---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 460jjj–2"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "460jjj–2"
heading: "Minerals and mining"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/460jjj-2"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter CXXI — Jemez National Recreational Area"
---

# §460jjj–2. Minerals and mining

- (a) **Limitation on patent issuance—**
  - (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no patents shall be issued after May 30, 1991, for any location or claim made in the recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) under the mining laws of the United States.
  - (2) Notwithstanding any statute of limitations or similar restriction otherwise applicable, any party claiming to have been deprived of any property right by enactment of [paragraph (1)](#a-1) may file in the United States Claims Court[^1] a claim against the United States within 1 year after October 12, 1993, seeking compensation for such property right. The United States Claims Court[^1] shall have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any such claim in accordance with [section 1491 of title 28](/usc/28/1491.md).
- (b) **Withdrawal—** Subject to valid existing rights, after October 12, 1993, lands within the recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) withdrawn from location under the general mining laws and from the operation of the mineral leasing, geothermal leasing, and mineral material disposal laws.
- (c) **Reclamation—** No mining activity involving any surface disturbance of lands or waters within such [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A), including disturbance through subsidence, shall be permitted except in accordance with requirements imposed by the [Secretary](/usc/16/460iii–1.md?p=1), including requirements for reasonable reclamation of disturbed lands to a visual and hydrological condition as close as practical to their premining condition.
- (d) **Mining claim validity review—** The [Secretary](/usc/16/460iii–1.md?p=1) of Agriculture shall undertake and complete within 3 years after October 12, 1993, an expedited program to examine all unpatented mining claims, including those for which a patent application has been filed, within the recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A). Upon determination by the [Secretary](/usc/16/460iii–1.md?p=1) of Agriculture that the elements of a contest are present, the [Secretary](/usc/16/460iii–1.md?p=1) of the Interior shall immediately determine the validity of such claims. If a claim is determined to be invalid, the [Secretary](/usc/16/460iii–1.md?p=1) shall promptly declare the claim to be null and void.
- (e) **Public purposes—** The [Secretary](/usc/16/460iii–1.md?p=1) may utilize mineral materials from within the recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) for public purposes such as maintenance and construction of roads, trails, and facilities as long as such use is compatible with the purposes of the recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A).

## Footnotes

[^1]: See Change of Name note below.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 103–104, § 3, Oct. 12, 1993, 107 Stat. 1028.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Change of Name

References to United States Claims Court deemed to refer to United States Court of Federal Claims, see section 902(b) of Pub. L. 102–572, set out as a note under section 171 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.