--- kind: "range" citation: "30 U.S.C. §§ 33–47" title: "30" from: "33" to: "47" count: 15 release: "119-102" url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/30/33..47" --- # §33. Existing rights All patents for mining claims upon veins or lodes issued prior to May 10, 1872, shall convey all the rights and privileges conferred by sections [21](/usc/30/21.md), [22 to 24](/usc/30/22..24.md), [26 to 28](/usc/30/26..28.md), [29](/usc/30/29.md), [30](/usc/30/30.md), [33 to 48](/usc/30/33..48.md), [50 to 52](/usc/30/50..52.md), [71 to 76](/usc/30/71..76.md) of this title and [section 661 of title 43](/usc/43/661.md) where no adverse rights existed on the 10th day of May, 1872. # §34. Description of vein claims on surveyed and unsurveyed lands; monuments on ground to govern conflicting calls The description of vein or lode claims upon surveyed lands shall designate the location of the claims with reference to the lines of the public survey, but need not conform therewith; but where patents have been or shall be issued for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in extending the public survey, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of said patented claims so as in no case to interfere with or change the true location of such claims as they are officially established upon the ground. Where patents have issued for mineral lands, those lands only shall be segregated and shall be deemed to be patented which are bounded by the lines actually marked, defined, and established upon the ground by the monuments of the official survey upon which the patent grant is based, and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in executing subsequent patent surveys, whether upon surveyed or unsurveyed lands, shall be governed accordingly. The said monuments shall at all times constitute the highest authority as to what land is patented, and in case of any conflict between the said monuments of such patented claims and the descriptions of said claims in the patents issued therefor the monuments on the ground shall govern, and erroneous or inconsistent descriptions or calls in the patent descriptions shall give way thereto. # §35. Placer claims; entry and proceedings for patent under provisions applicable to vein or lode claims; conforming entry to legal subdivisions and surveys; limitation of claims; homestead entry of segregated agricultural land Claims usually called “placers,” including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under like circumstances and conditions, and upon similar proceedings, as are provided for vein or lode claims; but where the lands have been previously surveyed by the United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands. And where placer claims are upon surveyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims located after the 10th day of May 1872, shall conform as near as practicable with the United States system of public-land surveys, and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant; but where placer claims cannot be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands; and where by the segregation of mineral land in any legal subdivision a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres remains, such fractional portion of agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead purposes. # §36. Subdivisions of 10-acre tracts; maximum of placer locations; homestead claims of agricultural lands; sale of improvements Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placer claim, made after the 9th day of July 1870, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser. # §37. Proceedings for patent where boundaries contain vein or lode; application; statement including vein or lode; issuance of patent: acreage payments for vein or lode and placer claim; costs of proceedings; knowledge affecting construction of application and scope of patent Where the same person, association, or corporation is in possession of a placer claim, and also a vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof, application shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case a patent shall issue for the placer claim, subject to the provisions of sections [21](/usc/30/21.md), [22 to 24](/usc/30/22..24.md), [26 to 28](/usc/30/26..28.md), [29](/usc/30/29.md), [30](/usc/30/30.md), [33 to 48](/usc/30/33..48.md), [50 to 52](/usc/30/50..52.md), [71 to 76](/usc/30/71..76.md) of this title and [section 661 of title 43](/usc/43/661.md), including such vein or lode, upon the payment of $5 per acre for such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim, or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of $2.50 per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as is described in [section 23 of this title](/usc/30/23.md), is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim which does not include an application for the vein or lode claim shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries thereof. # §38. Evidence of possession and work to establish right to patent Where such person or association, they and their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under sections [21](/usc/30/21.md), [22 to 24](/usc/30/22..24.md), [26 to 28](/usc/30/26..28.md), [29](/usc/30/29.md), [30](/usc/30/30.md), [33 to 48](/usc/30/33..48.md), [50 to 52](/usc/30/50..52.md), [71 to 76](/usc/30/71..76.md) of this title and [section 661 of title 43](/usc/43/661.md), in the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing in such sections shall be deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any mining claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of a patent. # §39. Surveyors of mining claims The Director of the Bureau of Land Management may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or lode claims, and the survey and subdivision of placer claims into smaller quantities than one hundred and sixty acres, together with the cost of publication of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be at liberty to employ any United States deputy surveyor to make the survey. The Director of the Bureau of Land Management shall also have power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices under sections [21](/usc/30/21.md), [22 to 24](/usc/30/22..24.md), [26 to 28](/usc/30/26..28.md), [29](/usc/30/29.md), [30](/usc/30/30.md), [33 to 48](/usc/30/33..48.md), [50 to 52](/usc/30/50..52.md), [71 to 76](/usc/30/71..76.md) of this title and [section 661 of title 43](/usc/43/661.md); and, in case of excessive charges for publication, he may designate any newspaper published in a land district where mines are situated for the publication of mining notices in such district, and fix the rates to be charged by such paper; and, to the end that the Director may be fully informed on the subject, each applicant shall file with the register a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by such applicant for publication and surveys, together with all fees and money paid the register of the land office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. # §40. Verification of affidavits All affidavits required to be made under sections [21](/usc/30/21.md), [22 to 24](/usc/30/22..24.md), [26 to 28](/usc/30/26..28.md), [29](/usc/30/29.md), [30](/usc/30/30.md), [33 to 48](/usc/30/33..48.md), [50 to 52](/usc/30/50..52.md), [71 to 76](/usc/30/71..76.md) of this title, and [section 661 of title 43](/usc/43/661.md) may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer, and, when duly certified by the officer taking the same, shall have the same force and effect as if taken before the register of the land office. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken as herein provided on personal notice of at least ten days to the opposing party; or if such party cannot be found, then by publication of at least once a week for thirty days in a newspaper, to be designated by the register of the land office as published nearest to the location of such land; and the register shall require proof that such notice has been given. # §41. Intersecting or crossing veins Where two or more veins intersect or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained within the space of intersection; but the subsequent location shall have the right-of-way through the space of intersection for the purposes of the convenient working of the mine. And where two or more veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein below the point of union, including all the space of intersection. # §42. Patents for nonmineral lands: application, survey, notice, acreage limitation, payment - (a) **Vein or lode and mill site owners eligible—** Where nonmineral land not contiguous to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such nonadjacent surface ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable to veins or lodes; but no location made on and after May 10, 1872, of such nonadjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by sections [21](/usc/30/21.md), [22 to 24](/usc/30/22..24.md), [26 to 28](/usc/30/26..28.md), [29](/usc/30/29.md), [30](/usc/30/30.md), [33 to 48](/usc/30/33..48.md), [50 to 52](/usc/30/50..52.md), [71 to 76](/usc/30/71..76.md) of this title and [section 661 of title 43](/usc/43/661.md) for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill site, as provided in this section. - (b) **Placer claim owners eligible—** Where nonmineral land is needed by the proprietor of a placer claim for mining, milling, processing, beneficiation, or other operations in connection with such claim, and is used or occupied by the proprietor for such purposes, such land may be included in an application for a patent for such claim, and may be patented therewith subject to the same requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable to placers. No location made of such nonmineral land shall exceed five acres and payment for the same shall be made at the rate applicable to placer claims which do not include a vein or lode. # §43. Conditions of sale by local legislature As a condition of sale, in the absence of necessary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of any State or Territory may provide rules for working mines, involving easements, drainage, and other necessary means to their complete development; and those conditions shall be fully expressed in the patent. # [§44. Omitted — omitted] # [§45. Omitted — omitted] # §46. Additional land districts and officers The President is authorized to establish additional land districts, and to appoint the necessary officers under existing laws, wherever he may deem the same necessary for the public convenience in executing the provisions of sections [21](/usc/30/21.md), [22 to 24](/usc/30/22..24.md), [26 to 28](/usc/30/26..28.md), [29](/usc/30/29.md), [30](/usc/30/30.md), [33 to 48](/usc/30/33..48.md), [50 to 52](/usc/30/50..52.md), [71 to 76](/usc/30/71..76.md) of this title and [section 661 of title 43](/usc/43/661.md). # §47. Impairment of rights or interests in certain mining property Nothing contained in sections [21](/usc/30/21.md), [22 to 24](/usc/30/22..24.md), [26 to 28](/usc/30/26..28.md), [29](/usc/30/29.md), [30](/usc/30/30.md), [33 to 48](/usc/30/33..48.md), [50 to 52](/usc/30/50..52.md), [71 to 76](/usc/30/71..76.md) of this title and [section 661 of title 43](/usc/43/661.md) shall be construed to impair in any way, rights or interests in mining property acquired under laws in force prior to July 9, 1870; nor to affect the provisions of the act entitled “An act granting to A. Sutro the right-of-way and other privileges to aid in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel to the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada”, approved July 25, 1866.