30 U.S.C. § 604 — Disposal of sand, peat moss, etc., in Alaska;

Page 116 TITLE 30—MINERAL LANDS AND MINING § 604 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. § 604. Disposal of sand, peat moss, etc., in Alaska; contracts Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, the Secretary may dispose of sand, stone, grav- el, and vegetative materials located below highwater mark of navigable waters of the Ter- ritory of Alaska. Any contract, unexecuted in whole or in part, for the disposal under this sub- chapter of materials from land, title to which is transferred to a future State upon its admission to the Union, and which is situated within its boundaries, may be terminated or adopted by such State. (July 31, 1947, ch. 406, § 4, as added Aug. 31, 1950, ch. 830, 64 Stat. 572.) Executive Documents TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS For transfer of certain enforcement functions of Sec- retary or other appropriate officer or entity in Depart- ments of Agriculture and the Interior under this sub- chapter to Federal Inspector of Office of Federal In- spector for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System, and subsequent transfer to Secretary of Energy, then to Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Trans- portation Projects, see note set out under section 601 of this title. 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 II—MINING LOCATIONS § 611. Common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, or cinders, and petrified wood No deposit of common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, or cinders and no de- posit of petrified wood shall be deemed a valu- able mineral deposit within the meaning of the mining laws of the United States so as to give effective validity to any mining claim hereafter located under such mining laws: Provided, how- ever, That nothing herein shall affect the valid- ity of any mining location based upon discovery of some other mineral occurring in or in associa- tion with such a deposit. ‘‘Common varieties’’ as used in this subchapter and sections 601 and 603 of this title does not include deposits of such materials which are valuable because the de- posit has some property giving it distinct and special value and does not include so-called ‘‘block pumice’’ which occurs in nature in pieces having one dimension of two inches or more. ‘‘Petrified wood’’ as used in this subchapter and sections 601 and 603 of this title means agatized, opalized, petrified, or silicified wood, or any ma- terial formed by the replacement of wood by silica or other matter. (July 23, 1955, ch. 375, § 3, 69 Stat. 368; Pub. L. 87–713, § 1, Sept. 28, 1962, 76 Stat. 652.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1962—Pub. L. 87–713 defined ‘‘petrified wood’’, and pro- vided that no deposit of petrified wood shall be deemed a valuable mineral deposit within the mining laws of the United States. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries REGULATIONS FOR REMOVAL OF LIMITED QUANTITIES OF PETRIFIED WOOD Pub. L. 87–713, § 2, Sept. 28, 1962, 76 Stat. 652, provided that: ‘‘The Secretary of the Interior shall provide by regulation that limited quantities of petrified wood may be removed without charge from those public lands which he shall specify.’’ § 612. Unpatented mining claims (a) Prospecting, mining or processing operations Any mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the United States shall not be used, prior to issuance of patent therefor, for any purposes other than prospecting, mining or processing operations and uses reasonably inci- dent thereto. (b) Reservations in the United States to use of the surface and surface resources Rights under any mining claim hereafter lo- cated under the mining laws of the United States shall be subject, prior to issuance of pat- ent therefor, to the right of the United States to manage and dispose of the vegetative surface re- sources thereof and to manage other surface re- sources thereof (except mineral deposits subject to location under the mining laws of the United States). Any such mining claim shall also be subject, prior to issuance of patent therefor, to the right of the United States, its permittees, and licensees, to use so much of the surface thereof as may be necessary for such purposes or for access to adjacent land: Provided, however, That any use of the surface of any such mining claim by the United States, its permittees or li- censees, shall be such as not to endanger or ma- terially interfere with prospecting, mining or processing operations or uses reasonably inci- dent thereto: Provided further, That if at any time the locator requires more timber for his mining operations than is available to him from the claim after disposition of timber therefrom by the United States, subsequent to the location of the claim, he shall be entitled, free of charge, to be supplied with timber for such require- ments from the nearest timber administered by the disposing agency which is ready for har- vesting under the rules and regulations of that agency and which is substantially equivalent in kind and quantity to the timber estimated by the disposing agency to have been disposed of from the claim: Provided further, That nothing in this subchapter and sections 601 and 603 of this title shall be construed as affecting or intended to affect or in any way interfere with or modify the laws of the States which lie wholly or in part westward of the ninety-eighth meridian re- lating to the ownership, control, appropriation, use, and distribution of ground or surface waters within any unpatented mining claim. (c) Severance or removal of timber Except to the extent required for the mining claimant’s prospecting, mining or processing op-