Some interesting little historical side-lights from the USA.
First, the general situation. Here the mineral originally belonged to the
surface owner, but as somebody mentioned for Scotland (I apologize, I deleted
before getting people's names from the original), anywhere in the USA that there
is likely to be anything valuable, the "mineral rights" have become separated
from the surface ownership and are usually retained by some previous owner. I
had heard about the strange laws in the FoD and the Peak, but did not realize
how similar otherwise the situation remains in the UK to that in the US. One
learns in college here that US mining law is based on Spanish law, but that must
apply mainly in the West and relate to claim law on public land, and the famous
Law of Apex.
Now the little wrinkles
(1) Only a citizen in most states can own a valid mineral claim. Thus when
Anglo bought Inspiration Copper in the 1960s there was quite a bit of legal
wrangling and some open and bitter resentment by the natives. As I recall, the
laws of Arizona had to be changed and also Anglo (actually Minorco) had to make
some accommodations.
(2) Some minerals (the "bedded" minerals) on Federal land are leaseable, not
claimable. These include oil and gas, coal, and phosphate. In the case of
phosphate rock this came about as a result of a huge outcry whipped up when it
was found out that the San Francisco Chemical Co., which was staking claim to
all the best phosphate areas in Idaho, was British-owned. This was in 1907 (I
think), when a vast amount of British capital was still going to build railways
and factories in the US, as well as buy land in, e.g.Texas. There was a lot of
xenophobia, and it was thought that by putting the "bedded minerals" under a
Federal lease system, and by making it illegal under Federal law for a
non-citizen (remember, a Corporation is a person under US Law) to own leases,
then foreigners (usually meaning British) would be locked out. My recollection
is that it was the Idaho phosphate ruckus that led to the whole Federal Mineral
Lease law, but my memory could be faulty as, when I read about all this 30 years
ago, I was living in a trailer in the wilds of Idaho helping to evaluate, under
a strict deadline, the phosphate lands for a State-Federal land switch: doing
this work as a Brit and reading the vicious press attacks on British companies
and related political debates of the early 1900s gave one a funny feeling,
though.
This same xenophobic attitude, interestingly enough, is now being turned against
the Federal Government itself!
I don't know whether the restriction to citizens is still in effect, and if it
is how the oil companies (esp. Shell and BP) get around it.
John Berry
----- Original Message -----
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Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 6:00 PM
Subject: mining-history Digest - 13 Feb 2003 to 14 Feb 2003 (#2003-44)
> There are 16 messages totalling 541 lines in this issue.
>
> Topics of the day:
>
> 4. Ownership (5)
> 5. Not mining but related.
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