The Act in section 1(a) provides as follows:
That (a) subject to the conditions and provisions of this Act and to any valid intervening rights acquired under the laws of the United States, any mining claim located under the mining laws of the United States subsequent to July 31, 1939, and prior to February 10, 1954, on lands of the United States, which at the time of location were—
(1) Included in a permit or lease issued under the mineral leasing laws; or
(2) Covered by an application or offer for a permit or lease which had been filed under the mineral leasing laws; or
(3) Known to be valuable for minerals subject to disposition under the mineral leasing laws, shall be effective to the same extent in all respects as if such lands at the time of location, and at all times thereafter, had not been so included or covered or known: Provided, however, That, in order to be entitled to the benefits of this act, the owner of any such mining claim located prior to January 1, 1953, must have posted and filed for record, within the time allowed by the provisions of the Act of August 12, 1953 (67 Stat. 539) [not later than December 10, 1953.] an amended notice of location as to such mining claim, stating that such notice was filed pursuant to the provisions of said Act of August 12, 1953, and for the purpose of obtaining the benefits thereof: And provided further, That, in order to obtain the benefits of this act, the owner of any such mining claim located subsequent to December 31, 1952, and prior to February 10, 1954, not later than one hundred and twenty days after the date of enactment of this act, must post on such claim in the manner required for posting notice of location of mining claims and file for record in the office where the notice or certificate of location of such claim is of record an amended notice of location for such claim, stating that such notice is filed pursuant to the provisions of this act, and for the purpose of obtaining the benefits thereof and, within said one hundred and twenty day period, if such owner shall have filed a uranium lease application as to the tract covered by such mining claim, must file with the Atomic Energy Commission a withdrawal of such uranium lease application or, if a uranium lease shall have issued pursuant thereto, a release of such lease, and must record a notice of the filing of such withdrawal or release in the county office wherein such notice or certificate of location shall have been filed for record.
The Act in section 3(a) and (b) provides as follows:
(a) Subject to the conditions and provisions of this Act and to any valid prior rights acquired under the laws of the United States, the owner of any pending uranium lease application or of any uranium lease shall have, for a period of one hundred and twenty days after the date of enactment of this act, as limited in subsection (b) of this section 3, the right to locate mining claims upon the lands covered by said application or lease.
(b) Any rights under any such mining claim so hereafter located pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section 3 shall be subject to any rights of the owner of any mining claim which was located prior to February 10, 1954, and which was valid at the date of the enactment of this Act or which may acquire validity under the provisions of this Act. As to any lands covered by a uranium lease and also by a pending uranium lease application, the right of mining location under this section 3, as between the owner of said lease and the owner of said application, shall be deemed as to such conflict area to be vested in the owner of said lease. As to any lands embraced in more than one such pending uranium lease application, such right of mining location, as between the owners of such conflicting applications, shall be deemed to be vested in the owner of the prior application. Priority of such an application shall be determined by the time of posting on a tract then available for such leasing of a notice of lease application in accordance with paragraph (c) of the Atomic Energy Commission's Domestic Uranium Program Circular 7 (10 CFR 60.7(c)) provided there shall have been timely compliance with the other provisions of said paragraph (c) or, if there shall not have been such timely compliance, then by the time of the filing of the uranium lease application with the Atomic Energy Commission. Any rights under any mining claim located under the provisions of this section 3 shall terminate at the expiration of thirty days after the filing for record of the notice or certificate of location of such mining claim unless, within said 30-day period, the owner of the uranium lease application or uranium lease upon which the location of such mining claim was predicated shall have filed with the Atomic Energy Commission a withdrawal of said application or a release of said lease and shall have recorded a notice of the filing of such withdrawal or release in the county office wherein such notice or certificate of location shall be of record.
All questions between mining claimants asserting conflicting rights of possession under mining claims, must be adjudicated in the courts. Any applicant for mineral patent, who claims benefits under sections 1 or 3 of this Act, or the Act of August 12, 1953, supra, in addition to matters required in Group 3800 of this chapter, must file with his Application for Patent a certified copy of each instrument required to have been recorded as to his mining claim in order to entitle it to such benefits unless an Abstract of Title or Certificate of Title filed with the Application for Patent shall set forth said instruments in full. If a mining claim was located on or after the date of this Act a statement must be filed showing that on the date of location the lands affected were not covered by a uranium lease or an application for a uranium lease. The applicant must also file a copy of the notice required to be posted on the claim and state in his application that such notice was duly posted in accordance with the requirements of the Act.
Section 4 of the Act provides that:
Every mining claim or millsite—
(1) Heretofore located under the mining laws of the United States which shall be entitled to benefits under the first three sections of this Act; or
(2) Located under the mining laws of the United States after the effective date of passage of this Act, shall be subject, prior to issuance of a patent therefor, to a reservation to the United States of all Leasing Act minerals and of the right (as limited in section 6 hereof) of the United States, its lessees, permittees, and licensees to enter upon the land covered by such mining claim or millsite and to prospect for, drill for, mine, treat, store, transport, and remove Leasing Act minerals and to use so much of the surface and subsurface of such mining claim or millsite as may be necessary for such purposes, and whenever reasonably necessary, for the purpose of prospecting for, drilling for, mining, treating, storing, transporting, and removing Leasing Act minerals on and from other lands; and any patent issued for any such mining claim or millsite shall contain such reservation as to, but only as to, such lands covered thereby which at the time of the issuance of such patent were—
(a) Included in a permit or lease issued under the mineral leasing laws; or
(b) Covered by an application or offer for a permit or lease filed under the mineral leasing laws; or
(c) Known to be valuable for minerals subject to disposition under the mineral leasing laws.
Since enactment of the Act on August 13, 1954, and subject to its conditions and provisions, including the reservation of Leasing Act minerals to the United States as provided in section 4, mining claims and millsites may be located under the mining laws of the United States on lands of the United States which at the time of location are—
(a) Included in a permit or lease issued under the mineral leasing laws; or
(b) Covered by an application or offer for a permit or lease filed under the mineral leasing laws; or
(c) Known to be valuable for minerals subject to disposition under the mineral leasing laws: This is inclusive of lands in petroleum reserves, except Naval petroleum reserves;
to the same extent in all respects as if such lands were not so included or covered or known.
The Leasing Act minerals in lands covered by mining claims and millsites located after the date of the Act or validated pursuant to the Act may be acquired under the mineral leasing laws, upon appropriate application therefor being filed prior to the issuance of patent to such mining claims or millsites, or after the issuance of patent, if the patent contains a reservation of Leasing Act minerals to the United States as provided in section 4 of the Act.