43 Cfr 3000

43 CFR Part 3000 (up to date as of 11/30/2023)
Minerals Management: General

43 CFR Part 3000 (Nov. 30, 2023)

This content is from the eCFR and is authoritative but unofficial.

Title 43 —Public Lands: Interior
Subtitle B —Regulations Relating to Public Lands
Chapter II —Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior
Subchapter C —Minerals Management (3000)
Part 3000 Minerals Management: General
Subpart 3000
General
§ 3000.0-5 Definitions.
§ 3000.1
Nondiscrimination.
§ 3000.2
False statements.
§ 3000.3
Unlawful interests.
§ 3000.4
Appeals.
§ 3000.5
Limitations on time to institute suit to contest a decision of the Secretary.
§ 3000.6
Filing of documents.
§ 3000.7
Multiple development.
§ 3000.8
Management of Federal minerals from reserved mineral estates.
§ 3000.9
Enforcement.
§ 3000.10 What do I need to know about fees in general?
§ 3000.11 When and how does BLM charge me processing fees on a case-by-case basis?
§ 3000.12 What is the fee schedule for fixed fees?

PART 3000—MINERALS MANAGEMENT: GENERAL
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.; 30 U.S.C. 181 et seq., 301–306, 351–359, and 601 et seq.; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 40
U.S.C. 471 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 6508; 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.; and Pub. L. 97–35, 95 Stat. 357.

Source: 48 FR 33659, July 22, 1983, unless otherwise noted.

Subpart 3000—General
§ 3000.0-5 Definitions.
As used in Groups 3000 and 3100 of this title, the term:
(a) Gas means any fluid, either combustible or noncombustible, which is produced in a natural state from the
earth and which maintains a gaseous or rarefied state at ordinary temperatures and pressure conditions.
(b) Oil means all nongaseous hydrocarbon substances other than those substances leasable as coal, oil
shale or gilsonite (including all vein-type solid hydrocarbons).
(c) Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
43 CFR 3000.0-5(c) (enhanced display)

page 1 of 7

43 CFR Part 3000 (up to date as of 11/30/2023)
Minerals Management: General

43 CFR 3000.0-5(d)

(d) Director means the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
(e) Authorized officer means any employee of the Bureau of Land Management authorized to perform the
duties described in Group 3000 and 3100.
(f) Proper BLM office means the Bureau of Land Management office having jurisdiction over the lands subject
to the regulations in Groups 3000 and 3100, except that all oil and gas lease offers, and assignments or
transfers for lands in Alaska shall be filed in the Alaska State Office, Anchorage, Alaska.
(See § 1821–2–1 of this title for office location and area of jurisdiction of Bureau of Land Management
offices.)
(g) Public domain lands means lands, including mineral estates, which never left the ownership of the United
States, lands which were obtained by the United States in exchange for public domain lands, lands which
have reverted to the ownership of the United States through the operation of the public land laws and
other lands specifically identified by the Congress as part of the public domain.
(h) Acquired lands means lands which the United States obtained by deed through purchase or gift, or
through condemnation proceedings, including lands previously disposed of under the public land laws
including the mining laws.
(i)

Anniversary date means the same day and month in succeeding years as that on which the lease became
effective.

(j)

Act means the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended and supplemented (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.).

(k) Party in interest means a party who is or will be vested with any interest under the lease as defined in
paragraph (l) of this section. No one is a sole party in interest with respect to an application, offer,
competitive bid or lease in which any other party has an interest;
(l)

Interest means ownership in a lease or prospective lease of all or a portion of the record title, working
interest, operating rights, overriding royalty, payments out of production, carried interests, net profit share
or similar instrument for participation in the benefit derived from a lease. An interest may be created by
direct or indirect ownership, including options. Interest does not mean stock ownership, stockholding or
stock control in an application, offer, competitive bid or lease, except for purposes of acreage limitations
in § 3101.2 of this title and qualifications of lessees in subpart 3102 of this title.

(m) Surface managing agency means any Federal agency outside of the Department of the Interior with
jurisdiction over the surface overlying federally-owned minerals.
(n) Service means the Minerals Management Service.
(o) Bureau means the Bureau of Land Management.
[48 FR 33659, July 22, 1983, as amended at 49 FR 2113, Jan. 18, 1984; 53 FR 17351, May 16, 1988; 53 FR 22835, June 17, 1988]

§ 3000.1 Nondiscrimination.
Any person acquiring a lease under this chapter shall comply fully with the equal opportunity provisions of Executive
Order 11246 of September 24, 1965, as amended, and the rules, regulations and relevant orders of the Secretary of
Labor (41 CFR part 60 and 43 CFR part 17).

43 CFR 3000.1 (enhanced display)

page 2 of 7

43 CFR Part 3000 (up to date as of 11/30/2023)
Minerals Management: General

43 CFR 3000.2

§ 3000.2 False statements.
Under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 1001, it is a crime punishable by 5 years imprisonment or a fine of up to $10,000,
or both, for any person knowingly and willfully to submit or cause to be submitted to any agency of the United
States any false or fraudulent statement(s) as to any matter within the agency's jurisdiction.

§ 3000.3 Unlawful interests.
No member of, or delegate to, Congress, or Resident Commissioner, and no employee of the Department of the
Interior, except as provided in 43 CFR part 20, shall be entitled to acquire or hold any Federal lease, or interest
therein. (Officer, agent or employee of the Department—see 43 CFR part 20; Member of Congress—see R.S. 3741; 41
U.S.C. 22; 18 U.S.C. 431–433.)

§ 3000.4 Appeals.
Except as provided in §§ 3101.7–3(b), 3120.1–3, 3165.4, and 3427.2 of this title, any party adversely affected by a
decision of the authorized officer made pursuant to the provisions of Group 3000 or Group 3100 of this title shall
have a right of appeal pursuant to part 4 of this title.
[53 FR 22835, June 17, 1988]

§ 3000.5 Limitations on time to institute suit to contest a decision of the Secretary.
No action contesting a decision of the Secretary involving any oil or gas lease, offer or application shall be
maintained unless such action is commenced or taken within 90 days after the final decision of the Secretary
relating to such matter.

§ 3000.6 Filing of documents.
All necessary documents shall be filed in the proper BLM office. A document shall be considered filed when it is
received in the proper BLM office during regular business hours (see § 1821.2 of this title).

§ 3000.7 Multiple development.
The granting of a permit or lease for the prospecting, development or production of deposits of any one mineral
shall not preclude the issuance of other permits or leases for the same lands for deposits of other minerals with
suitable stipulations for simultaneous operation, nor the allowance of applicable entries, locations or selections of
leased lands with a reservation of the mineral deposits to the United States.

§ 3000.8 Management of Federal minerals from reserved mineral estates.
Where nonmineral public land disposal statutes provide that in conveyances of title all or certain minerals shall be
reserved to the United States together with the right to prospect for, mine and remove the minerals under applicable
law and regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the lease or sale, and administration and management of the
use of such minerals shall be accomplished under the regulations of Groups 3000 and 3100 of this title. Such
mineral estates include, but are not limited to, those that have been or will be reserved under the authorities of the
Small Tract Act of June 1, 1938, as amended (43 U.S.C. 682(b)) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
[53 FR 17351, May 16, 1988]
43 CFR 3000.8 (enhanced display)

page 3 of 7

43 CFR Part 3000 (up to date as of 11/30/2023)
Minerals Management: General

43 CFR 3000.9

§ 3000.9 Enforcement.
Provisions of section 41 of the Act shall be enforced by the United States Department of Justice.
[53 FR 22835, June 17, 1988]

§ 3000.10 What do I need to know about fees in general?
(a) Setting fees. Fees may be statutorily set fees, relatively nominal filing fees, or processing fees intended to
reimburse BLM for its reasonable processing costs. For processing fees, BLM takes into account the
factors in Section 304 (b) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) (43 U.S.C.
1734(b)) before deciding a fee. BLM considers the factors for each type of document when the
processing fee is a fixed fee and for each individual document when the fee is decided on a case-by-case
basis, as explained in § 3000.11.
(b) Conditions for filing. BLM will not accept a document that you submit without the proper filing or
processing fee amounts except for documents where BLM sets the fee on a case-by-case basis. Fees are
not refundable except as provided for case-by-case fees in § 3000.11. BLM will keep your fixed filing or
processing fee as a service charge even if we do not approve your application or you withdraw it
completely or partially.
(c) Periodic adjustment. We will periodically adjust fees established in this subchapter according to change in
the Implicit Price Deflator for Gross Domestic Product, which is published quarterly by the U.S.
Department of Commerce. Because the fee recalculations are simply based on a mathematical formula,
we will change the fees in final rules without opportunity for notice and comment.
(d) Timing of fee applicability.
(1) For a document BLM receives before November 7, 2005, we will not charge a fixed fee or a case-bycase fee under this subchapter for processing that document, except for fees applicable under thenexisting regulations.
(2) For a document BLM receives on or after November 7, 2005, you must include required fixed fees
with documents you file, as provided in § 3000.12(a) of this chapter, and you are subject to case-bycase processing fees as provided in § 3000.11 of this chapter and under other provisions of this
chapter.
[70 FR 58872, Oct. 7, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 50886, Sept. 5, 2007]

§ 3000.11 When and how does BLM charge me processing fees on a case-by-case basis?
(a) Fees in this subchapter are designated either as case-by-case fees or as fixed fees. The fixed fees are
established in this subchapter for specified types of documents. However, if BLM decides at any time that
a particular document designated for a fixed fee will have a unique processing cost, such as the
preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement, we may set the fee under the case-by-case
procedures in this section.
(b) For case-by-case fees, BLM measures the ongoing processing cost for each individual document and
considers the factors in Section 304(b) of FLPMA on a case-by-case basis according to the following
procedures:

43 CFR 3000.11(b) (enhanced display)

page 4 of 7

43 CFR Part 3000 (up to date as of 11/30/2023)
Minerals Management: General

43 CFR 3000.11(b)(1)

(1) You may ask BLM's approval to do all or part of any study or other activity according to standards
BLM specifies, thereby reducing BLM's costs for processing your document.
(2) Before performing any case processing, we will give you a written estimate of the proposed fee for
reasonable processing costs after we consider the FLPMA Section 304(b) factors.
(3) You may comment on the proposed fee.
(4) We will then give you the final estimate of the processing fee amount after considering your
comments and any BLM-approved work you will do.
(i)

If we encounter higher or lower processing costs than anticipated, we will re-estimate our
reasonable processing costs following the procedure in paragraphs (b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(3) and
(b)(4) of this section, but we will not stop ongoing processing unless you do not pay in
accordance with paragraph (b)(5) of this section.

(ii) If the fee you would pay under this paragraph (b)(4) is less than BLM's actual costs as a result
of consideration of the FLPMA Section 304(b) factors, and we are not able to process your
document promptly because of the unavailability of funding or other resources, you will have
the option to pay BLM's actual costs to process your document. This will enable BLM to
process your document sooner.
(iii) Once processing is complete, we will refund to you any money that we did not spend on
processing costs.
(5)
(i)

We will periodically estimate what our reasonable processing costs will be for a specific period
and will bill you for that period. Payment is due to BLM 30 days after you receive your bill. BLM
will stop processing your document if you do not pay the bill by the date payment is due.

(ii) If a periodic payment turns out to be more or less than BLM's reasonable processing costs for
the period, we will adjust the next billing accordingly or make a refund. Do not deduct any
amount from a payment without our prior written approval.
(6) You must pay the entire fee before we will issue the final document.
(7) You may appeal BLM's estimated processing costs in accordance with the regulations in part 4,
subpart E, of this title. You may also appeal any determination BLM makes under paragraph (a) of
this section that a document designated for a fixed fee will be processed as a case-by-case fee. We
will not process the document further until the appeal is resolved, in accordance with paragraph
(b)(5)(i) of this section, unless you pay the fee under protest while the appeal is pending. If the
appeal results in a decision changing the proposed fee, we will adjust the fee in accordance with
paragraph (b)(5)(ii) of this section.
[70 FR 58872, Oct. 7, 2005]

§ 3000.12 What is the fee schedule for fixed fees?
(a) The table in this section shows the fixed fees that must be paid to the BLM for the services listed for
Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. These fees are nonrefundable and must be included with documents filed under
this chapter. Fees will be adjusted annually according to the change in the Implicit Price Deflator for Gross
Domestic Product (IPD–GDP) and the change in the Consumer Price Index for all goods and all urban
43 CFR 3000.12(a) (enhanced display)

page 5 of 7

43 CFR Part 3000 (up to date as of 11/30/2023)
Minerals Management: General

43 CFR 3000.12(a)

consumers (CPI–U) by way of publication of a final rule in the FEDERAL REGISTER and will subsequently be
posted on the BLM website (https://www.blm.gov) before October 1 each year. Revised fees are effective
each year on October 1.

Table 1 to Paragraph (a)—FY 2024 Processing and Filing Fee Table
Document/action

FY 2024 fee

Oil & Gas (parts 3100, 3110, 3120, 3130, 3150):
Competitive lease application

$195.

Assignment and transfer of record title or operating rights

115.

Overriding royalty transfer, payment out of production

15.

Name change, corporate merger or transfer to heir/devisee

265.

Lease consolidation

560.

Lease renewal or exchange

505.

Lease reinstatement, Class I

100.

Leasing under right-of-way

505.

Geophysical exploration permit application—Alaska

30.

Renewal of exploration permit—Alaska

30.

Geothermal (part 3200):
Noncompetitive lease application

505.

Competitive lease application

195.

Assignment and transfer of record title or operating rights

115.

Name change, corporate merger or transfer to heir/devisee

265.

Lease consolidation

560.

Lease reinstatement

100.

Nomination of lands

140.

plus per acre nomination fee

0.14.

Site license application

75.

Assignment or transfer of site license

75.

Coal (parts 3400, 3470):
License to mine application

15.

Exploration license application

415.

Lease or lease interest transfer

85.

Leasing of Solid Minerals Other Than Coal and Oil Shale (parts 3500, 3580):
Applications other than those listed below

45.

Prospecting permit application amendment

85.

Extension of prospecting permit

135.

Lease modification or fringe acreage lease

40.

Lease renewal

650.

Assignment, sublease, or transfer of operating rights

40.

Transfer of overriding royalty

40.

Use permit

40.

43 CFR 3000.12(a) (enhanced display)

page 6 of 7

43 CFR Part 3000 (up to date as of 11/30/2023)
Minerals Management: General

43 CFR 3000.12(b)

Document/action

FY 2024 fee

Shasta and Trinity hardrock mineral lease

40.

Renewal of existing sand and gravel lease in Nevada

40.

Public Law 359; Mining in Powersite Withdrawals: General (part 3730):
Notice of protest of placer mining operations

15.

Mining Law Administration (parts 3800, 3810, 3830, 3860, 3870):
Application to open lands to location

15.

Notice of location *

25.

Amendment of location

15.

Transfer of mining claim/site

15.

Recording an annual FLPMA filing

15.

Deferment of assessment work

135.

Recording a notice of intent to locate mining claims on Stockraising
Homestead Act lands

40.

Mineral patent adjudication

3,815 (more than 10
claims).
1,905 (10 or fewer
claims).

Adverse claim

135.

Protest

85.

Oil Shale Management (parts 3900, 3910, 3930):
Exploration license application

400.

Application for assignment or sublease of record title or overriding royalty

80.

Onshore Oil and Gas Operations and Production (parts 3160, 3170):
Application for Permit to Drill

12,155.

* To record a mining claim or site location, this processing fee along with the initial maintenance
fee and the one-time location fee required by statute (43 CFR part 3833) must be paid.
(b) The amount of a fixed fee is not subject to appeal to the Interior Board of Land Appeals pursuant to part 4,
subpart E, of this title.
[70 FR 58873, Oct. 7, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 24400, May 2, 2007; 72 FR 50886, Sept. 5, 2007, 73 FR 54720, Sept. 23, 2008; 74
FR 7193, Feb. 13, 2009; 74 FR 49334, Sept. 28, 2009; 75 FR 55682, Sept. 14, 2010; 76 FR 59062, Sept. 23, 2011; 77 FR 55424,
Sept. 10, 2012; 78 FR 49949, Aug. 16, 2013; 79 FR 57480, Sept. 25, 2014; 80 FR 58629, Sept. 30, 2015; 81 FR 65561, Sept. 23,
2016; 83 FR 48960, Sept. 28, 2018; 84 FR 59733, Nov. 6, 2019; 85 FR 64060, Oct. 9, 2020; 86 FR 56440, Oct. 4, 2021; 87 FR 57641,
Sept. 21, 2022; 88 FR 66699, Sept. 28, 2023]

43 CFR 3000.12(b) (enhanced display)

page 7 of 7