On its face, the General Mining Law
(30 U.S.C. 29, 30, and 39) authorizes a holder of an unpatented
claim for hardrock minerals to apply for fee title (patent) to the
federal land (as well as minerals) embraced in the claim. Since
1994, a rider on the annual appropriation bill for the Department
of the Interior has prevented the BLM from processing mineral
patent applications unless the applications were grandfathered
under the initial legislation. While grandfathered applications are
rare at present, the approval to collect the information continues
to be necessary because of the possibility that the moratorium will
be lifted.
PL:
Pub.L. 111 - 88 408 Name of Law: Appropriations Act for the
Department of the Interior and Related Agencies
US Code: 30
USC 22-54 Name of Law: General Mining Law
The only adjustments are for
changes in the fixed document-processing fees, which were updated
for FY2013, as explained under Item Number 13. Program changes: We
have added the three following information collection activities
that were erroneously omitted from the previous request: Lode
Mining Claim Patent Application / 10 or Fewer Claims; Placer
Mining Claim Patent Application / 10 or Fewer Claims; and
Millsite Patent Application / 10 or Fewer Millsites. These
activities needed to be added in order to disclose that the BLM
charges lower processing fees for these types of applications than
for those which contain more than 10 fewer claims or millsites.
These program changes also result in the addition, for each type of
application, of: An estimated $200 in publishing cost; and An
estimated $26,500 case-by-case fee for a validity examination.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.