27-251. Application for exploration permit

A. Any natural person who is over eighteen years of age and any other person qualified to transact business in this state may apply to the commissioner for an exploration permit on state land, including state land reserved minerals that are subject to section 37-231, subsection E.  Each application for an exploration permit on state land in one or more of the rectangular subdivisions of twenty acres, more or less, or lots, in any identified contiguous sections of the public land survey may not exceed more than nine sections. The exploration permit application shall be in writing and signed by the applicant, or an authorized agent or attorney for the applicant, and shall contain the name and address of the applicant, a description according to the public land survey of the state land for which the applicant seeks a permit and such other information as the commissioner may prescribe by rule. The applicant shall file the exploration permit application with the state land department and shall accompany the application with a filing fee payable to the state land department as prescribed pursuant to section 37-107. The commissioner shall stamp each application that meets the requirements of this section with the time and date that the application is filed with the state land department.  An application for an exploration permit for a specific commodity type shall have priority over any other application for a exploration permit involving the same state land that may be filed with the state land department subsequent to such time and date, and land that is subject to the exploration permit application for a specific type is deemed withdrawn as long as the application is pending.

B. Not less than thirty days but not more than forty-five days after the filing of the application with the state land department, provided there is no prior application for an exploration permit for the same commodity type involving the same state land then pending before the state land department, or if such prior exploration application is then pending but is subsequently canceled, not more than thirty days after it is canceled, the state land department shall mail to the applicant at the address shown on the application a written notice designating the state land that is described in the exploration application and that, at the time the application was filed with the state land department, was open to application, the amount of rental required to be paid for the exploration permit as herein provided, and whether a bond will be required under the provisions of section 27-255 as a condition to issuing the exploration permit. If, within thirty days after mailing the notice, the applicant pays to the state land department as rental for the permit the amount of $2 per acre for each acre of state land designated in the notice and files with the state land department the bond, if any, required under section 27-255, and if the commissioner finds that issuing the permit is in the best interest of the trust, the commissioner shall issue to the applicant an exploration permit for the state land designated in the notice. The commissioner may deny the application for any of the following reasons:

1. The application was not made in good faith.

2. The proposed exploration or possible future mining activities would not be the highest and best use of the trust lands.

3. The value and income potential of surrounding trust lands would be adversely affected and the benefit from proposed exploration and future mining activity cannot reasonably be expected to be greater than the diminished value to those surrounding trust lands.

4. The proposed operations would violate applicable state or federal law.

5. The commissioner determines that the proposed exploration activities or possible future mining activities will create a liability to this state greater than the income from the proposed operations.

C. During the period that an exploration permit is in effect, only the permittee and the authorized agents and employees of the permittee shall be entitled to explore for the specific commodity type on the state land covered by the permit. If the applicant fails to make the payment or furnish the bond within the period of thirty days, the application shall be deemed cancelled and of no further effect.