43 CFR § 3471.1-1 - Land description and coal deposit in application.
(a) Any application for a lease, lease modification, or license to mine shall include a complete and accurate description of the lands for which the lease, lease modification, or license to mine is desired.
(b) If the land has been surveyed under the public land rectangular survey system, each application shall describe the land by legal subdivision (section, township, and range), or aliquot part thereof (but not less than 10 acres).
(c) Where protraction diagrams have been approved and the effective date has been published in the Federal Register, the application for land shown on such protraction diagrams and filed on or after the effective date shall contain a description of the land according to the section, township, and range shown on the approved protraction diagrams.
(d)
(1) If the land has not been surveyed on the ground and is not shown on the records as covered by protraction diagrams, the application shall describe the land by metes and bounds, giving courses and distances between the successive angle points on the boundary of the tract, in cardinal directions except where the boundaries of the land are in irregular form, and connected by courses and distances to an official corner of the public land surveys. In Alaska, the description of unsurveyed land shall be connected by courses and distances to either an official corner of the public land surveys or to a triangulation station established by an agency of the United States such as the Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the International Boundary Commission, if the record position is available to the general public.
(2)
(i) If the land is acquired land in a non-public land state which has not been surveyed under the rectangular system of public land surveys, the land shall be described as in the deed or other document by which the United States acquired title to the lands or minerals.
(ii) If the land constitutes less than the entire tract acquired by the United States, it shall be described by courses and distances between successive angle points on its boundary tying by course and distance into an identifiable point listed in the description in the deed or other document by which the United States acquired title to the land.
(iii) If the description in the deed or other document by which the United States acquired title to the land does not include the courses and distance between the successive angle points on the boundary of the desired tract, the description in the application shall be expanded to include such courses and distances.
(iv) The application shall be accompanied by a map on which the land is clearly marked showing its location with respect to the administrative unit or project of which it is a part. It is not necessary to submit a map if the land has been surveyed under the rectangular system of public land surveys, and the land description can be conformed to that system.
(v) If an acquisition tract number has been assigned by the acquiring agency to the tract, a description by tract number will be accepted.
(vi) Any accreted land not described in the deed to the United States shall be described by metes and bounds, giving courses and distances between the successive angle points on the boundary of the tract, and connected by courses and distances to an angle point on the perimeter of the acquired tract to which the accretions belong.