30 U.S.C. § 283 : US Code - Section 283: Lands containing valuable deposits not covered by permits or leases; authority to lease; acreage; conditions; renewals; exemptions from rentals and royalties; suspension of operations

Search 30 U.S.C. § 283 : US Code - Section 283: Lands containing valuable deposits not covered by permits or leases; authority to lease; acreage; conditions; renewals; exemptions from rentals and royalties; suspension of operations

Lands known to contain valuable deposits enumerated in this
subchapter and not covered by permits or leases shall be held
subject to lease 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 as
may be fixed in the lease, not less than 2 per centum of the
quantity or gross value of the output of potassium compounds and
other related products, except sodium, at the point of shipment to
market, and the payment in advance of a rental of 25 cents per acre
for the first calendar year or fraction thereof; 50 cents per acre
for the second, third, fourth, and fifth years, respectively; and
$1 per acre per annum thereafter during the continuance of the
lease, such rental for any year being credited against royalties
accruing for that year. Any lease issued under this subchapter
shall be for a term of twenty years and so long thereafter as the
lessee complies with the terms and conditions of the lease and upon
the further condition that at the end of each twenty-year period
succeeding the date of the lease such reasonable adjustment of the
terms and conditions thereof may be made therein as may be
prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior unless otherwise
provided by law at the expiration of such periods. Leases shall be
conditioned upon a minimum annual production or the payment of a
minimum royalty in lieu thereof, except when production is
interrupted by strikes, the elements, or casualties not
attributable to the lessee. The Secretary of the Interior may
permit suspension of operations under any such leases when
marketing conditions are such that the leases cannot be operated
except at a loss. The Secretary upon application by the lessee
prior to the expiration of any existing lease in good standing
shall amend such lease to provide for the same tenure and to
contain the same conditions, including adjustment at the end of
each twenty-year period succeeding the date of said lease, as
provided for in this subchapter. In the discretion of the Secretary
of the Interior the area involved in any lease resulting from a
prospecting permit may be exempt from any rental in excess of 25
cents per acre for twenty years succeeding its issue, and the
production of potassium compounds under such a lease may be exempt
from any royalty in excess of the minimum prescribed in this
subchapter for the same period.