By Walt Eason
GPAA Claims Administrator, Researcher, and Cartographer
THINGS TO WATCH FOR WHEN FILING OR BUYING A CLAIM
If you find possible gold bearing land you'd like to claim or buy there are a few things you will want to consider before moving forward.
· To begin, there is usually no guarantee as to the gold bearing potential of the parcel; even if it is advertised as guaranteed. In these cases it is usually because of previously found gold or the surrounding area itself having proven worth.
· The claim may only have gold in one small area or the gold may be so sparse that you have to have special equipment to recover it. Even if there is another gold claim next to it, that does guarantee the worthiness of your claim
· Many times, claims that are put up for sale are not even claimed yet. Sellers who advertise these will use part of the money you give them to file the claim - in your name. One may see this as a plus, but it is rarely done properly and with good intent. You may come to find that that the land is actually state land, private land, already claimed, or land removed from mineral entry which effectively makes any of the rights you thought you had to the minerals void.·
Some helpful tips if you do decide to proceed with purchasing or filing a claim:
· Always go to the claim and test it yourself or have a trusted person do it for you. If you are denied access to test that is a definitive red flag and you should be careful not to purchase that claim or any other claim from that seller.·
· It sometimes helps to check the background of the person who is selling a particular claim. You can visit the federal website that lists claims and their owners at www.blm.gov/lr2000.
o On there you will find a name search where you can see how many claims the seller has or has had and how often they sell them.
o Each claim (both open and closed) will have a serial register page. The serial register page will tell you the Township Range and Section of where the claim is. It also contains the location date which will give you an idea if the seller is actually working the claims or just filing pieces of property to sell and make a profit off of.
· If you do decide to purchase a claim, be sure to put one name as owner or partner for every 20 acres of claim as a general rule.
· Always check to see if the claim was recorded and located within the time allotted by the county and BLM which is usually 90 days. Also, be sure to get copies of the location notice county recording, as you will need the information on the recording stamp for some tasks you may get involved in when maintaining your claim. Check below for more information on maintaining your claim(s).
LOCATING YOUR CLAIM
Locating your own claim is always a good idea if you know how to research an area. You will need to research the section(s) you are interested in for mineral entry and claims already there.
Some of the research needed includes, but is not limited to any of the following:
· This will include using the LR2000 at www.blm.gov/lr2000 . However, this only takes you down to a first level subsection (160 acres) and there can be many claims in this subsection and still enough room for yours. If this is the case, you will need to find out exactly where other miners have located their claims.
o You can call the BLM state office for the current state of your future claim. You will want to get all location notices and amendments to the claims with maps in your subsection. This will tell you exactly where they located their claims so you can work around them. Usually this is less than $20.00 and it is recommended you have them emailed as digital copies are much easier to work with and you can always print as many as you want.
o Private / patented land is not as readily available on the LR2000. However, you can get information from the LR2000 under "Case recordation" Legal Land Description, which tells acreage of aliquot parts of the section as not all sections are 640 acres. Status contains information on transfers, withdrawal and classification information.
· Other Notes to Remember:
o An easy place to follow the legal history of a piece of land is through the General Land Office Records at: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/default.aspx . Historical index records are the best, but can be difficult until you get used to reading them. (Historical indexes follow every legal event that happens for each section and is listed by township and range)
o You should not depend on what any person tells you even if it is the BLM or county personnel who tells you that the area is open to location. Ultimately it is you who will be responsible for the decision and not the person who told you as there are no refunds for any mistake you may make.
o If there is a claim next to where you want to locate, you will first need to locate where their corner posts are and their location monument. A claim map that is filed with the BLM is not always in the exact location. Mining law dictates that the location map is only to get a reasonable person close enough so that they can discover the claim markers. Eventually, the claim markers take authority over the filed.
o Nowadays, it is wise to check for areas that have been set aside. One particular instance is a Wild and Scenic River. These rivers are classified with three different classifications.
§ A Wild River classification is usually withdrawn from mineral entry. A Scenic River classification is usually open to mining with restrictions. A Recreational River classification is usually (with respect to the mining claim) the same until you go above casual use.
§ It is important to note the instance "usually" in each classification as individual rivers may have special circumstances written in for them. You will find these instances in the codes of the federal W&SR's in the CFR's (code of federal regulations). These codes will tell you at which point along a river where it might change classification. Most of the time each side of the river has a buffer zone by a quarter of a mile with the same or very similar restrictions.
§ Some states also have their own W&SR's and they should be listed in state code as well.
§Example: There are many other items to be aware of like historical and archaeological restrictions or special environmental or energy restrictions such as oil and gas leases, as well as ROW's (right of ways). A claim that has a Right of Way or private land severing it can very well be voided.
o If the parcel you are looking for is a split estate (one where minerals are owned by federal government and surface rights are patented, or in most cases, animal pasture rights) you will need to go through some added work to file a claim. Mainly paperwork, which if you happen to ignore your claim may be found void ab initio, which means "to be treated as invalid" from the outset.
§ Locating a regular solid mineral claim forms can be found within the BLM web site for each state office.
§ If locating on a split estate Public Law 103-23 conditions must be followed. This is known as the SRHA Act (Stock Raising Homestead Act). The information needed will be filed on a NOITL (Notice of Intent To Locate) Mining claims and will be served to the surface owner along with a 90 day segregation period that ends 90 days after the BLM accepts and posts the NOITL or 30 days after the land owner is served the NOITL, whichever comes last.
Claim Monuments
In order to file a claim, there are other requirements which stand as claim monuments that will serve to confirm the validity of your claim.
The BLM requires:
(1) You must follow both state and Federal law.
(2) Your lode or placer claim is not valid until you make a discovery within the boundaries of the claim.
(3) To locate a claim or site, you must—
(a) Make certain that the land on which you are locating the claim or site is Federal land that is open to mineral entry.
(b) Stake and monument the corners of a mining claim or site which meets applicable state monumenting requirements and the size limitations described in §3832.22 for lode and placer claims, §3832.32 for mill sites, and §3832.42 for tunnel sites;
(c) Post the notice of location in a conspicuous place on the claim or site. The notice must include:
(i) The name or names of the locators
(ii) The date of the location
(iii) A description of the claim or site
(iv) The name or number of the claim or site - or both (if the claim or site has both)
(4) Record the notice or certificate of location in the local recording office and the BLM State Office with jurisdiction according to the procedures in part 3833;
(5) Follow all other relevant state law requirements
(6) Comply with the specific requirements for lode claims, placer claims, mill sites, or tunnel sites in this part.
*Note: Each state has its own requirements for all monuments.
Maintaining a Mining Claim
After you have successfully located and filed an approved claim, there will be maintenance needed in order to keep the claim in good standing.
· You are responsible for maintaining your mining claim and reclaiming all areas of disturbance.
· You have annual fees / assessments to file within a certain time frame. If you miss the date your claim is considered abandoned.
o Easiest way is to pay a maintenance fee which is $155.00 per 20 acres and any portion thereof. A 160 acre placer claim will cost $1240 dollars per year and the documents need to be recorded in the county the claim resides in.
o There is an option for miners who own 10 claims or less nationally. This is referred to as a Small Miners Exemption (SME). You would have to file for a Small Miners Exemption each year and every person listed on claim must also sign this waiver form. You will have to attest and notarize an Assessment of Labor attesting to doing $100 dollars in qualified labor on each claim.o
o*Waiver in BLM by September 1st and county recorded Assessment of Labor filed at by December 30th. There is no grace period but on a SME if your filing is deficient you may be allowed to remedy it. Filing is a ten dollar fee with BLM.
· Mining claims are still under the Multi-use Act and as such others can recreate on your claim as long as they do not collect any minerals or interfere with the mining operation. If they leave a mess behind you may be responsible for cleaning it up as the claim owner.
Walt Eason is the Claims Administrator, Researcher, and Cartographer for the Gold Prospectors Association of America. He can be reached via email at weason@goldprospectors.org or by phone at 1.800.551.9707 ext. 177
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