Code of Federal Regulations Title 43. Public Lands:  Interior § 43.3813.2 Minerals subject to disposition

The Act of July 20, 1956, applies only to any mineral deposit discovered and located under the U.S. mining laws prior to February 25, 1920, and reserved to the United States under the Act of July 17, 1914 (38 Stat. 509;  30 U.S.C. 122), and which, at the time of application for mineral patent, is subject to valid and subsisting rights under the said mining laws. Only that mineral deposit together with the right to use the surface to prospect for, mine, and remove the said deposit shall, on or after July 20, 1956, be subject to disposal to the holders of such valid and subsisting rights by patent under the mining laws in force at the time of such disposal. “Oil” reserved under the Act of 1914 has been held to include oil shale. See 52 L.D. 329.