Cliffs Synfuel Corp. v. Norton

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge.

This appeal by Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, from a summary judgment in favor of Cliffs Synfuel Corp. (“Appel-lee”), requires us to decide whether the district court properly construed provisions of the General Mining Law of 1872, 30 U.S.C. §§ 21, et seq. (“Mining Law”), and the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, 30 U.S.C. §§ 181 et seq. (“Leasing Act”), in light of the Court’s interpretation of these statutes in Hickel v. Oil Shale Corp., 400 U.S. 48, 91 S.Ct. 196, 27 L.Ed.2d 193 (1970). Specifically, we must determine whether Cliffs Synfuel Corp. performed the…