Pursuant to section 101(b) of the Act, any United States citizen who was engaged in exploration before the effective date of the Act (June 28, 1980) qualifies as a pre-enactment explorer and may continue to engage in such exploration without a license:

If such citizen applies under this part for a license with respect to such exploration within the time period specified in paragraph (b) of this section; and

Until such license is issued to such citizen or a final administrative or judicial determination is made affirming the denial of certification of the application for, or issuance of, such license.

Any application for a license based upon pre-enactment exploration must be filed, at the address specified in § 970.200(b), no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on March 12, 1982 (or such later date and time as the Administrator may announce by regulation). All such applications filed at or before that time will be deemed to be filed on such closing date.

Applications not filed in accordance with this section will not be considered to be based on pre-enactment exploration, and may be filed only as new entrant applications under § 970.303.

To receive a pre-enactment explore priority of right for issuance of a license, and application must be, when filed, in substantial compliance with requirements described in § 970.209(b). An application which is in substantial but not full compliance will not lose its priority of right if it is brought into full compliance according to § 970.210.

Any application based on pre-enactment exploration must be for a reasonably compact area with respect to which the applicant is a pre-enactment explorer, and, notwithstanding any part of § 970.601 which indicates otherwise, such area must be bounded by a single continuous boundary.

The coordinates and any chart of the logical mining unit applied for in an application based on a pre-enactment exploration must be submitted in a separate, sealed envelope.

On or before March 12, 1982, the applicants must indicate to the Administrator, other than in the sealed portion of the application:

The size of the area applied for;

Whether the applicant or any person on the applicant's behalf has applied, or intends to apply, for the same area or substantially the same area to one or more nations, and the number of such other applications; and

Whether the other applicant is pursuing the “banking” option under § 970.601(d), and the number of applications filed, or to be filed, in pursuit of the “banking” option.