30 U.S.C. § 261 — Prospecting permits; lands included; acre-

Page 88 TITLE 30—MINERAL LANDS AND MINING § 261 leases in number and not exceeding an aggregate of one thousand two hundred and eighty acres in each: Provided, That the annual lease rentals for lands in the Territory of Alaska not within any known geological structure of a producing oil or gas field and the royalty payments from produc- tion of oil or gas sold or removed from such lands shall be identical with those prescribed for such leases covering similar lands in the States of the United States, except that leases which may issue pursuant to applications or offers to lease such lands, which applications or offers were filed prior to and were pending on May 3, 1958, shall require the payment of 25 cents per acre as lease rental for the first year of such leases; but the aforesaid exception shall not apply in any way to royalties to be required under leases which may issue pursuant to offers or applications filed prior to May 3, 1958. The Secretary of the Interior shall neither prescribe nor approve any cooperative or unit plan of development or operation nor any oper- ating, drilling, or development contract estab- lishing different royalty or rental rates for Alas- ka lands than for similar lands within the States of the United States. No claimant for a lease who has been guilty of any fraud or who had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud, or who has not acted honestly and in good faith, shall be enti- tled to any of the benefits of this section. (Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, § 22, 41 Stat. 446; Pub. L. 85–505, § 10, July 3, 1958, 72 Stat. 324.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1958—Pub. L. 85–505 struck out provisions which re- lated to prospecting permits, provided that the annual lease rentals and royalty payments shall be identical with those prescribed for leases covering similar lands in the States of the United States, permitted a pay- ment of 25 cents per acre as lease rental for the first year of the lease in those leases issued pursuant to ap- plications or offers filed prior to and pending on May 3, 1958, and prohibited the Secretary from prescribing or approving any cooperative or unit plan of development or operation or any operating, drilling, or development contract establishing different royalty or rental rates for Alaska lands than for similar lands within the States of the United States. Executive Documents ADMISSION OF ALASKA AS STATE Admission of Alaska into the Union was accom- plished Jan. 3, 1959, on issuance of Proc. No. 3269, Jan. 3, 1959, 24 F.R. 81, 73 Stat. c16, as required by sections 1 and 8(c) of Pub. L. 85–508, July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 339, set out as notes preceding section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions. SUBCHAPTER VII—SODIUM § 261. Prospecting permits; lands included; acre- age The Secretary of the Interior is hereby au- thorized, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to grant to any qualified appli- cant a prospecting permit which shall give the exclusive right to prospect for chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates, silicates, or ni- trates of sodium, in 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 shall not exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres of land in reasonably compact form. (Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, § 23, 41 Stat. 447; Dec. 11, 1928, ch. 19, 45 Stat. 1019.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1928—Act Dec. 11, 1928, struck out ‘‘and directed’’ after ‘‘authorized’’, ‘‘dissolved in and soluble in water, and accumulated by concentration, in lands belonging to the United States for a period not exceeding two years,’’ after ‘‘nitrates of sodium’’, and last proviso which read ‘‘Provided further, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to lands in San Bernardino County, California.’’ § 262. Leases to permittees; survey of lands; roy- alties and annual rentals Upon showing to the satisfaction of the Sec- retary of the Interior that valuable deposits of one of the substances enumerated in section 261 of this title have been discovered by the per- mittee within the area covered by his permit and that such land 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 not less than 2 per cen- tum of the quantity or gross value of the output of sodium compounds and other related products at the point of shipment to market; the lands in 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 regula- tions prescribed by the Secretary of the Inte- rior. Lands known to contain valuable deposits of one of the substances enumerated in section 261 of this title and not covered by permits or leases shall be subject to lease by the Secretary of the Interior through advertisement, competi- tive bidding, or such other methods as he may by general regulations adopt and in such areas as he shall fix, not exceeding two thousand five hundred and sixty acres. All leases under this section shall be conditioned 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 sodium compounds and other related products at the point of shipment to market, and 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 calendar years respectively; and $1 per acre per annum thereafter during the continuance of the lease, such rental for any one year to be credited against royalties accruing for that year. Leases under this section shall be for a period of twenty years, with preferential right in the lessee to renew for successive periods of ten years upon such reasonable terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior un- less otherwise provided by law at the expiration of such period: Provided, That nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the mining and sale of so- dium compounds under potassium leases issued pursuant to subchapter VII [§ 141 et seq.] of chap-