1–23 Reservations, Grants, Withdrawals and Severance of Minerals: Indian and military reservations, national parks and monuments are not, as a rule, open to mineral exploration except in special instances cited in 1–24 below. National forests are open to mineral exploration, location and patent, but subject to rules and regulations of the Forest Service. National Forest Wilderness Areas are covered in 1–24 below.
Grants include the Spanish Land Grants, Railroad Grants, and School Grants (School Sections), most of which included the minerals.
At least one Spanish Land Grant, The Sangre de Christo Grant comprising Costilla County, Colorado, has its own system of mineral surveys.
Arizona has its own rules for locating mining claims on state (school) lands. Indemnity grants were made in lieu of other lands previously appropriated, including unsurveyed school sections appropriated in part under the mining laws.
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of December 18, 1971 granted certain lands to the natives in Alaska and allowed owners of claims located prior to August 31, 1971 five years to proceed to patent. Regulations permitted filing an application for mineral survey to be considered an application for patent.
Withdrawals made under the authority of the President are not subject to any form of location. Withdrawals under the Act of June 25, 1910 (43 U.S.C. 141, as amended) are subject to location for metalliferous minerals only. The Act, known as the Pickett Act, authorized the President to make withdrawals for various purposes such as power, irrigation, classification of lands.
Withdrawals under the first form Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902 are not subject to mining location unless opened under the Act of April 23, 1932. Lands withdrawn under the second form of the Act are subject to location.
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of October 21, 1976(43 U.S.C. 1714) provides for withdrawals by the Secretary of the Interior, either on his own motion or at the request of any department or agency head, with certain restrictions and limitations. Each withdrawal and subsequent restoration must be reviewed to determine if mining locations are allowed, and under what conditions.
Severance occurs when minerals are reserved to the United States in a patent. Some of the Spanish Land Grants reserved certain minerals such as gold, silver, quicksilver and antimony.
The Act of March 3, 1891 reserved minerals from townsite entries on mineral land, but each patent should be checked; some of the early patents reserved only “known lodes.”