Mining lease

“ By the terms of that lease the defendant acquired the right for the term of fifty years and three months from the 1st day of May, 1898, to explore for, mine out, and remove the merchantable shipping iron ore which might be found upon the lands described in the lease upon the payment of a royalty of 30 cents for each ton mined. The expression 'merchantable ore' is defined as including 'all ores which grade 55 per cent. ”

“ Every protection area must be worked continuously on every ordinary working day by at least half the number of miners whose names appeared on the notice as the holders of the area. Ordinary alluvial claims had an area for one man of 50 feet by 50 feet, and ordinary quartz claims, for each miner, of 75 feet along the line of reef, with a width of 400 feet. The labour conditions for gold mining leases were not altered, viz., one man for every three acres or part of three acres; provided that no lease was worked by less than two men. ”

“ The lessee takes from the property the ore mined, paying for the privilege so much per ton for each ton removed. He has this right or privilege under the form of lease here involved so long as he sees fit to hold the same without exercising the privilege of cancellation therein contained. ”

“ The second step in this arrangement was for the landowner lessors of the lease just described to lease simultaneously to a contractor selected by Seaboard the mining equipment on the demised premises consisting of buildings, tipples, machinery and other appurtenances necessary or convenient for extracting the coal. This equipment was sufficient for reasonably economical mining. It was further provided in the coal lease that the term and the renewal privileges of the equipment lease should be coextensive with those of the coal lease. ”

“ Mineral lands were those known, or supposed, to contain minerals, and might be sold, on application, in lots of not less than 80 acres each at £3 an acre, payable in three years, and in three instalments. Mining Licenses might be granted for one year subject to renewal, at the rate of two shillings the first year, and four shillings the second year for each acre. The holder of a mining license, or other holder on approved application, might obtain a mining lease for any period, not exceeding 10 years, at an annual rent of 8 shillings an acre. ”

“ The holder of an exclusive licence to prospect who has fulfilled all the conditions attached thereto shall be entitled to the grant of a mining lease in respect of any portion of the area covered by such licence subject to the conditions relating to the grant of such leases.
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Applicant must show sufficient working capital.
14. The Governor may require an applicant for a mining lease to show to his satisfaction that he possesses or commands sufficient working capital to ensure the proper development and working of the mine ”

“ In the Golden West one never knows when luck may come to one.
It was great fun and hard work pegging out that lease. To enable one to do so, in the first place one must be provided with a miner’s right, which costs ten shillings per year; this document enables the holder to take up any ground he or she desires (not previously taken) in mining country; after the lease has been approved by the Warden of the Goldfields, one may start and dig or put men on to dig, and the gold found would be private property ”

“ Costs.—Will compare favourably with other mines in the district, i.e. with ground of moderate value the costs would amount to between £10 and £15 per ton of black tin, and present transport charges £27 10s. per ton inclusive.
“Final tests of the flats are capable of being cheaply and quickly carried out by means of trial pits; boring is unnecessary. The probability is [152] that the workable ground will prove to be of too large an area to be included in one mining lease, and that it will be necessary to split the present area into two or more properties.” ”

“ By the regulations issued on March 31, 1882, it is enacted that any parcel of new or unworked land, taken possession of with a view of obtaining a lease, shall be efficiently and continuously worked from the date of possession by not less than two men to four acres or less, and an additional man to every other two acres, under pain of forfeiture of the title to the land. The holder of a miner’s right may apply for authority to search for gold, and the holder of a mineral licence may apply for authority to search for minerals on land aforesaid. ”

“ The contract was a 'lease,' the receipts were 'royalties,' and royalties, being rentals, are inherently income and have been commonly so considered. All these things seem to have affected the conclusion of the court, but, after all the dominating thought appears to be that, when land is devoted to mining it is put to only one of those productive uses of which it is capable, and that the product of the use should be called income. The land itself is the chief thing. After the mining is finished the land remains suitable for other uses ”

“ In some quarters there is a demand that all coal lands be leased rather than sold. The Federal government has not yet yielded to this demand, but Colorado and Wyoming now lease rather than sell their coal lands. Under the lease system in these states, the state retains ownership, but allows private individuals a definite commission per ton of coal mined. The lease system is also advocated in the case of lands containing iron, oil, and gas deposits, on the grounds that it safeguards the interests of the public and at the same time allows the mining corporations a fair profit. ”

“ Use of land and technical infrastructure facilities in mineral activities 1. Organizations and individuals engaged in mineral activities shall rent land according to the land law, unless they do not use the land surface layer or their mineral activities do not affect the use of land surface of organizations and individuals that are lawfully using such land. A land lease contract shall terminate upon the expiration of the relevant mineral exploration license or mineral mining licenses and shall be correspondingly adjusted upon the return of part of the mineral exploration or mining area. ”

“ A lease may be granted of not more than 100 acres in one lot for such term as the Governor may determine and at a nominal rent, to any holder of a miners’ right who may be desirous to prospect for gold in any place where sinking through basalt will be necessary, and to which no part of any gold workings shall be nearer than five miles, one mile being allowed to be marked off for the prospecting, and the lease of 100 acres to be granted only in case of remunerative gold being found. ”

“ Leases of tin areas, which are granted for a term up to twenty-one years, with the option to renew for a further twenty-one years, are three in number, viz., lode mining leases, which may be obtained up to a maximum of thirty claims of 80,000 square feet per claim, at the rental of £4 per claim per annum; alluvial mining leases, not exceeding 800 acres in area, with a minimum width throughout of 400 yards, at a rate of 5s. per acre per annum; and stream mining leases, which shall be confined to the bed of a stream, not exceeding one mile in length, at a rental of £1 per 100 yards per annum. ”

“ In the whole colony, 3,919 miners' rights were issued, and 222 mining leases were approved. Such large numbers of leases were forfeited that only fifteen more were held in 1893 than in 1892. In January, 1893, the Government offered a bonus to any person or company who would sink a shaft below the depth of 100 feet in any proclaimed field: £2 10s. per foot for a shaft below 100 feet to 200 feet; and £5 per foot below 200 feet to 300 feet. During the year the sum of £1,734 was paid to eleven claimants—six at Yilgarn, one at Coolgardie (Bayley's, 180 feet) , and four on the Murchison field. ”

“ To make these mines produce the greatest possible quantity of lead of which they are capable, with the least possible expense, is a consideration of the first political consequence, to which end it is desirable that the reserved mines be disposed of, to individuals, or that the term for which leases are granted be extended from three to fifteen years, which will induce capitalists, who are now deterred by the illiberality of governmental terms, to embark in mining. ”

“ Wooden booths flung signs to the streets bigger than the booths themselves: "Mineral Companies Promoted," "Mining and Smelting," "Mines, Options, Leases,"—there was no end to the variations of the eternal theme of mining. Town lots, switches of flats, and hill ridges were being swapped and sold and leased from the curb-stone; leases were being made from buggies and options were being granted from a horse's back. ”

“ Many good men, however, who have given the subject great consideration, favor a well-guarded system of leasing instead of sale for coal lands. Their contention is that under a leasing system more careful and less wasteful methods of mining will be pursued and that better protection can be thereby secured for the miner, the consumer, and the Government. ”

“ These are peculiarly mining countries, and their experience ought to be most valuable. In all these countries the method for the disposition and opening of coal mines originally owned by the Government is by granting a leasehold, and not by granting an absolute title. The terms of the leases run all the way from twenty to fifty years while the amount of land which may be leased to any individual there is from 320 acres to 2,000 acres. ”

“ What right the Government has to lease out these mines without incurring some obnoxious consequences to the leaseholder, or to other parties concerned.
The sulphur mines that are at the disposal of the Government [202] are those of “Reykjahlid,” “Kráfla-námar” (the mines of the Krafla mountain) , and “Fremri-námar” (the mines farthest from the coast) , but “Theistareykja-námar” (the mines of Theistareykir) have never been Government property, although they apparently are lying in the tract of which the above-mentioned Mr Lock has wished to take lease. ”

“ These deposits are naturally the first to fail in productiveness, but the neighboring hills are formed of a gold-bearing quartz which is being crushed, night and day, by hundreds of powerful machines; and the works still pay ten thousand miners fair day-wages, besides giving the organized companies who employ them satisfactory dividends. Thus mining has been largely robbed of its adventurous character in this neighborhood, and perhaps also of most of its alluring charm, having become a sort of regular industry, like coal-mining, or even brick-making. ”

“ Upon the bed-rock is a deposit, from three to four feet in depth, of gravel and boulders, in which the gold is hidden. This is called by the miners "pay-dirt," and to remove it to the surface and wash it is the end of mining. It is an expensive and laborious process indeed. The water has first to be controlled; and in mines of not too great depth this is done by a drain ditch along the bed-rock, commenced many claims below. In this all the claim-holders are interested, and all contribute their quota of the labor and expense of digging it. ”

“ As it is usual to work leased coal seams, wherever convenient, from openings made on the adjoining lands owned by the company, it is not often that the surface of leased property is interfered with, or if it is, but a comparatively small area of it is taken. The contract of lease usually stipulates that a certain royalty shall be paid to the lessor for each ton of coal mined, and it binds the lessee to mine not less than a certain number of tons each year ”

“ A system of leasing portions of mining claims, called “chloriding” in Calico, was introduced in the early days, and is still in vogue. Many poor men have made moderate fortunes in the district, and in days gone by all did well. The mines are leased on a royalty of one fourth to one sixth of the ore to the claim owner, according to its value, the owner receiving more as the grade is higher. ”

“ All mines are inspected by government officials once a year, and the owners are required to furnish the state with plans of the works and their progress, with a view to insure the safety of the workmen and to ascertain the extent of the property.
Those who rent their mines receive from 10 to 40 per cent. of the sulphur produced. Leases are valid for such period as the contracting parties may stipulate therein. The general limit, however, is nine years. The average lease is 25 per cent., 40 per cent. being paid only when the mines are very favorably situated and the production good. ”

“ In irregular and uncertain deposits this work of development should be kept at all times so far in advance of mining operations as to ensure a regular and uniform output. In some cases, where the barren areas are large, it may be necessary to have two or three years’ supply of ore thus blocked out in advance. A mine, however, may be over-developed, which results in loss of interest on the capital unnecessarily locked up for years by excessive development, and involves additional cost for the maintenance of such openings until they are needed for active mining operations. ”

“ No lease shall be made or renewed for a longer period than fifteen years, nor cover the mineral in more than six hundred and forty acres of land, which shall conform as nearly as possible to the surveys. Lessees shall pay on each oil, coal, asphalt, or other mineral claim at the rate of one hundred dollars per annum in advance, for the first and second years; two hundred dollars per annum, in advance, for the third and fourth years, and five hundred dollars, in advance, for each succeeding year thereafter, as advanced royalty on the mine or claim on which they are made. ”