SRHA lands are lands that were—

(a) Patented under the Stockraising Homestead Act of 1916, as amended (30 U.S.C. 54 and 43 U.S.C. 299); or

(b) Originally entered under the Homestead Act of 1862, as amended, and patented under the SRHA after December 29, 1916.

SRHA lands are different from other Federal lands in that the United States owns the mineral estate of SRHA lands, but not the surface estate. Patents issued under the SRHA, and Homestead Act entries patented under the SRHA, reserved the mineral estate to the United States along with the right to enter, mine, and remove any reserved minerals that may be present in the mineral estate.

(a) The regulations in this part describe how to notify the surface owner before exploring for minerals or locating a mining claim on the mineral estate of SRHA lands.

(b) If you own the surface estate of SRHA lands and want to explore for minerals or locate a mining claim on the Federally-reserved mineral estate, you do not need to follow the requirements in this part, but you must follow the requirements in parts 3832, 3833, 3834 and 3835 of this chapter.