and the production of potassium compounds under such a lease may be exempt from any royalty in excess of the minimum prescribed in this Act for the same period.
Sec. 4. Permits, etc., for potassium in other mineral lands. That prospecting permits or leases may be issued under the provisions of tins Act for deposits of potassium in public lands, also containing deposits of coal or other minerals, on condition that such other deposits be reserved to the United States for disposal under appropriate laws: *Provided*, That if the interests of the *Provisos*.Inclusion of development of other mineral salts.Government and of the lessee wilt be subserved thereby, potassium leases may include covenants providing for the development by the lessee of chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates, silicates, or nitrates of sodium, magnesium, aluminum, or calcium, associated with the potassium deposits leased, on terms and conditions not inconsistent Conditions.Vol. 41, p. 437.with the sodium provisions of the Act of February 25, 1920 Veins of valuable minerals subject to general mining laws.(Forty-first Statutes at Large, page 437): *Provided further*, That where valuable deposits of mineral now subject to disposition under the general mining laws are found in fissure veins on any of the lands subject to permit or lease under this Act, the valuable minerals so found shall continue subject to disposition under the said general mining laws notwithstanding the presence of potash therein.
Sec. 5. Leasing Act provisions applicable.Vol. 41, pp. 437, 448–451. That the general provisions of sections 1 and 26 to 38, inclusive, of the Act of February 25, 1920, entitled “An Act to promote the mining of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas, and sodium on the public domain,” are made applicable to permits and leases under this Act, the first and thirty-seventh sections thereof being amended to include deposits of potassium. Sec. 6. Former Act repealed.Vol. 40, p. 297, repealed.
That the Act of October 2, 1917 (Fortieth Statutes at Large, page 297), entitled “An Act to authorize exploration for and disposition of potassium,” is hereby repealed, but this repeal shall not affect pending applications for permits or leases filed prior to Pending claims, etc., not affected.January 1, 1926, or valid claims existent at date of the passage of this Act and thereafter maintained in compliance with the laws under which initiated, which claims may be perfected under such laws, including discovery.
Approved, February 7, 1927.