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Show LEGAL ASPECTS OF MINERAL RESOURCES EXPLOITATION 755 period, he could convert it into a mining location. All locations made after August 13, 1954, on either segregated or unsegre-gated land are valid, but all such locations are expressly subject to a reservation of Leasing Act minerals. Only mining patents issued after the segregation are required to contain such a reservation, so that the locator will be more likely to go to patent if at the time there are no outstanding leases or applications. Before Public Law 585, the oil and gas lessee had considerable difficulty determining whether there were outstanding dormant mining claims which might cloud his title. Since the government does not warrant its title to leased property, the lessee has the burden of making this determination. It is possible that he might have the right to initiate a private contest proceeding but that would require some knowledge of the locators whose claims are in question. The neWj act provided an in rem procedure-Section 7 proceedings-which title examiners may on occasion have to rely upon. A brief statement of the procedure contemplated by the act will suffice for present purposes.398 The lessee must first file in the proper county office where the land is located a notice of the fact that a lease has been issued. After 90 days the lessee may file with the Bureau of Land Management a request for publication of the notice. This must be accompanied by a certified copy of the recorded notice, an affidavit that an investigation has been made of persons in possession, and a certificate from an ab-stracter or attorney based upon an investigation of county records. Names and addresses of persons in possession or who claim an interest under unpatented mining claims are required to be divulged. Anyone asserting a right to Leasing Act min- 398 See Trelease, Bloomenthal and Geraud, Cases on Natural Resources 713-14 (1965); 1 American Law of Mining § 1.42 (Martz ed. 1960). erals must file with the land office, within 150 days from the first publication, a verified statement setting forth information about his claim. Copies of the published notice must be served personally or by registered mail on persons in possession or listed in the abstracter's certificate. A failure to file the verified statement within the 150-day period raises a conclusive presumption of waiver of any claim to Leasing Act minerals. Where a statement is filed, an administrative hearing is held to determine the validity of the mining locator's right to Leasing Act minerals. These statutory provisions are, of course, supplemented by departmental regulations.399 Questions of the constitutionality of the published notice provisions have not as yet been considered by the courts.400 Multiple Use. The concept of multiple concurrent uses of Federal public land is not a new concept in the mineral context. It will be remembered that as early as 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt recommended that in the case of the mineral fuels legislation should be enacted to provide for "title to and development of the surface land as separate and distinct from the right to the underlying mineral fuels . . ."401 After his administration, several Federal statutes expressly adopted his suggestion. A series of statutes between 1909 and 1912 permitted nonmineral entries on coal lands and authorized the issuance of limited patents.402 In 1912, surface entries on oil and gas land in Utah were permitted.403 This was extended in 1914 to other states.404 The Stockraising Homestead Act in 1916 authorized prospecting for and mining of minerals re- 389 43 C.F.R. § § 3542.1-3545 (1967). 400 See 1 American Law of Mining 116-20 (Martz ed. 1960). 401 See Part 2, n. 203 and text. 402 See Part 2, n. 215, 216, 300. va See Part 2, n. 301. 404 See Part 2, n. 302. |