mainder of claim. ted. Lease of re lessee: Provided, however, That the President may, in his discretion, lease the remainder or any part of any such claim upon which such wells have been drilled, and in the event of such leasing said claimant or his successor shall have a preference right to such lease: And provided Additional further, That he may permit the drilling of additional drilling permit wells by the claimant or his successor within the limited area of six hundred and sixty feet theretofore provided for upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe. No claimant for a lease who has been guilty of any fraud or who had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud, or who has not acted honestly and in good faith, shall be entitled to any of the benefits of this section. Benefits barred by fraud. Settlement of pending oil land ance of leases. 1015. Upon the delivery and acceptance of the lease, as in suits on accept this section provided, all suits brought by the Government affecting such lands may be settled and adjusted in accordance herewith and all moneys impounded in such Vol. 38, p. 708. suits or under the Act entitled "An Act to amend an Act Vol. 36, P entitled 'An Act to protect the locators in good faith of oil and gas lands who shall have effected an actual discovery of oil or gas on the public lands of the United States, or their successors in interest.' approved March Impounded 2, 1911," approved August 25, 1914 (Thirty-eighth Statmoneys to be utes at Large, page 708), shall be paid over to the parties Conflicting entitled thereto. In case of conflicting claimants for Effect of leases. leases under this section, the Secretary of the Interior paid. claimants. Restrictions on holding more area. is authorized to grant leases to one or more of them as shall be deemed just. All leases hereunder shall inure to the benefit of the claimant and all persons claiming through or under him by lease, contract, or otherwise, as their interests may appear, subject, however, to the same limitation as to area and acreage as is provided for Provisos. claimant in this section: Provided, That no claimant acinterests acquired quiring any interest in such lands since September 1, from claimants 1919, from a claimant on or since said date claiming or than maximum holding more than the maximum allowed claimant under this section shall secure a lease thereon or any interest therein, but the inhibition of this proviso shall not apply to an exchange of any interest in such lands made prior to the 1st day of January, 1920, which did not increase or reduce the area or acreage held or claimed in excess of said maximum by either party to the exArea restricted. change: Provided further, That no lease or leases under this section shall be granted, nor shall any interest therein, inure to any person, association, or corporation for a greater aggregate area or acreage than the maximum in this section provided for. Exception. Compromise of existing placer claims. SEC. 18a. That whenever the validity of any gas or petroleum placer claim under preexisting law to land embraced in the Executive order of withdrawal issued September 27, 1909, has been or may hereafter be drawn in question on behalf of the United States in any de partmental or judicial proceedings, the President is Terms and con Oil or gas lands not withdrawn. claimants not ery. Lease if discovery made. SEC. 19. That any person who on October 1, 1919, was a bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas lands under Prospecting a claim initiated while such lands were not withdrawn permits to valid from oil or gas location and entry, and who had pre- making discov viously performed all Acts under then existing laws necessary to valid locations thereof except to make discovery, and upon which discovery had not been made prior to the passage of this Act, and who has performed Prior work rework or expended on or for the benefit of such locations quired. an amount equal in the aggregate of $250 for each location if application there for shall be made within six months from the passage of this Act shall be entitled to prospecting permits thereon upon the same terms and conditions, and limitations as to acreage, as other permits provided for in this Act, or where any such person has heretofore made such discovery, he shall be entitled to a lease thereon under such terms as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe unless otherwise provided for in section 18 hereof: Provided, That where such prospecting permit is granted upon land within any known producing fields. geologic structure of a producing oil or gas field, the royalty to be fixed in any lease thereafter granted thereon or any portion thereof shall be not less than 123 per centum of all the oil or gas produced except oil or gas used for production purposes on the claim, or unavoidably lost: Provided, however, That the provisions of Naval lands this section shall not apply to lands reserved for the use of the Navy: Provided, however, That no claimant for a permit or lease who has been guilty of any fraud or who had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud, or who has not acted honestly and in good faith, shall be entitled to any of the benefits of this section. ty; it in Provisos. excluded. Benefits barred by fraud. to permits. All permits or leases hereunder shall inure to the bene- Persons entitled fit of the claimant and all persons claiming through or under him by lease, contract, or otherwise, as their interests may appear. Agricultural entrymen on re served lands. right to, for per SEC. 20. In the case of lands bona fide entered as agricultural, and not withdrawn or classified as mineral at the time of entry, but not including lands claimed under Preference any railroad grant, the entryman or patentee, or assigns, mit and lease, on where assignment was made prior to January 1, 1918, if discovery. the entry has been patented with the mineral rights reserved, shall be entitled to a preference right to a permit and to a lease, as herein provided, in case of discovery; and within an area not greater than a township such en Combinations permitted. Royalties. Oil shale deposits. Leases authorized of lands containing. Period and leases. rentals. tryman and patentees, or assigns holding restricted patents may combine their holdings, not to exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres for the purpose of making joint application. Leases executed under this section and embracing only lands so entered shall provide for the payment of a royalty of not less than 12 per centum as to such areas within the permit as may not be included within the discovery lease to which the permittee is entitled under section 14 hereof. OIL SHALE. SEC. 21. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to lease to any person or corporation qualified under this Act any deposits of oil shale belonging to the United States and the surface of so much of the public lands containing such deposits, or land adjacent thereto, as may be required for the extraction and reduction of the leased minerals, under such rules and regulations, Area limited. not inconsistent with this Act, as he may prescribe; that no lease hereunder shall exceed five thousand one hundred and twenty acres of land, to be described by the legal subdivisions of the public-land surveys, or if unsurveyed, to be surveyed by the United States, at the expense of the applicant, in accordance with regulations conditions of to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Leases may be for indeterminate periods, upon such conditions as may be imposed by the Secretary of the Interior, including covenants relative to methods of mining, preRoyalties and vention of waste, and productive development. For the privilege of mining, extracting, and disposing of the oil or other minerals covered by a lease under this section the lessee shall pay to the United States such royalties as shall be specified in the lease and an annual rental, payable at the beginning of each year, at the rate of 50 cents per acre per annum, for the lands included in the lease, the rental paid for any one year to be credited against the royalties accruing for that year; such royalties to be subject to readjustment at the end of each twenty-year period by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, That for the purpose of encouraging the prowaiving of royal duction of petroleum products from shales the Secretary may, in his discretion, waive the payment of any royalty Leases to claim- and rental during the first five years of any lease: Proing former rights. vided, That any person having a valid claim to such minerals under existing laws on January 1, 1919, shall, upon the relinquishment of such claim, be entitled to a lease under the provisions of this section for such area of the land relinquished as shall not exceed the maximum area authorized by this section to be leased to an individual Benefits barred or corporation: Provided, however, That no claimant for a lease who has been guilty of any fraud or who had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud, Provisos. ties. Discretionary ants relinquish by fraud. Only one lease or who has not acted honestly and in good faith, shall be entitled to any of the benefits of this section: Provided to any person, further, That not more than one lease shall be granted etc. under this section to any one person, association, or corporation. ALASKA OIL PROVISO. Alaska oil deposits. permits to valid not discovering Former application to be re SEC. 22. That any bona fide occupant or claimant of Prospecting oil or gas bearing lands in the Territory of Alaska, who, mining claimants or whose predecessors in interest, prior to withdrawal oil or gas. had complied otherwise with the requirements of the mining laws, but had made no discovery of oil or gas in wells and who prior to withdrawal had made substantial improvements for the discovery of oil or gas on or for each location or had prior to the passage of this Act expended not less than $250 in improvements on or for each location shall be entitled, upon relinquishment or surrender to the United States within one year from the linquished. date of this Act, or within six months after final denial or withdrawal of application for patent, to a prospecting permit or permits, lease or leases, under this Act covering mits allowed. such lands, not exceeding five permits or leases in number and not exceeding an aggregate of one thousand two hundred and eighty acres in each: Provided, That leases in Alaska under this Act whether as a result of prospect- als, etc. ing permits or otherwise shall be upon such rental and royalties as shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior and specified in the lease, and be subject to readjustment at the end of each twenty-year period of the lease: Provided further, That for the purpose of encouraging the ties. production of petroleum products in Alaska the Secretary may, in his discretion, waive the payment of any rental or royalty not exceeding the first five years of any lease. No claimant for a lease who has been guilty of any fraud or who had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud, or who has not acted honestly and in good faith, shall be entitled to any of the benefits of this section. SODIUM. Number of per Provisos. Discretionary waiving of royal Benefits barred by fraud. its. Sodium depos permits allowed SEC. 23. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby Prospecting authorized and directed, under such rules and regula- for. tions as he may prescribe, to grant to any qualified applicant a prospecting permit which shall give the exclusive right to prospect for chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates, silicates, or nitrates of sodium dissolved in and soluble in water, and accumulated by concentration, in lands belonging to the United States for a period of not exceeding two years: Provided, That the area to be included in such a permit shall be not exceeding two thousand five hundred and sixty acres of land in reasonably compact form: Provided further, That the Provisos. Lease to permittee of one which discovery made. Royalty. provisions of this section shall not apply to lands in San Bernardino County, California. SEC. 24. That upon showing to the satisfaction of the half of area in Secretary of the Interior that valuable deposits of one of the substances enumerated in section 23 hereof has been discovered by the permittee within the area covered by his permit and that such land is chiefly valuable therefor the permittee shall be entitled to a lease for one-half of the land embraced in the prospecting permit, at a royalty of not less than one-eighth of the amount or value of the production, to be taken and described by legal subdivisions of the public-land surveys, or if the land be not surveyed by survey executed at the cost of the permittee in accordance with the rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Preference to The permittee shall also have the preference right to lease remainder of land. ing known depos lease. Conditions. Royalties, rentals, etc. lease the remainder of the lands embraced within the limits of his permit at a royalty of not less than oneeighth of the amount of value of the production to be Land contain fixed by the Secretary of the Interior. Lands known to its subject to contain such valuable deposits as are enumerated in section 23 hereof and not covered by permits or leases, except such lands as are situated in said county of San Bernardino, shall be held subject to lease, and may be leased by the Secretary of the Interior through advertisement, competitive bidding, or such other methods as he may by general regulations adopt, and in such areas as he shall fix, not exceeding two thousand five hundred and sixty acres; all leases to be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee of such royalty of not less than one-eighth of the amount or value of the production as may be fixed in the lease, and the payment in advance of a rental of 50 cents per acre for the first calendar year or fraction thereof and $1 per acre per annum thereafter during the continuance of the lease, the rental paid for any one year Periods and to be credited on the royalty for that year. Leases may be for indeterminate periods, subject to readjustment at the end of each twenty-year period, upon such conditions not inconsistent herewith as may be incorporated in each lease or prescribed in general regulation theretofore issued by the Secretary of the Interior, including covenants relative to mining methods, waste, period of preliminary development, and minimum production, and a lessee under this section may be lessee of the remaining lands in his permit. conditions of leases. Use of unoccupied lands for de etc. SEC. 25. That in addition to areas of such mineral land velopment work, which may be included in any such prospecting permits or leases, the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, may grant to a permittee or lessee of lands containing sodium deposits, and subject to the payment of an annual rental of not less than 25 cents per acre, the exclusive right to use, during the life of the permit or lease, a tract of unoccupied nonmineral public land, not exceed Rental. |