Fact mine-021
newrecordconfirmed The 1872 Mining Law opens federal land, not state or private land, to mineral claims
30 U.S.C. 22, from the Mining Law of 10 May 1872, declares valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States free and open to exploration and purchase by citizens, under federal law and local mining customs, 'except as otherwise provided'. The statute reaches only land of the United States; the Wellington parcel (Sec. 16) is state trust land (mine-010, mine-034), so a federal mining claim cannot be staked on it.
In plain termsA U.S. citizen can stake a mining claim on open federal land and look for minerals there without buying it first. But the law covers only federal land. The Carbon County parcel the state approved leasing to Valar is state school land, so a federal mining claim cannot be staked on it.
- 30 U.S.C. 22: Lands open to purchase by citizens (Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House, 1872-05-10) primary government “all valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States”