Where does this fall legally? Options

[EMac]

I recently read that the LAL tests we conduct in my industry are produced from horseshoe crab blood ($19k/liter!), and today read this article about malacidin that is present in certain desert soils including CO. Malacidin has scientists hopeful about it's promise as a new antibiotic.

1) Fast forwarding past the years of clinical trials, vast testing, and expense that would precede FDA approval, and 2) making the assumption they would have to harvest new material as with the horseshoe crab, I wonder where this would fall legally to source the soil material? Doing some searching, I couldn't quickly find how soil producers are governed. Does anyone know?

What if a claim owner found that the overburden hiding their claim's values was actually significantly more valuable than the minerals? Could you harvest and sell it?

Same question if this material is present on property you own (unpatented most likely, but if patented changes the answer, I'm curious about that too)?

Edited for grammar.

[EMac]

A little birdy pointed me to the 23 July 1955 Act that states in Section 4(b),

(b) Rights under any mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the United States shall be subject, prior to issuance of patent therefore, to the right of the United States to manage and dispose of the vegetative surface resources thereof and to manage other surface resources thereof (except mineral deposits subject to location under the mining laws of the United States).

and 4c:

Except to the extent required for the mining claimant’s prospecting, mining or processing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto, or for the construction of buildings or structures in connection therewith, or to provide clearance for such operations or uses, or to the extent authorized by the United States, no claimant of any mining claim hereafter located under the mining laws of the United States shall, prior to issuance of patent therefor, sever, remove, or use any vegetative or other surface resources thereof which are subject to management or disposition by the United States under the preceding subsection (b).