Not much entertainment here... but two blogs being posted! So if you're not wanting to delve into this process, check out most recent panning and sluicing blog.
The location process… finding a claim is complicated enough as we’ve stated time and again. We’ve talked about the process multiple times.
So the procedure hasn’t changed much, but how many know that when you go to locate a claim there are federal regulations based on the 1872 mining law supplemented by individual state requirements?
So let’s review the federal regulations… this is going to get a little tedious unless you are specifically interested in the subject.
The Bureau of Land Management regulates mineral claims on the federal level. The Montana Dakota office in Billings, MT is in charge of the Black Hills. They state on their webpage:
STAKING A CLAIM--Federal law specifies that claim boundaries must be distinctly and clearly marked to be readily identifiable. Most states have statutes and regulations concerning the actual staking and recording of mining claims so claimants should refer to the appropriate state agency for additional requirements before locating a claim.
Prior to locating a claim, a prospector should check BLM records for prior recorded claims. Ultimately, the prospector must check for prior existing claim markings on the ground. Departmental decisions require a discovery on each claim, based on actual physical exposure of the valuable mineral within the claim boundaries. (Also, each 10 acres on a placer claim, after a discovery, must be mineral in character).
1. Claim boundaries must be distinctly and clearly marked to be readily identifiable: We agree, but it just isn’t so! Some marks are completely outdated; others just plain don’t exist… therefore the next step is critical.
2. A prospector should check BLM records:
3. Discovery on each claim
Filing a claim, according to BLM, is as follows:
RECORDING A MINING CLAIM--Claims and sites must be recorded with both the state and the proper
BLM state office (state laws usually require filing the original location notice or certificate in the proper county office).
The Certificate of Location (COL) or notice must be filed with BLM within 90 calendar days after the date of location. Check with the proper county for their filing requirements.
A location map is required by BLM to accurately determine location and land status of the claim.
You have 60 days to file with the county in which you located in South Dakota.
BLM requires a copy of the official record of the notice or COL of each claim that was or will be filed under state law. (BLM does not require the original document, nor does the document have to be notarized.)
Do not send BLM your COL filed by the county and returned to you. Send a copy.
BLM does not require the claim information to be on any specific form, nor does BLM produce/distribute a form for such purpose. Local printing companies or stationery stores are typical sources of forms. The form submitted to BLM should include the date of location, the name and address of the owner(s), the name of the claim/site, the type of claim/site, the acreage claimed, and a description of the parcel on the ground (township, range, section, quarter section, and/or a metes and bounds description).
Be careful of pre-printed forms… we’ve ran across one or two that do not meet state requirements, one of which is distributed by a county office.
Pretty easy so far, right? We would estimate that only about 10% of those staking a claim go any further than this information. Grab a blank claim form or work from a copy of an existing form, file it and start panning!
Wait just a minute… did it say boundaries must be clearly marked? What about all the additional requirements for the appropriate state?
So we venture to South Dakota Codified Law (which we feel a little intimate with through the permitting process). Note that these laws use the word lode, but are considered by the state as guidelines for placer locations as well. It’s another technicality that we don’t want to dive into right now because it is not relevant to this discussion.
SDCL 45-4-2. Conditions precedent to filing of location certificate. Before filing a location certificate pursuant to § 45-4-4, the discoverer shall locate the claim:
(1) By erecting a monument at the place of discovery and posting on the monument a plain sign or notice containing the name of the lode, the name of any locator, the date of discovery, the number of feet claimed in length on either side of the discovery, and the number of feet in width claimed on each side of the lode; and
(2) By marking the surface boundaries of the claim.
Marking the claim is further clarified:
SDCL 45-4-3. Marking surface boundaries of claim. Surface boundaries shall be marked by eight substantial posts, hewed or blazed on the side or sides facing the claim and plainly marked with the name of the lode and the corner, end, or side of the claim that they respectively represent and sunk in the ground; one at each corner and one at the center of each side line and one at each end of the lode. If it is impracticable because of rock or precipitous ground to sink such posts, they may be placed in a monument of stone.
Most often noted error on this level… lack of posts on the ground and on the required map. Eight posts, not four, not six. Here is where the county distributed COL lacks direction, prompting for too few posts. “Substantial” is a word that leaves a lot of room for interpretation, but we do know that the US Forest Service (another agency!!!) does not like PVC pipe, steel posts and in this age of the pine bark beetle, does not want you blazing trees!
And the location certificate, as required by state law:
45-4-4. Location certificate--Recording of claim--Contents--Validity. The discoverer of a lode shall within sixty days from the date of discovery record the claim in the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the lode is located by a location certificate which shall contain:
(1) The name of the lode;
(2) The name of the locator or locators;
(3) The date of location;
(4) If a lode claim, the number of linear feet in length claimed along the course of the vein each way from the point of discovery, with the width claimed on each side of the center of the vein; the general course of the vein or lode as near as may be; and a description of the claim located by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim.
Any location certificate of a lode claim that does not contain the information specified in this section is void.
If, in the interest of discussion, these guidelines were taken to a court of law a large number of existing claims would be overturned. Good faith counts for a lot and the cost of contesting a claim in court is prohibitive, so that doesn’t happen all that much.
The next two items contribute to a lot of discussion at our home… amend or relocate. It’s a discussion we’ve covered in our blog repeatedly, in that an amendment preserves the original location date whereas relocation is just the same as a new location in the same place as your old location. There are few advantages to a relocation, but is a valuable tool if you have inadvertently neglected to file annual paperwork and want to retain the claim.
Feeling pretty secure in the validity of your claim? Here’s a slap in the face which we’ve seen before and we are keeping an eye on right now. Thorough research at the county (therefore state) level and at BLM in October 2011 showed a section with no claims in the area of interest. No valid paperwork or boundary markers existed on the ground. Claim staked, claim filed. Several months later (spring) an amended location certificate shows up on the ground. The amendment shows that a claim from another section staked in January 2011 is being amended to same ground covered by November claim. There are a multitude of possibilities how this may wash out. In this particular situation, we feel it’s only a matter of time until the situation fades into distant history. However, in general if there are not other problems, the amended claim would take precedence and eliminate the rights of the claim staked in November.
We consult BLM to address amending a claim:
AMENDMENTS--An amendment (1) may or may not take in different or additional unappropriated ground; (2) may correct or clarify defects or omissions in the original notice or Certificate of Location; (3) may change the legal land description; (4) may change the claim name; and (4) may change the position of discovery or boundary monuments (under Montana State law, the point of discovery cannot be moved). Amendments cannot be used to transfer ownership of a mining claim.
That’s about as ambiguous as it gets… may or may not! The guidelines are a little more clear cut, according to BLM officials, in that you can reduce the size of the claim but not take in additional acreage. We find no state statutes addressing an amendment.
RELOCATIONS--A relocation is treated much the same as a new location which essentially covers the same land as a prior mining claim/site. As such, a relocation will be issued a new serial number and date stamp.
A relocation does not relate back to the date of the prior location and is adverse to the prior location.
A relocation may not be established by the use of an "amended location notice," but requires a new, original notice or certificate as prescribed by state law.
So if you consider yourself a law-abiding citizen, look at the federal law, then look at the state statutes. Under most situations you can consider the federal law as a starting point, then go to state law for further clarification… mining or not that’s the way it works.
No comments:
Post a Comment