Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 38, September 20, 2024
A.
Qualifications of applicant. Any citizen of the United States, partnership or
association of citizens, or a corporation organized under the laws of the
United States or any state or territory thereof, and authorized to transact
business in the state, may apply to the Commissioner for a mineral exploration
permit on state land.
B. Area
covered by permit application. Separate application shall be made for each
mineral exploration permit. A permit may include one or more of the rectangular
subdivisions of 20 acres, more or less, or lots of state land in any one
section of the public land surveys.
C. Information to be furnished by the
applicant
1. The application for permit shall
be in such form as the Commissioner may prescribe, shall be in writing, signed
by the applicant or an authorized agent or attorney for the applicant, and
shall contain the following information:
a.
Name and address of applicant.
b.
Statement whether applicant is an individual, partnership or
corporation.
c. Statement of
citizenship.
d. If a corporation:
i. Name.
ii. State of incorporation.
iii. Arizona business address.
iv. Affirmation of authorization to do
business in Arizona.
e.
Age and marital status.
f.
Description according to the public land survey of the land for which
application is being made.
g.
Location of mineral locations, claims or leases on the land under
application.
h. Location of
abandoned underground or other major workings on the land under
application.
i. Location of
proposed roadways within the area under application and of proposed of ingress
and egress over other state land concerned.
j. Location of improvements or crops on land
under application, or on land over which proposed routes of ingress and egress
pass. (Information required in (g), (h), and (i) above, shall be conveyed by
means of a reasonably accurate plat, or drawing, accompanying the application
form.)
2. This rule
shall not be taken or construed to limit or restrict the authority of the
Commissioner to require the furnishing by the applicant of such additional
information as may appear to him to be necessary or desirable, either generally
or specifically, for the proper administration of the law governing prospecting
permits.
D. Filing
application for permit; fee; time of filing
1.
Each application filed with the Department shall be accompanied by payment to
the Department of a failing fee of $15.00.
2. Each application so filed that meets the
requirements of (A), (B), and (C)(1) above shall be stamped by the Department
with the time and date it is filed with the Department and, upon being so
stamped, shall have a priority over any other application for a permit
involving the same state land which may be filed with the Department subsequent
to such time and date.
a. Each application
filed by U.S. Mail shall be considered to have been filed in the Department at
the time and date it is delivered to the mail room of the Department, provided
the requirements of (A), (B), and (C)(1) have been met.
b. When two or more applications are
delivered to the mail room of the Department in the same mail, the applications
shall be deemed to have been simultaneously filed.
3. Each application not meeting the
requirements of (A), (B), and (C)(1) above shall be rejected by the
Department.
E.
Withdrawal from mineral location of lands under application. The open state
land involved in a filed and time-stamped application for permit shall be
deemed withdrawn from mineral location at the time the application is stamped
and shall remain so withdrawn so long as the application is pending.
F. Adjudication of rights; notice to
applicant; issue of permit
1. Not less than 30
days, nor more than 45 days from the filing of the application with the
Department, provided there is no prior application for a mineral exploration
permit involving the same state land then pending before the Department, or if
such prior application is then pending but is subsequently cancelled, not more
than 15 days after it is cancelled, the Department shall mail to the applicant,
by registered or certified mail at the address shown on the application, a
written notice designating:
a. The state land
described in the application which, at the time the application was filed with
the Department, was open to entry and location as a mineral claim or claims
upon discovery of a valuable mineral deposit thereon,
b. The amount of rental required to be paid
for the mineral exploration permit, and
c. Whether a bond will be required as a
condition to issuance of such permit.
2. If, within 15 days after the mailing of
such notice, the applicant shall pay to the Department as rental for the
permit, the amount of $2.00 per acre for each acre of state land designated in
the notice and shall file with the Department the bond, if any, required as a
condition to issuance, the Commissioner shall issue to the applicant a mineral
exploration permit for the state land designated in the notice.
G. Default by applicant;
cancellation of application. Upon failure of the applicant for a mineral
exploration permit to make the payment or furnish the required bond within the
period of 15 days, as provided in (F) above, the application shall be deemed
cancelled, of no further effect and the filing fee forfeited.
H. Simultaneous filings; conflicts;
adjudication of priority
1. In the event it is
determined by the Department that two or more applications for a mineral
exploration permit have been filed at the same time, as indicated by the
time-stamp, and that the applications include one or more rectangular
subdivisions of 20 acres, more or less, or lots of state land which are
identical, a conflict of priority shall exist as to such identical
land.
2. Resolution of conflicts of
priority shall be by drawing held by the Department not less than ten, nor more
than 20 days after the simultaneous filing. Ample notice by registered mail of
conflict and drawing shall be given each applicant involved. The drawing shall
be conducted in such a manner as to resolve the order of priority of filing
between or among the simultaneously filed applications, and suitable notice of
the determined order of priority shall be given to each such applicant by the
Department.
I. Right of
applicant to use of land. The filing of an application for a mineral
exploration permit shall not confer upon the applicant any greater right to use
of the land under application than that held before such filing.
