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ti ~ <br />ble of limitations or extensions according to intention with <br />which it is used. Standing alone it might by itself embrace the <br />soil, hence include sand and gravel, or, under a strict defini- <br />tion, it might be limited to metallic substances. The term <br />'mineral' as it is used in the public land laws is more restrict- <br />ed than it is when used in some other respects. Its definition <br />has presented many difficulties. It has been held that for <br />purposes of mining laws, a mineral is whatever is recognized as <br />mineral by the standard authorities on the subject. <br />2. Mineral Lands. "Lands containing deposits of <br />valuable, useful, or precious minerals in such quantities as to <br />justify expenditures in the effort to extract them, and which are <br />more valuable for the minerals they contain than for agricultural <br />or other uses. Lands on which metals or minerals have been <br />discovered in rock in place. Such lands include not merely <br />metalliferous lands, but all such as are chiefly valuable for <br />their deposits of mineral character, which are useful in arts or <br />valuable for purposes of manufacture and embrace not only <br />those which the lexicon defines as 'mineral,' but, in addition, <br />such as are valuable for deposits of marble, slate, petroleum, <br />asphaltum, and even guano." <br />3. Mining. "The process or business of extracting <br />from the earth the precious or valuable metals, either in their <br />native state or in their ores." <br />The word 'stone' is not defined in this edition of <br />Black's Law Dictionary but is defined in Ballentine's Law Dictio- <br />nary, 3rd Edition, 1969, as follows: <br />Stone. "A rock. A mineral found in rock." <br />Quarry. Verb: "To remove building stone from a bed of <br />rock. Noun: "A bed or ledge from which stone is taken." <br />"A quarry is similar to a mine, in the sense that the <br />material removed, be it mere rock, or stone, or valuable marble, <br />is removed because of its value for some other purpose, and in <br />the sense that it is not removed for the purpose of improving the <br />property from which it is taken. It is distinguished from a mine <br />in the fact that it is usually open at the top and front, and in <br />[he ordinary acceptation of the term, it is further distinguished <br />in the character of the material extracted." <br />In attempting to mesh these generally accepted defini- <br />tions with the case Iaw and the evidence adduced at trial, the <br />Court would not find that the addition of the word "stone" in the <br />1989 deed by Plaintiff includes sand and gravel. Plaintiff <br />testified the word "stone" was added to encompass sand and <br />gravel, however this does not appear to be the generally accepted <br />usage and meaning of the word "stone," and again, any ambiguity <br />17 <br />