1872 Mining Law Term Papers

     Known as the 1872 Mining Law, this law passed in that year was intended to entice would be settlers to the vast open expanse in the western United States.  Essentially, as an article in a newspaper points out , “Miners are allowed to recover minerals without paying royalties to the federal government.”  All the miner needs to do is prove that once they have “a valuable ore discovery, they can patent (or buy) the surface land for as little as $2.50 an acre.”  Through that purchase the mining company is free from government oversight.

     There have been some modifications and moratoriums placed on certain aspects of the law.  For instance the mining process has been placed under the scrutiny of the National Environmental Policy Act.  Additionally, the Bureau of Land Management Agency requiring that mining companies post a bond to be used to reclaim the land once the mining activities has ceased.  But the law itself remains along with the nagging question that it has outlived its usefulness.

However, as noted by an article in a magazine the 1872 Mining Law “reflects the priorities of the era it emerged from.”  Noting that the law permits the divestiture of publicly owned land to private companies, he points out how the law permits vast permanent changes in the landscape of the areas that are mined, leaving mining waste, contaminating rivers, lakes and streams, not to mention groundwater.

When this law was originally written there were a number of factors that are no longer valid including:

• There is no longer the need to entice settlers to move to the western states.
• Modern technology enables miners to extract greater amounts of minerals.
• “The advent of large, open-pit copper and gold mines in the early 1980s, mining companies can profitably mine and refine ore containing as little as five-hundredths of an ounce of gold per ton.”

The law has in many ways become out of date.  The primary issues then seem to become issues of property rights.  Does the governments role of protecting public land as a sort of trust exist and extend to preventing mining companies from exercising their rights under the 1872 Mining Law?  Do the residents and other land and business owners in these areas have the right to protect their rights when violated by poor mining practices?  Do miner’s rights to conduct their business in accordance with existing regulations enable them to continue to do business as usual? 

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