republic-os/legal/us/code/title-30/chapter-3/section-122.md

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LegalText	30 U.S.C. § 122	Patents; reservation in the United States of reserved deposits; acquisition of right to remove deposits; application for entry to disprove classification	us	united_states_code	code_section	30	MINERAL LANDS AND MINING	3	LANDS CONTAINING COAL, OIL, GAS, SALTS, ASPHALTIC MATERIALS, SODIUM, SULPHUR, AND BUILDING STONE	122	30 U.S.C. § 122	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc30@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t30/s122	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-30/usc30.xml	18cd96d47e115576dbe322c6a92fa5810b308a87e8ef0984cf564f7bf46cd539	355f8eb5c6ad5372de4a8e665d9ed90202d53d2aac19ac001d43948af4a4dd2f	3b198923406b4a6ef397df56d60736afb212dc4ccdf4c8ba9b793ebf25e3045c	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

30 U.S.C. § 122 - Patents; reservation in the United States of reserved deposits; acquisition of right to remove deposits; application for entry to disprove classification

Text

Upon satisfactory proof of full compliance with the provisions of the laws under which the location, selection, entry, or purchase is made, the locator, selector, entryman, or purchaser shall be entitled to a patent to the land located, selected, entered, or purchased, which patent shall contain a reservation to the United States of the deposits on account of which the lands so patented were withdrawn or classified or reported as valuable, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same, such deposits to be subject to disposal by the United States only as shall be hereafter expressly directed by law: Provided, however, That all mineral deposits heretofore or hereafter reserved to the United States under sections 121 to 123 of this title which are subject, at the time of application for patent, to valid and subsisting rights acquired by discovery and location under the mining laws of the United States made prior to the date of the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920 [30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.], shall hereafter be subject to disposal to the holders of those valid and subsisting rights by patent under the mining laws of the United States in force at the time of such disposal. Any person qualified to acquire the reserved deposits may enter upon said lands with a view of prospecting for the same upon the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of a bond or undertaking to be filed with him as security for the payment of all damages to the crops and improvements on such lands by reason of such prospecting, the measure of any such damage to be fixed by agreement of parties or by a court of competent jurisdiction. Any person who has acquired from the United States the title to or the right to mine and remove the reserved deposits, should the United States dispose of the mineral deposits in lands, may reenter and occupy so much of the surface thereof as may be required for all purposes reasonably incident to the mining and removal of the minerals therefrom, and mine and remove such minerals, upon payment of damages caused thereby to the owner of the land, or upon giving a good and sufficient bond or undertaking therefor in an action instituted in any competent court to ascertain and fix said damages. Nothing herein contained shall be held to deny or abridge the right to present and have prompt consideration of applications to locate, select, enter, or purchase, under the land laws of the United States, lands which have been withdrawn or classified as phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic mineral lands, with a view of disproving such classification and securing patent without reservation, nor shall persons who have located, selected, entered, or purchased lands subsequently withdrawn, or classified as valuable for said mineral deposits, be debarred from the privilege of showing, at any time before final entry, purchase, or approval of selection or location, that the lands entered, selected, or located are in fact nonmineral in character.

(July 17, 1914, ch. 142, § 2, 38 Stat. 509; July 20, 1956, ch. 652, 70 Stat. 592.)

Notes

Editorial Notes

References in TextThe Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, referred to in text, is act Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437, which is classified generally to chapter 3A (§ 181 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 181 of this title and Tables.

Amendments1956—Act July 20, 1956, permitted disposal of mineral deposits which are subject, at the time of application for patent, to valid and subsisting rights acquired by discovery and location under the mining laws made prior to Feb. 25, 1920.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Lands in North Platte Reclamation Project; Mineral RightsPatents for lands in North Platte Reclamation Proj­ect not to contain reservations of minerals in certain cases, see section 125 of this title.