Talk:General Mining Act of 1872

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 2 August 2020 and 5 September 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Fallnrcarc.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:10, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled
This part of the article is clearly biased: "Nowadays it effectively permits the theft of public property allowing for property that could sell for millions, to be sold at 5 dollars an acre." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.33.101.26 (talk • contribs)

In addition, it includes irrelevant/misleading information. Oil, gas et al. are regulated under mineral leasing laws, not the General, as a result of 1922 amendments. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Coylec (talk • contribs)

There are some SERIOUS problems with this article.

Firstly, the article states that: "All citizens of the United States of America 18 years or older have the right under the 1872 mining law to locate a lode (hard rock) or placer (gravel) mining claim on federal lands open to mineral entry." That is not accurate at all. For starters, aliens which have declared their intention to become citizens are eligible to file a claim and claims filed by aliens who have not declared their intent to become citizens are not necessarily void.

The article also states that "'A mining claim is the right to explore for and extract minerals from a tract of land'." That is NOT correct. Both the 1866 and 1872 acts already grant the right for all to locate, claim and occupy the Public Domain for the purpose of mineral exploration. As long as the land is unappropriated, this right cannot be challenged. The mining claim itself is a form of REAL PROPERTY, which gives exclusive ownership of the subsurface, as well as certain privelages of the surface to the claimant. Needless to say, a mining claim is a unique form of property, with unique rights.

The article also states that "The mining law opens up land in the public domain, that is, federal land that has been owned by the federal government since it became part of the United States, and that has never been set aside for a specific use." That is NOT correct. Both the 1866 and 1872 designated that the "MINERAL LANDS of the Public Domain" were "free and open to exploration and occupation". Legally, this is reffered to as the Mineral Estate and in fact, this sector of the Public Domain was specifically set aside for mining, which (legally) is to take the priority over any other uses, such as uses for timber, fisheries or recreation. That said, not all of the Public Domain is necessarily in mineral character and a lot of Public Land simply does not fall into this category.

The article also states: "The acquisition of mining rights on public land in the West is mostly governed by the 1872 act. Subsequent changes to the law include ..." and then it goes on to list several acts like the FLPMA and Multiple Use Act. It is not exactly correct to say that the 1872 Act has undergone "changes". The fact of the matter is, the 1872 is the same today, as it was in 1872. These other acts have never changed the 1872 Act directly and were often written to deal with issues not previously covered. In many cases, they appear to invalidate certain provisions of the 1872 Act, but time after time, courts have held that this is not actually the case.

Good luck to those who work on this article. It is an important thing.

And why no article on the 1866 Mining Act, the one that started it all?

~ Regards,

Kerby Jackson (author, miner & mining historian) www.kerbyjackson.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.186.1.175 (talk) 05:56, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

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Adding new Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Acts
Hello. I've noticed the article has only listed up to the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009. There has since then been the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2014, the Hardrock Mining Reform and Reclamation Act of 2015, Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2015, and Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2017. All of them died in their representative congress' however, I would like to update them underneath the Current Controversies headline. All of the references I've currently collected have been from congress.gov and a few news articles. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fallnrcarc (talk • contribs) 03:27, 24 August 2020 (UTC)