All remittances shall be by U.S. currency, postal money order or negotiable instrument payable in U.S. currency and shall be made payable to the Department of the Interior—Bureau of Land Management or the Department of the Interior—Minerals Management Service, as appropriate. In the case of payments made to the Service, such payments may also be made by electronic funds transfer.

(a)(1) All first-year rentals and the first-year portions of all bonuses for leases issued under Group 3400 of this title shall be paid to the Bureau of Land Management State office having jurisdiction over the lands (43 CFR subpart 1821).

(2) All second-year and subsequent rentals and deferred bonus amounts payable after the initial payment for leases shall be paid to the Service.

(b) All royalties on producing leases, all payments under leases in their minimum production period, and all advance royalties shall be paid to the Service.

First year's rental for preference right leases shall be remitted at the time of filing the applications. First year's rental for competitive leases shall be payable when required by decision. Thereafter, rental for all leases shall be paid in accordance with the lease provisions.

(a) An application for a license to mine must include payment of the filing fee found in the fee schedule in § 3000.12 of this chapter. BLM may waive the filing fee for applications filed by relief agencies as provided in § 3440.1-1(b) of this chapter.

(b) An application for an exploration license must include payment of the filing fee found in the fee schedule in § 3000.12 of this chapter.

(c) An instrument of transfer of a lease or an interest in a lease must include payment of the filing fee found in the fee schedule in § 3000.12 of this chapter.

(d) BLM will charge applicants for a royalty rate reduction a processing fee on a case-by-case basis as described in § 3000.11 of this chapter.

(e) BLM will charge applicants for logical mining unit formation or modification a processing fee on a case-by-case basis as described in § 3000.11 of this chapter.

(f) The applicant who nominates a tract for a competitive lease sale must pay a processing fee on a case-by-case basis as described in § 3000.11 of this chapter as modified by the provisions below. BLM will include in the sale notice under § 3422.2(b)(9) of this chapter a statement of the total cost recovery fee paid to BLM by the applicant up to 30 days before the competitive lease sale. The cost recovery process for a competitive coal lease follows:

(1) The applicant nominating the tract for competitive leasing must pay the cost recovery amount before BLM will publish a notice of the competitive lease sale;

(2) Before the lease is issued:

(i) The successful bidder, if someone other than the applicant, must pay to BLM the cost recovery amount specified in the sale notice; and

(ii) The successful bidder must pay all processing costs BLM incurs after the date of the sale notice;

(3) If the successful bidder is someone other than the applicant, BLM will refund to the applicant the amount paid under paragraph (f)(1) of this section; and

(4) If there is no successful bidder, the applicant remains responsible for all processing fees.

(g) BLM will charge applicants for modification of a coal lease a processing fee on a case-by-case basis as described in § 3000.11 of this chapter.

(a) The annual rental per acre or fraction thereof on any lease issued or readjusted after the promulgation of this subpart shall not be less than $3. The amount of the rental will be specified in the lease.

(b) Until a lease issued before August 4, 1976, is readjusted, the rental paid for any year shall be credited against the royalties for that year.

(c) On leases issued or readjusted after August 4, 1976, rental payments shall not be credited against royalties.

(d) Rentals paid for any lease year commencing prior to the effective date of the first lease readjustment occurring after August 4, 1976, shall be credited against royalties for that year. Rentals due and payable for any lease year commencing on or after the effective date of the readjustment shall not be credited against royalties.

(a)(1) A lease shall require payment of a royalty of not less than 12 1/2 percent of the value of the coal removed from a surface mine.

(2) A lease shall require payment of a royalty of 8 percent of the value of coal removed from an underground mine.

(3) The value of coal removed from a mine is defined for royalty purposes in § 3483.4 of this title.

(b) The royalty rates specified in paragraph (a) of this section shall be applied to new leases at the time of issuance and to previously issued leases at the time of the next scheduled readjustment of the lease.

(c) The authorized officer shall have the discretion, upon the request of the lessee, to authorize the payment of an advance royalty in lieu of continued operation for any particular year in accordance with § 3485.2 of this title.

(d) An overriding royalty interest, production payment or similar interest that exceeds 50 percent of royalty first payable to the United States under the Federal lease, or when added to any other overriding royalty interest exceeds that precentage, except those created in order to finance a mine, shall not be created by a Federal lease transfer or surface owner consent. However, when an interest in a Federal lease or operating agreement is transferred, the transferor may retain an overriding royalty in excess of the above limitation if he/she shows that he/she has made substantial investments for improvements directly related to exploration, development and mining on the lands covered by the transfer that would justify a higher payment.

(e) The Secretary, whenever he/she determines it necessary to promote development or finds that the lease cannot be successfully operated under its terms, may waive, suspend or reduce the rental, or reduce the royalty but not advance royalty, on an entire leasehold, or on any deposit, tract or portion thereof, except that in no case shall the royalty be reduced to zero percent. An application for any of these benefits shall be filed with the authorized officer in accordance with part 3480 of this title.

(a) Application by a lessee for relief from any operating and producing requirements of a lease; shall be filed in triplicate in the office of the Mining Supervisor in accordance with 43 CFR part 3480.

(b) The term of any lease shall be extended by adding thereto any period of suspension of all operations and production during such term in accordance with any direction or assent of the Mining Supervisor.