| Mill Site Location and Patenting |
| On Friday, October 10, Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Rebecca Watson announced that the Department of the Interior is issuing a final rule to improve regulations on locating, recording and maintaining mining claims or sites. The final rule includes a provision, based upon a new Solicitor's opinion, which will restore the Department's traditional interpretation of the mining law's mill site provisions.
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| Deputy Solicitor Roderick E. Walston has signed an opinion, concurred in by Secretary Gale A. Norton, that concludes the Mining Law does not categorically limit the number of mill sites for each mining claim. The Walston opinion reinstates the department's prior longstanding administrative practice and interpretation of the Mining Law.
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| The uncertainty created by the 1997 opinion contributed to a virtual standstill of mining operations on public lands. The 1997 opinion limited mine operations to only five acres of surface lands to support mining each 20-acre parcel of mineral deposits, regardless of the technical, economic or geological necessities of a mine.
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| The Mining Law provides for two types of mining claims to obtain public lands for mining valuable mineral deposits: lode and placer mining claims. In addition, the Mining Law provides for mill sites on nonmineral lands to be used to support mining and processing of minerals from the mining claims. The law prescribes the size for each type of claim. Each lode or placer claim must not exceed about 20 acres in size and each mill site must not exceed 5 acres in size. The Mining Law does not place a categorical limit on the number of lode claims, placer claims or mill sites a mine operator may use. The Bureau of Land Management regulates the number of mill sites through another provision of the Mining Law.
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| Under safeguards adopted by this administration, all mine operations are subject to comprehensive bonding requirements to ensure funds are available to cover all environmental liabilities and to ensure that all mine sites are fully restored. All plans of operations for mining on the public lands must meet strict federal and state environmental standards. |
| For More Information on this topic: |
| 10/10/2003 |
News Release: Interior Department Corrects Erroneous Mill Site Interpretation (October 10, 2003) |
| 10/10/2003 |
News Release: Interior Department Corrects Erroneous Mill Site Interpretation (en Español) |
| 10/10/2003 |
Letter to U.S. Representative Jim Gibbons of Nevada on Mill Site Interpretation (October 10, 2003)(PDF) |
| 10/07/2003 |
Opinion by Deputy Solicitor Roderick E. Walston (10/7/03): Mill Site Location and Patenting under the 1872 Mining Law (PDF) |
| 10/10/2003 |
Statement of Senator Harry Reid |
