D.C. Circuit Court Upholds Mill Site Claim Rule Critical to Mining Projects in the United States
Earlier this summer, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued a decision affirming the lower court’s decision that the Mining Law of 1872 does not impose a limit on the number of mill sites that a mining claimant may use for ancillary purposes.[1] Section 42 of the Mining Law of 1872 provides that the holder of a mining claim may also locate nearby non-mineral-bearing-land for the purposes of “mining” and “milling” activities.[2] In 1997, the Department of the Interior then-Solicitor John Leshy issued a legal opinion concluding that Section 42 prohibits a claim holder from locating more than a total of five acres of mill site land with respect to any one...
