3 (3) "exploration" means to utilize methods and techniques which cause more than minimal disturbance to the environment for the determination of the charac teristics of a potential hardrock mineral deposit; (4) "exploration plan" means a plan for the exploration of hardrock mineral deposits in the locatable lands and for the reclamation of such lands, approved by the Secretary, or, for National Forest lands, the Secretary of Agriculture, pursuant to this Act; (5) "hardrock minerals" means any mineral of a kind which on June 6, 1989, was subject to location under the Mining Law of 1872; (6) "land and resource management plans” means plans pursuant to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1604), and the Federal Land Policy and Man agement Act of 1976, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1712); (7) "locatable lands" means lands open to mineral entry pursuant to the Mining Law of 1872 as of date of enactment of this Act, with the exception of (A) lands recommended for wilderness designation by the surface managing agency; (B) lands within Bureau of Land Manage ment wilderness study areas; S 1126 IS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 4 (C) lands designated by Congress as wilderness study areas, except where mineral entry under the Mining Law of 1872 is specifically al lowed to continue by the statute designating the study area; (D) lands within areas allocated for wilder ness or further planning in Executive Communica tion 1504, Ninety-Sixth Congress (House Docu ment numbered 96-11), unless such lands are al located to uses other than wilderness by a land and resource management plan or have been re leased to uses other than wilderness by an act of Congress; and (E) lands withdrawn from mineral entry subsequent to the date of enactment of this Act pur suant to withdrawal authority granted by the Fed eral Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) or any other Act. Any lands excluded from mineral entry pursuant to paragraphs (A) through (E) of this subsection for which there is a final determination that such lands not be designated as wilderness or for which a withdrawal is revoked may be open to mineral entry pursuant to this Act; 1 2 3 4 5 5 (8) "mined area" means surface and subsurface of locatable lands in which exploration, development, or production pursuant to this Act are being or have been conducted, including ways and roads appurtenant to any such area, land excavations, refuse banks, tailing 6 ponds, spoil banks, and areas in which structures, fa cilities, equipment, machines, tools, or other materials or property which result from or are used in, mining operations; (9) "minimal disturbance to the environment" means those activities which do not cause more than minor, short-term alteration of the environment; (10) "mining and reclamation plan" means a plan for the development and production of hardrock mineral deposits in the locatable Federal lands and for the reclamation of such lands, approved by the Secretary, or, for National Forest lands, the Secretary of Agriculture, pursuant to this Act; (11) "Mining Law of 1872" as used in this Act means the general mining laws of the United States (30 U.S.C. 21-54), as amended and supplemented; (12) "paying quantities" means that quantity of hardrock minerals which would pay a profit, if the mine were operated and the minerals marketed; 8 1126 IS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 6 (13) "person" means citizens, corporations organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State or the District of Columbia, or governmental units, including, without limitation, municipalities; (14) "prospecting" means the preliminary search for and identification of hardrock mineral resources which causes only minimal disturbance to the environment; and (15) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Interior. TITLE II-DISPOSITION OF MINERAL DEPOSITS 12 SEC. 201. PROSPECTING. 13 Prospecting may be conducted on locatable lands sub14 ject to the rules and regulations of the Federal surface man15 aging agency. Any person proposing to engage in any pro16 specting activity shall notify the surface managing agency 17 prior to initiating any such activity. 18 SEC. 202. EXPLORATION CLAIMS. 19 (a) All locatable lands shall be open for location of an 20 exploration claim pursuant to this section. The exploration 21 claim location shall conform with the United States system of 22 public land surveys, where possible, and shall be made in a 23 manner as prescribed by the Secretary. Mining claims shall 24 be twenty acres in size. The claimant may apply to the Sec25 retary or, for National Forest lands, the Secretary of Agricul 7 1 ture, for the use of additional Federal land pursuant to sec2 tion 205 of this Act. 3 (b) Federal location and filing requirements imposed by 4 this section shall supersede any conflicting State location and 5 filing requirements, and shall supersede the filing require6 ments of section 314 of the Federal Land Policy and Man7 agement Act of 1976 (30 U.S.C. 1744). The holder of an 8 exploration claim located pursuant to this Act, within ninety 9 days after the date of location of such claim, shall file with 10 the Secretary a notice of location, including the geographic 11 location of the claim and the hardrock mineral or minerals for 12 which the claim is being located, and shall pay a recordation 13 fee of $100 per claim. The filing of such location notice 14 grants the claimant the exclusive right to explore for any 15 hardrock minerals within the vertical boundaries of such ex16 ploration claim, together with the right to use so much of the 17 surface of the exploration claim as may be reasonably neces18 sary for exploration purposes, subject to such reasonable reg19 ulations as the Secretary, or for National Forest lands, the 20 Secretary of Agriculture, may prescribe. 21 (c) The owner of an exploration claim located pursuant 22 to this Act shall, in addition to any other filing requirements 23 of this section, make the filings and payments required pursu24 ant to subsection 204(e) of this Act. |