Code of Federal Regulations Title 43. Public Lands:  Interior § 43.3480.0–4 Scope

The rules of this part shall govern operations for the exploration, development, and production of Federal coal under Federal coal leases, licenses, and permits, regardless of surface ownership, pursuant to the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended (MLA), and in conjunction with the rules at 43 CFR Group 3400 and 30 CFR Chapter VII. Included are provisions relating to resource recovery and protection, royalties, diligent development, continued operation, maximum economic recovery (MER), and logical mining units (LMU's). Except as otherwise provided in 25 CFR Chapter I or Indian lands leases, these rules do not apply to operations on Indian lands. The provisions in these rules relating to advance royalty, diligent development, continued operation, MER, and LMU's shall not apply to Indian lands, leases and permits. The rules governing exploration licenses for unleased Federal coal are codified at 43 CFR part 3410. Until final rulemaking is promulgated and implemented by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) regarding the initial Federal lands Programs, the initial Federal lands Program rules codified at 30 CFR part 211 (1981) shall remain in effect.