35 (c) UNCONVERTED CLAIMS.-Notwithstanding any 1 (c) 2 other provision of law, on the date three years after the effec3 tive date of this Act, each unpatented mining claim which 4 was located on or before the effective date of this Act pursu5 ant to the Mining Law of 1872 and not converted pursuant to 6 subsection (b) of this section shall be deemed conclusively to 7 be abandoned and shall be null and void by operation of the 8 law. 9 (d) INTERIM PERIOD.-During the three-year period 10 referred to in subsection (c) of this section, no claim shall be 11 located under this Act if the land subject to such claim is 12 encumbered by a valid claim located and maintained pursuant 13 to the Mining Law of 1872. 14 (e) CLOSED LANDS.-Claims located and maintained 15 pursuant to the Mining Law of 1872 on mineral lands no 16 longer as of the date of enactment of this Act subject to min17 eral location, for which there is a valid discovery as of the 18 date of enactment of this Act, shall be subject to the require19 ments of subsections (a) and (c) of this section and are eligible 20 for conversion pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. 21 (f) MILL SITE CLAIMS.-Notwithstanding any other 22 provision of law, as of the effective date of this Act, the 23 holder of a mill site claim located and maintained pursuant to 24 the Mining Law of 1872 may submit to the Secretary, and 25 the Secretary shall approve subject to the requirements of S 433 IS 36 1 section 103 of this Act, an application for a surface use 2 permit pursuant to section 103 of this Act. For three years 3 after the effective date of this Act, the Secretary shall not 4 accept an application for a surface use permit for lands en5 cumbered by a mill site claim located pursuant to the Mining 6 Law of 1872 prior to the effective date of this Act from a 7 person who is not the claimant of such mill site claim. Not8 withstanding any other provision of law, on the date three 9 years after the effective date of this Act, each mill site claim 10 for which a surface use permit application has not been sub11 mitted to the Secretary pursuant to this subsection shall be 12 deemed conclusively to be abandoned and shall be null and 13 void by operation of the law. 14 SEC. 403. MINERAL MATERIALS AMENDMENTS. 15 (a) ACT OF JULY 31, 1947.—The Act of July 31, 1947 16 (30 U.S.C. 601), is amended as follows: 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 (1) Section 1 is amended by striking “common varieties of" in the first sentence. (2) Section 3 of the Act of July 23, 1955 (30 U.S.C. 611), is amended by inserting "(a)" before the first sentence and by adding the following new subsection at the end thereof: "(b) No deposit of a mineral material, including, but not 24 necessarily limited to, sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, 25 cinders, or clay, shall be deemed to have some property S 433 IS 37 1 giving it a distinct and special value so as to be deemed sub2 ject to mineral location. All mineral materials shall only be 3 subject to disposition under the terms and conditions of the 4 Materials Act of 1947.”. 5 (b) CONVERSION.—(1) All valid claims located prior to 6 enactment of this Act for a mineral material asserted to have 7 some property giving it distinct and special value under the 8 Mining Law of 1872, shall be deemed conclusively to be 9 abandoned and shall be null and void by operation of law 10 unless the claimant demonstrates to the Secretary, within 11 three years after the effective date of this Act, that (1) miner12 al material exists on the claim in a quantity and quality 13 which will support current commercial production, at a profit; 14 and (2) the mineral material possesses a distinct and special 15 value under the Mining Law of 1872. If the claimant is not 16 currently producing the mineral material from the claim in 17 commercial quantities, but the Secretary determines that the 18 claim meets the standards of the previous sentence, the claim 19 shall nevertheless be extinguished unless the claimant files, 20 and the Secretary approves, a plan of operations pursuant to 21 section 104 of this Act within three years after the date of 22 enactment of this Act. 23 (2) Upon successful demonstration of the requirements 24 of paragraph (1), such valid claims shall be eligible for con 25 version pursuant to section 402(b) of this Act. S 433 IS 38 1 (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the 2 effective date of this Act, all mining claims located prior to 3 enactment of this Act for a mineral material asserted to have 4 some property giving it a distinct and special value under the 5 Mining Law of 1872 shall be subject to the requirements of 6 section 104 and title II of this Act. 7 (d) REPEALER.-(1) The Act of August 4, 1892 (30 8 U.S.C. 161), commonly known as the Building Stone Act, is 9 hereby repealed. 10 (2) The Act of January 31, 1901 (30 U.S.C. 162), com11 monly known as the Saline Placer Act, is hereby repealed. (e) MINERAL MATERIALS DISPOSAL CLARIFICA13 TION.-Section 4 of the Act of July 23, 1955 (30 U.S.C. 12 14 612) is amended as follows: 15 16 17 18 (1) In subsection (b) insert "and mineral materials" after "vegetative". (2) In subsection (c) insert "and mineral materi als" after "vegetative". 19 SEC. 404. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 20 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to repeal or 21 modify any existing law that prohibits or restricts the appli22 cation of the Mining Law of 1872 to public domain lands 23 where such law provides for greater protection of such lands 24 than the provisions of this Act. Nothing in this Act shall be 25 construed to effect preemption of State laws or regulations S 433 IS 39 1 where such laws or regulations provide for greater protection 2 of the environment, including state laws or regulations re 3 quiring higher bonding amounts or more stringent reclama4 tion standards than this Act, except for preemption of state 5 and local location and filing requirements pursuant to section 6 101(e) of this Act. 7 SEC. 405. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS. 8 (a) JURISDICTION.-As of the effective date of this Act, 9 the Secretary of Agriculture shall have full authority to ad10 minister all activities relating to the Mining Law of 1872 and 11 this Act on National Forest System lands. 12 (b) ADMINISTRATION.-The Secretary of the Interior 13 and the Secretary of Agriculture shall consult and cooperate 14 in the administration of the Mining Law of 1872 and this 15 Act, including on administrative appeals, to provide consist16 ent standards, efficiencies in operation and service to the 17 public. 18 (c) REGULATIONS.-The Secretary shall issue final reg19 ulations to implement this Act within one year after the date 20 of enactment of this Act. The regulations shall be effective 21 upon publication in the Federal Register. Within thirty days 22 after the publication of the regulations, the Secretary shall 23 give notice to holders of mining and mill site claims main24 tained under the Mining Law of 1872 as to the requirements 25 of this Act. Procedures for notice shall be established as part S 433 IS |