New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE
Chapter 2 - STATE TRUST LANDS PART 24 CULTURAL PROPERTIES PROTECTION
Part 2 - LEASING FOR GENERAL MINING
Section 19.2.2.23 - MINERAL LEASE
Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
A. Unless the commissioner declares the sale void or withholds the lands from mining, the commissioner and the highest bidder shall enter into a mineral lease. The commissioner shall prepare a proposed mineral lease in accordance with this rule, in triplicate, and mail all three originals to the highest bidder. If the highest bidder agrees to all terms and conditions of the proposed mineral lease, the highest bidder shall sign the originals and return all three to the commissioner, together with a certified check or money order covering the offered bonus and first-year's rent. The commissioner shall thereafter sign the mineral lease and return one fully executed original to the highest bidder.
B. Mineral leases are to be made upon forms prescribed and furnished by the commissioner and shall, in addition to the terms set out in this rule, contain such terms as the commissioner deems necessary.
C. Leases issued under 19.2.2 NMAC shall cover a specified area conforming to a legal subdivision or subdivisions. The area covered shall not exceed sixteen subdivisions, being six hundred and forty acres more or less, all of which shall be contiguous. Provided, however, that leases issued in exchange for existing permits as provided by Section 19-8-17 NMSA 1978 need not be contiguous if all legal subdivisions are located within the same township and range.
D. The commissioner will not issue a mineral lease in the name of more than two persons. The commissioner will recognize only those persons named on the lease, or an approved assignment of a lease, as the lessee of record. In the case of a trust, the trust must be express and in writing, and a copy of the declaration of trust must be filed with the commissioner. If more than two trustees are named, the lease shall be granted in the names of no more than two trustees acting as attorneys-in-fact for all trustees.
