"First Half of Mineral Entry-Final Certificate" (FHFC) exemption from moratorium.

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"First Half of Mineral Entry-Final Certificate" (FHFC) exemption from moratorium.

Congress provided an exemption from the patenting moratorium for applicants who had satisfied the requirements of the Mining Law of 1872 for obtaining a patent before the moratorium went into effect.Only patent applications for which a "First Half of Mineral Entry-Final Certificate" (FHFC) had been issued were considered exempt or "grandfathered" from the moratorium.Over 600 patent applications were pending with the BLM when the moratorium went into effect on October 1, 1994.Of those, 405 patent applications had received a FHFC by September 30, 1994, and were determined to be "grandfathered" from the moratorium.Mining claimants in a "grandfathered" patent application are not required to comply with the maintenance fee statute after the FHFC was issued.
https://www.doi.gov/ocl/hearings/112/S303_32212

 

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The following may be of interest:

The basic requirements for securing patents are found in 30 U.S.C. 95 29-30, 35, 37, and 42. Section 29 sets out the "paper" requirements for filing a patent application and receiving, under current BLM practices, an FHFC. This section provides that a patent "may be obtained" by filing an application "under oath, showing such compliance" with the requirements of the Mining Law and complying with several other technical and procedural provisions. The applicant must include a survey of the claim, 30 U.S.C. 8 29, and post a copy of the survey and a notice of the patent application on the claim prior to application. The applicant must then file a proof of the posting along with the patent application. A notice of the application must then be published in a newspaper nearest to the claim and must be posted in the General Land Ofice (now Bureau of Land Management office).

 

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Under the Mining Law of 1872, issuance of a "patent" conveys out of United States ownership fee simple title to the lands identified in the patent. Typically, the patent conveys fee simple title to the surface as well as the minerals, though there are exceptions.
During the 130 years since the Mining Law was first enacted, the question of when and under what circumstances an applicant is entitled to a patent under, the Mining Law has arisen in various contexts. One facet of that inquiry is a determination of when that entitlement ripens into a vested right, often referred to as "equitable title”.
This issue arises in a variety of contexts such as when an applicant seeks to compel the Department of the Interior (Department) to issue a patent; when the Congress places a moratorium on patenting by Legislation; when a valuable mineral deposit in land embraced in a patent application is exhausted during the patenting process; or in determining when a claimant need no longer perform assessment work, file affidavits of assessment work or pay the annual maintenance fee for each mining claim or millsite encompassed by a patent application.
For many years, the federal courts and the Department both identified the point at which equitable title vested as the date on which the Department accepted the purchase price and issued a final certificate, which served as the Department's determination that all conditions for the issuance of the patent were satisfied, including verification of a valuable mineral deposit. Recent decisions by the federal courts emphasize that an applicant does not have a vested right or entitlement in a patent until the Secretary of the Interior has determined that an applicant has complied with all the requirements of the Mining Law. Nevertheless, the Bureau of Land Management's. (Bureau or BLM)administrative process for reviewing patent applications authorizes acceptance of the purchase price and issuance of a patent.
The patent feature was first included in the Mining Law of 1866, 14 Stat. 86, and extended in 1870, 16 Stat. 217, before taking its basic current form in 1872, 17 Stat. 91.
"First Half-Mineral Entry Final Certificate" (FHFC) before the Secretary has completed his full review of the patent and confined the applicant's compliance with the statute's requirements. Thus, considerable litigation has arisen over whether and when an applicant has obtained a vested right in a mineral patent. Confusion has arisen in the legislative arena, as well, as Congress addresses proposals to amend the 1872 Mining Law.


Secretary Babbitt. Secretarial Order No. 3163
https://elips.doi.gov/ELIPS/DocView.aspx?id=182&dbid=0

 

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Final certificate

Until 1958, BLM issued only one final certificate. Since 1958, however, BLM has split the first "certificate" into two parts: a first page and a second page, which were to be completed at different steps in the patent review process. In 1990, BLM split the components into two wholly separate documents. Whether known as the "first page” of the final certificate, or as a separate document, the FHFC or its equivalent has signified only that the applicant had completed the preliminary paperwork requirements and had paid the purchase price.