U.S. Mining Laws (Public Domain
Lands)
• Act of May 10, 1872 (Ch. 152, 17 Stat. 91; 30 U.S.C. 22, 28, 28b)
NOTE.--The U.S. Mining Laws, Act of May 10, 1872 (17
Stat. 91), as amended (30 U.S.C. 22, 28), unless
otherwise provided by law, apply to all mineral deposits
in (1) national forest lands reserved from the public
domain or which were acquired by exchange under the Act
of March 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 465; 16 U.S.C. 485), or
similar law, by the terms of which "public land" or the
timber thereon is granted and in exchange for land of
equal value, and (2) national grasslands and other Title
III lands transferred from the public domain by
Executive Order or otherwise, for administration under
Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, except
(a) oil, gas, oil shale, coal, potassium, sodium,
phosphate, native asphalt, solid and semisolid bitumen,
and bituminous rock (including oil-impregnated rock or
sands from which oil is recoverable only by special
treatment after the deposit is mined or quarried), and
sulphur in Louisiana and New Mexico, which are commonly
referred to as the "leasing act" minerals and
(b) mineral materials (including but not limited to
common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice,
pumicite, or cinders), which are commonly referred to as
'common varieties", and to deposits of petrified wood.
The "leasing act" minerals in public lands are subject
to disposal by the Secretary of the Interior under the
Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended and
supplemented (30 U.S.C. 181-287). Common varieties on
lands reserved from the public domain are subject to
disposal by the Secretary of Agriculture under the
Materials Act of July 31, 1947, as amended (30 U.S.C.
602-604, 611).
The mining laws do not apply to lands situated in
Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin (30 U.S.C. 48); Alabama
(30 U.S.C. 171); Missouri and Kansas (30 U.S.C. 49); and
certain lands in Oklahoma (43 U.S.c. 1098, 1100, 1131).
Similarly, they do not apply to lands within reclamation
withdrawals (43 U.S.C. 416, 432); Federal power
withdrawals, except under certain conditions (16 U.S.C.
818, 30 U.S.C. 621); Federal game refuges; military
reservations; or to lands otherwise specifically
withdrawn from their operation. There are a number of
acts which modify the mining laws as applied to local