Washington : Government Printing Office
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| Public Law 86-283 | Crow Indians. Mineral lands. |
| Public Law 86-283 | 566 Title to minerals. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 6 of the Act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 751), as amended by the Act of May 26, 1926 (44 Stat. 658), is hereby amended to read as follows:
"SEC. 6. (a) Any and all minerals, including oil and gas, on any of the lands to be allotted hereunder are reserved for the benefit of the members of the tribe in common and may, with the consent of the tribal council, be leased for mining purposes in accordance with the provisions of the Act of May 11, 1938 (52 Stat. 347; 25 U. S. C. 396 a-f), under such rules, regulations, and conditions as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe: Provided, That when any land is leased for mining purposes and development thereunder shall indicate the presence of minerals, including oil and gas, in paying quantities, the lessee or lessees shall proceed with all reasonable diligence to complete the development under said lease to extract the mineral, including oil and gas, from the land leased and to bring the product mined or extracted into market as speedily as possible unless the extraction and sale thereof be withheld with the consent of the Crow Tribe of Indians: Provided further, That allotments hereunder may be made of lands classified as valuable chiefly for coal or other minerals which may be patented as herein provided with a reservation, set forth in the patent, of the coal, oil, gas, or other mineral deposits for the benefit of the Crow Tribe: Provided further, That at the expiration of fifty years from the date of approval of this Act, unless otherwise ordered by Congress, the coal, oil, gas, or other mineral deposits upon or beneath the surface of said allotted lands shall become the property of the individual allottee or his heirs or devisees, or their heirs or devisees, subject to any outstanding leases, regardless of any prior conveyance by such allottee, heirs, or devisees of the lands overlying such minerals and regardless of the form of reference in such conveyance, or lack of reference, to the minerals reserved by this Act and made subject to further order of Congress.
"(b) Title to the minerals so granted shall be held by the United States in trust for the Indian owners, except that if upon the expiration of said fifty years, the entire Indian interest in the minerals within any allotment or parcel thereof is granted by this Act to a person or persons who at that time hold an unrestricted title to the lands overlying such minerals, then the Secretary of the Interior shall by fee patent transfer to such person or persons the unrestricted fee simple title to such minerals, which title shall vest in such person or persons as of the date of the patent."
Approved, September 16, 1959.
