Vulture Mountains Proposed Mineral Withdrawal

[Clay Diggins]

Land Matters has posted an explanation and map of the proposed BLM Vulture Mountains Rec Area lease in Arizona. The lease would involve withdrawing the area from claim location.

This is a popular and productive gold prospecting area just Northwest of Phoenix Arizona. It's adjacent to the active Vulture Mine one of the oldest and most productive gold mines in Arizona. There are a lot of claims there at present. If you have claims in the area or just enjoy prospecting the Vulture region this might be a good time to let the BLM know your thoughts on their proposal. Comments need to be submitted by December 23, 2016.

You can see the withdrawal proposal and interactive map on the News and Views front page.

This is part of Land Matters ongoing effort to track and map all proposed mineral withdrawals. This is a very ambitious project but one that several Land Matters users have requested. If you know of any current withdrawal proposals that you would like to see featured please contact Land Matters at support@mylandmatters.org.

[Andyy]

Jeez. so that means no detectors, right?

[jasong]

You may be able to prospect on withdrawn minerals but the regulations vary by district since you are no longer prospecting under 1872, you are prospecting "recreationally" under whatever rules the managing field office decides to implement. Sometimes they forbid it altogether, other times they limit equipment to hand tools, other times they require permits, etc.

Which is why it's better if the minerals stay within the public domain always. So your ability prospect isn't limited by the mood of whatever BLM field manager takes the position and brings their personal agenda along with them. I had a great place to dredge that was promptly shut down when they hired a new field manager with an agenda to promote rafting and get rid of prospecting (in part due to the GPAA being highly irresponsible in another unrelated area), so it can and does happen quick and there is no legal recourse.

[Hard Prospector]

Perhaps this new year,  the pendulum will finally begin to swing back toward the rights of prospectors and other public land users.

[Clay Diggins]

1 hour ago, Andyy said:

Jeez. so that means no detectors, right?

What you can and can not do on public lands subject to a mineral withdrawal is dependent on the terms of the withdrawal order. Often not all mineral rights are withdrawn. A typical withdrawal will specify that location (claims) and entry (patent) rights are withdrawn, that leaves open prospecting and exploration.

In a few cases I've seen withdrawals that specify no prospecting although those are rare. Sometimes all mineral rights are withdrawn, usually within National Parks and National Seashores but even then not in every instance. There are National Parks where prospecting is exempted from the withdrawal. All wilderness areas are open to non mechanized prospecting.

You will need to read the withdrawal order itself to see what prospecting rights you have in a mineral withdrawal. In this particular instance the actual mineral withdrawal language is not included in the official Federal Register notice! That's been common since the election while the BLM scrambles to publish as many land orders as possible before the new President takes charge of their agency. There have been quite a few sloppy or incomplete notices published in the last few weeks. I'm not sure leaving out the details is legal and that might be a good point to make if you are going to leave a comment on the withdrawal. How could you possibly make an informed comment if the details of the proposed action are not published?

I doubt a request for the specific wording of the proposed mineral withdrawal is truly available but you can try calling the Arizona BLM number published for that request in the Federal Register. I have the feeling this was rushed into publication and the Arizona State BLM office is well known for acting without completing the required administrative work first. Unless the withdrawal order covers all aspects of the Mining Acts the order itself controls - not the opinion of local BLM management. If the withdrawal is for all rights (doubtful) then it's up to the management whether you can "recreate" with your metal detector.

[beatup]

Better work fast they did the same in the black hills ,they did it on the QT so no one found out till to late.

[klunker]

 Re activate the appropriate mining district.

[Clay Diggins]

58 minutes ago, klunker said:

 Re activate the appropriate mining district.

That won't work for the Vulture area - there never was a district formed. That whole concept isn't going to work in Arizona because the original districts were exclusive - as in they excluded new miners, all Mexicans (new or already owning claims) and usually Chinese for good measure.

I know the current miners there and I seriously doubt you could ever get a majority of claim owners to vote to form a district.

In some states it's illegal to reform mining districts.

Sometimes it's just better to do the thing yourself.

[klunker]

 Thanks Clay. I kind of posted that tongue in cheek. But here in Ca.,the land of the fee and home of the depraved, public comment, writing the elected or attending public information meetings is worse than a bad joke. Bad jokes don't waste as much time.

 Just to keep this within the realm of this forum-- Do you prefer round or square magnets on you pick?

[Clay Diggins]

I prefer dancing girls to operate my pick. So far they prefer round magnets and Hermit picks. If they change their minds (their prerogative from what I've been told) then it will be square or rectangular possibly triangular or asymmetric - I make it a habit not to argue with dancing girls with picks. YMMV