(a) Exploration license applications shall be submitted at the Bureau of Land Management State Office having jurisdiction over the lands covered in the application (43 CFR subpart 1821). The applications shall be subject to the following requirements:

(1) No specified form of application is required.

(2) An area in a public land survey state for which an application is filed shall be described by legal description or, if on unsurveyed lands, by metes and bounds, in accordance with §3471.1-1(d)(1) of this title. An application for an exploration license on acquired lands shall describe the area according to the description in the deed or document by which the United States acquired title in accordance with §3471.1-1(d)(2) of this title.

(3) Each application shall contain three copies of an exploration plan which complies with the requirements of §3482.1(a) of this title.

(4) Each application and its supporting documents shall be filed with a nonrefundable filing fee (43 CFR 3473.2).

(5) Exploration license applications shall normally cover no more than 25,000 acres in a reasonably compact area and entirely within one state. An application for an exploration license covering more than 25,000 acres must include a justification for an exception to the normal acreage limitation.

(b) Nothing in this subpart shall preclude the authorized officer from issuing a call for expressions of leasing interest in an area containing exploration licenses or applications for exploration licenses.

(c) Applicants for exploration licenses shall be required to provide an opportunity for other parties to participate in exploration under the license on a pro rata cost sharing basis.

(1) Immediately upon the filing of an application for an exploration license the applicant shall publish a “Notice of Invitation,” approved by the authorized officer, once every week for 2 consecutive weeks in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the area where the lands covered by the license application are situated. This notice shall contain an invitation to the public to participate in the exploration under the license and shall contain the location of the Bureau of Land Management office in which the application shall be available for inspection. Copies of the Notice of Invitation shall be filed with the authorized officer at the time of publication by the applicant, for posting in the proper Bureau of Land Management Office and for Bureau of Land Management's publication of the Notice of Invitation in the Federal Register.

(2) Any person who seeks to participate in the exploration program contained in the application shall notify the authorized officer and the applicant in writing within 30 days after the publication in the Federal Register. The authorized officer may require modification of the original exploration plan to accommodate the legitimate exploration needs of persons seeking to participate, and to avoid the duplication of exploration activities in the same area, or may notify the person seeking to participate that the person should file a separate application for an exploration license.

(d) An application to conduct exploration which could have been conducted as a part of exploration under an existing or recent coal exploration license may be rejected.

[44 FR 42613, July 19, 1979, as amended at 47 FR 33135, July 30, 1982; 50 FR 8626, Mar. 4, 1985]