PUBLIC LAWS-CH. 379-JUNE 3, 1948 diligence, to determine the existence or workability of coal deposits in the area covered by the permit and desires to prosecute further prospecting or exploration, or for other reasons in the opinion of the Secretary warranting such extension. Limitation on lease "() No company or corporation operating a common-carrier rail- to railroadsroad shall be given or hold a permit or lease under the provisions of this Act for any coal deposits except for its own use for railroad purposes; and such limitations of use shall be expressed in all permits and leases issued to such companies or corporations; and no such company or corporation shall receive or hold under permit or lease more than ten thousand two hundred and forty acres in the aggregate nor more than one permit or lease for each two hundred miles of its railroad lines served or to be served from such coal deposits exclusive of spurs or switches and exclusive of branch lines built to connect the leased coal with the railroad, and also exclusive of parts of the railroad operated mainly by power produced otherwise than by steam. Ma "Noting in banch this section shall preclude such a railroad of less than two hundred miles in length from securing one permit or lease there- under but no railroad shall hold a permit or lease for lands in any State in which it does not operate main or branch lines." SEC. 2. Section 9 of the Act (41 Stat. 440, 30 U. S . C., sec. 211) is amended to read as follows: Phosphate deposits. "SEc. 9 . The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to lease to any applicant qualified under this Act, through advertisement, competitive bidding, or such other methods as he may by general regulations adopt, any phosphate deposits of the United States, and lands containing such deposits, including associated and related minerals, when in his judgment the public interest will be best served thereby. The lands shall be leased under such terms and conditions as are herein specified, in units reasonably compact in form of not to exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres." SEC. 3. Section 10 of the Act (41 Stat. 440, 30 U. S. C., sec. 212) is amended to read as follows: Descriptionofleased "SEC. 10. Each lease shaH describe the leased lands by the legal Royalties. subdivisions of the public-land surveys. All leases shall be condi- tioned upon the payment to the United States of such royalties as may be specified in the lease, which shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior in advance of offering the same, at not less than 5 per centum of the gross value of the output of phosphates or phosphate rock and associated or related minerals. Royalties shall be due and payable as specified in the lease either monthly or quarterly on the last day of the month next following the month or quarter in which Annualrental. the minerals are sold or removed from the leased land. Each lease shall provide for the payment of a rental payable at the date of the lease and annually thereafter which shall be not less than 25 cents per acre for the first year, 50 cents per acre for the second and third years, respectively, and $1 per acre for each year thereafter, during the continuance of the lease. The rental paid for any year shall be Period oflease. credited against the royalties for that year. Leases shall be for a term of twenty years and so long thereafter as the lessee complies with the terms and conditions of the lease and upon the further condition that at the end of each twenty-year period succeeding the date of the lease such reasonable readjustment of the terms and conditions thereof may be made therein as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior unless otherwise provided by law at the expiration of Condition. such periods. Leases shall be conditioned upon a minimum annual production or the payment of a minimum royalty in lieu thereof, except when production is interrupted by strikes, the elements, or casualties t.pensamnotopera" not attributable to the lessee. The Secretary of the Interior may 290 [62 STAT.
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