Inactive, Active Mining Claim

[DWF]

Hello everybody,

im on the search for a load claim or two. 
In my search I’ve been doing some research on an old mine I know about. It has some promising history, and worth some further investigation   

The problem is it has a current active claim on it. The same company has owned it for around 30 years, but nothing has been done with it in that time. 
i can’t figure  out why someone would keep a claim that long, and not do anything with it? Possibly an environmental group keeping it from being mined?

my question is, doesn’t some kind of work have to be done to keep it valid?

thanks for any replies!

 

[WesD]

I feel your pain, but the way the claim system is setup, they dont need to do a thing to their claim but pay the annual maintenance fee (no onsite work required) or file a small miners waiver which requires some minuscule work done on site.   Its a bummer as it locks up good land that could be mined by people that want to mine rather than dreamers hoping to flip the property one day. Or I think many just like idea they own a mine, and its just paperwork sitting in their portfolio of investments.

[mn90403]

Take a chance on calling the claim owner and tell them you can do a survey for them at no charge if they let you keep what you find.  Sign a waiver for them so if you get hurt they are not liable.   There are still a few claim owners that will let you hunt if you ask them in the right way.

[DWF]

Have you guys ever heard of an environmental group holding claims to keep it from being mined? Just a theory. 
 

[WesD]

Yep they do it. I know of a large hydraulic mine in my area partially  held by an enviro group. If the mine is prominent, well known, and would look good on their books, its a possibility.  

 

[Steve Herschbach]

There are various requirements, but the claims system has essentially devolved into a leasing system, and as long as the appropriate agencies get their money, claims can be help almost indefinitely with almost no requirement to ever set foot on them.  Concepts such as a valid discovery have become a joke. I’d institute a much stronger “work it or lose it” policy, but the entrenched powers that be will insure nothing substantial ever happens to change the existing system.

The whys do not matter at all. The claims are either valid on the books or not, and if valid then prospecting on them without permission is a potentially pursuable criminal offense. Contact the owner of record..  you literally have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

[DWF]

Some interesting developments....

i got a hold of the owner, wasn’t easy to find his number. He said he sold it to a company, but didn’t remember the name of the company. But the claim is still listed under his LLC. Which upon further investigation was dissolved a couple years ago. If the company no longer exists, does that make the claim invalid, since that’s who is listed as the owner?

kind of like a claim being owned by someone who died?

[Clay Diggins]

On 7/9/2020 at 6:56 PM, DWF said:

Some interesting developments....

i got a hold of the owner, wasn’t easy to find his number. He said he sold it to a company, but didn’t remember the name of the company. But the claim is still listed under his LLC. Which upon further investigation was dissolved a couple years ago. If the company no longer exists, does that make the claim invalid, since that’s who is listed as the owner?

kind of like a claim being owned by someone who died?

Somebody is still filing and paying on the claim. As far as the federal government is concerned that's adequate to maintain the claim in good standing no matter what the status of the LLC.

Whether the claim is valid against subsequent location or not is a matter for the local court of record to decide once there is a dispute over an adverse claim. The BLM and Federal courts can not legally resolve claim ownership disputes between locators. A dispute would require an overclaim and a civil lawsuit being filed by either adverse claimant in county court.

As far as determining who presently owns the claim you will need to search the County Recorder records to determine if it has actually been sold. The BLM only tracks claims transfers to obtain current contact information. The failure of a claim owner to inform the BLM of a claim transfer, in and of itself, does not affect the claim case file status or a claim's validity.

The very first mining law is still in effect and basically says the federal government can have no role in determining claim rights or ownership as among adverse claimants. Since 1865 it's been up to claim owners to settle their disputes among themselves with their only recourse to an inability to resolve their differences being the local courts.