Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 94 Part 2.djvu/1122

 94 STAT. 2400

Post, 2457.

Valid mining claims.

PUBLIC LAW 96-487—DEC. 2, 1980

objects of ecological, cultural, geological, historical, prehistorical, and scientific interest. (d) Within the Monuments, the Secretary shall not permit the sale of harvesting of timber: Provided, That nothing in this subsection shall prevent the Secretary from taking measures as may be necessary in the control of fire, insects, and disease. (e) For the purposes of granting rights-of-way to occupy, use or traverse public land within the Monuments pursuant to title XI, the provisions of section 1106(b) of this Act shall apply. (f)(1) Subject to valid existing rights and the provisions of this Act, the lands within the Monuments are hereby withdrawn from all forms of entry or appropriation or disposal under the public land laws, including location, entry, and patent under United States mining laws, disposition under the mineral leasing laws, and from future selections by the State of Alaska and Native Corporations; (2)(A) After the date of enactment of this Act, any person who is the holder of any valid mining claim on public lands located within the boundaries of the Monuments, shall be permitted to carry out activities related to the exercise of rights under such claim in accordance with reasonable regulations promulgated by the Secretary to assure that such activities are compatible, to the maximum extent feasible, with the purposes for which the Monuments were established. (B) For purposes of determining the validity of a mining claim containing a sufficient quantity and quality of mineral as of November 30, 1978, to establish a valuable deposit within the meaning of the mining laws of the United States within the Monuments, the requirements of the mining laws of the United States shall be construed as if access and mill site rights associated with such claim allow the present use of the Monuments' land as such land could have been used on November 30, 1978. (g) MINING IN THE PARKS ACT.—The Act of September 28,

90 Stat. 1342.

Mining development analysis document.

Public availability.

Environmental impact statement. 42 USC 4321 note.

1976

(Public Law 94-249), shall not apply to the Monuments. (h)(1) Any special use permit for a surface access road for' bulk sampling of the mineral deposit at Quartz Hill in the Tongass National Forest shall be issued in accordance with this subsection. (2) The Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior and the State of Alaska, shall prepare a document which analyzes mine development, concepts prepared by United States Borax and Chemical Corporation on the proposed development of a molybdenum mine in the Quartz Hill area of the Tongass National Forest. The draft of such document shall be completed within six months after the date of enactment of this Act and be made available for public comment. The analysis shall be completed within nine months after the date of enactment and the results made available to the public. This analysis shall include detailed discussions of but not necessarily be limited to— (A) the concepts which are under consideration for mine development; (B) the general foreseeable potential environmental impacts of each mine development concept and the studies which are likely to be needed to evaluate and otherwise address those impacts; and (C) the likely surface access needs and routes for each mine development concept. (3) The Secretary shall prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 which covers an access road for bulk sampling purposes and the bulk

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