HB 46: "An Act relating to mining; and providing for an effective date."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 46 01 "An Act relating to mining; and providing for an effective date." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 38.05.185(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) The acquisition and continuance of rights in and to deposits on state land 05 of minerals, which on January 3, 1959, were subject to location under the mining laws 06 of the United States, shall be governed by AS 38.05.185 - 38.05.275. Nothing in 07 AS 38.05.185 - 38.05.275 affects the law pertaining to the acquisition of rights to 08 mineral deposits owned by any other person or government. The director, with the 09 approval of the commissioner, shall determine that land from which mineral deposits 10 may be mined only under lease, and, subject to the limitations of AS 38.05.300, that 11 land that shall be closed to location under AS 38.05.185 - 38.05.275 [MINING]. 12 State land may not be closed to [MINING OR MINERAL] location under 13 AS 38.05.185 - 38.05.275 except as provided in AS 38.05.300 and unless the 14 commissioner makes a finding that mining would be incompatible with significant
01 surface uses on the state land. State land may not be restricted to mining under lease 02 unless the commissioner determines that potential use conflicts on the state land 03 require that mining be allowed only under written leases issued under AS 38.05.205 04 or the commissioner has determined that the land was mineral in character at the time 05 of state selection. The determinations required under this subsection shall be made in 06 compliance with land classification orders and land use plans developed under 07 AS 38.05.300. 08 * Sec. 2. AS 38.05.190(a) is amended to read: 09 (a) The right to acquire exploration and mining rights under AS 38.05.185 - 10 38.05.275 may be acquired or held only by 11 (1) citizens of the United States at least 18 years of age; 12 (2) legal guardians or trustees of citizens of the United States under 18 13 years of age on behalf of the citizens; 14 (3) persons at least 18 years of age who have declared their intention 15 to become citizens of the United States; 16 (4) [ALIENS AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE IF THE LAWS OF 17 THEIR COUNTRY GRANT LIKE PRIVILEGES TO CITIZENS OF THE UNITED 18 STATES; 19 (5)] corporations organized under the laws of the United States or of 20 any state or territory of the United States and qualified to do business in this state [, 21 EXCEPT THAT IF MORE THAN 50 PERCENT OF THE STOCK OF A 22 CORPORATION IS OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY ALIENS WHO ARE NOT 23 QUALIFIED, THE CORPORATION IS NOT QUALIFIED TO ACQUIRE OR HOLD 24 THE RIGHTS]; 25 (5) [(6)] associations of persons described in (1) - (4) [(1) - (5)] of this 26 subsection. 27 * Sec. 3. AS 38.05.211(d) is repealed and reenacted to read: 28 (d) The rental amount established under this section shall be revised by the 29 commissioner as provided in this section based on changes in the Consumer Price 30 Index for all urban consumers, Anchorage Metropolitan Area (Semi-Annual Average) 31 compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, as
01 revised, rebased, or replaced by that bureau. The reference base index is the index for 02 January - June 1989, as revised or rebased by that bureau. The rental amount shall be 03 revised by the commissioner if the change between the index for the first six months 04 of the current year and the most recent index used to revise the rental, or the reference 05 base index if the rental amount has never been revised, equals or exceeds $5. The 06 rental amount shall be increased or decreased, as appropriate, by an amount equal to 07 the change in the index described in this subsection rounded to the nearest whole $5 08 unit. The commissioner shall calculate the change in the index annually and, if the 09 rental amount must be revised, shall adopt a regulation establishing the revised rental 10 amount. A revised rental amount applies to a rental payment if the regulation 11 establishing the revised rental amount took effect at least 90 days before the date the 12 rental payment is due. 13 * Sec. 4. AS 38.05.255 is amended to read: 14 Sec. 38.05.255. Surface use of land or water. Surface uses of land or water 15 included within mining properties by owners of those properties shall be limited to 16 those necessary for the prospecting for, extraction of, or basic processing of mineral 17 deposits and shall be subject to reasonable concurrent uses. Leases [PERMITS] for 18 millsites and tailings disposal may be issued [GRANTED] by the director. The leases 19 [PERMITS] shall be conditioned upon payment of a reasonable annual rent 20 [CHARGE] for the lease [USE] and restriction to [CONTINUANCE OF] the limited 21 use. Timber from land open to mining without lease, except timberland, may be used 22 by a mining claimant or prospecting site locator for the mining or development of the 23 location or adjacent claims under common ownership. On other land, timber may be 24 acquired as provided in this chapter. Use of water shall be made in accordance with 25 AS 46.15. 26 * Sec. 5. AS 38.05.255 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 27 (b) A lease issued under this section is exempt from the provisions of 28 AS 38.05.075 - 38.05.080. The commissioner, by regulation, shall establish 29 appropriate leasing procedures and annual rent amounts for leases under this section. 30 * Sec. 6. AS 38.05.265 is amended to read: 31 Sec. 38.05.265. Abandonment. Failure to properly record a certificate of
01 location or a statement of annual labor, [FILE WITH THE DIRECTOR WITHIN THE 02 TIME PRESCRIBED A LEASE APPLICATION,] pay any required annual rental, pay 03 any required production royalty, or keep location boundaries clearly marked as 04 required by AS 38.05.185 - 38.05.200, 38.05.207 - 38.05.245, 38.05.252 - 38.05.275, 05 [AS 38.05.185 - 38.05.275] and by regulations adopted under these sections constitutes 06 abandonment of all rights acquired under the mining claim, leasehold location, 07 [LEASE,] or site involved, and the claim, location, [LEASE,] or site is subject to 08 relocation by others. A locator or claimant of an abandoned location or a successor 09 in interest may not relocate the location until one year after abandonment. A statement 10 of annual labor that does not accurately set out the essential facts is void and of no 11 effect. If an annual rental or a royalty payment is deficient but is otherwise timely 12 paid, abandonment does not result if full payment is made within 13 (1) the period prescribed by a deficiency notice from the commissioner; 14 or 15 (2) 30 days after a final judgment establishing the amount due if the 16 deficiency amount due was contested. 17 * Sec. 7. AS 38.05.035(e)(6)(F), 38.05.207, and 38.05.945(g) are repealed. 18 * Sec. 8. TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS: REGULATIONS. Notwithstanding sec. 9 of 19 this Act, the Department of Natural Resources may proceed to adopt regulations necessary to 20 implement the changes made by this Act. The regulations take effect under AS 44.62 21 (Administrative Procedure Act), but not before July 1, 1997. 22 * Sec. 9. Except for sec. 8 of this Act, this Act takes effect July 1, 1997. 23 * Sec. 10. Section 8 of this Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).