Jump to content

A Week In Lake Havasu


Recommended Posts

Im headed down to Lake Havasu for a week on vacation with my wife, daughter, and grandson. I was hoping to sneak away and use my Gold Pro for at least one day or two. I's it possible to find a spot with any gold in it at all thats not claimed? I would sure like to spend a little time with my 10 year old grandson out detecting. Can anyone help me out with a little info as to should I take my detector or am I wasting my time.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


As far as I’m concerned, unless the supposed claim is clearly marked and posted in accordance with the current regulations, it’s not valid….there also needs to be a discovery monument. When  I’m out prospecting an area I always carry a USGS topo map with me and if confronted, I’ll pull it out and politely ask if they’d mind showing me the boundaries….

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When are you going? Send me your email in a PM if you are interested in going to Franconia.  Also, are you in any clubs?

-Anthony

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tom T said:

As far as I’m concerned, unless the supposed claim is clearly marked and posted in accordance with the current regulations, it’s not valid….there also needs to be a discovery monument. When  I’m out prospecting an area I always carry a USGS topo map with me and if confronted, I’ll pull it out and politely ask if they’d mind showing me the boundaries….

That's a foolish and counterproductive attitude Tom. It's always the prospectors legal duty to determine the status of any land they intend to prospect - that includes mining claim rights.

I see you are in California. Are you aware there is no legal requirement in California to maintain markers or signs indicating the boundaries or even the existence of a mining claim? Those are the "current regulations".

Mineral ownership (mining claims included) in California have the same status as any other real estate. Just like you aren't required to post a sign to keep people from entering your garage and "prospecting" for some nice tools there is no legal requirement to maintain signage on a mining claim. Under the law the only notice you need to provide to the general public is a record of the mining claim location notice recorded at the County Recorder's office. That single location notice public record legally puts the public on notice of your mineral rights. No signs or markers required.

Personally I think any mining claim worth owning is worth posting with notices informing the public of the mineral status. That's not a legal requirement in any state but as a practical matter it makes sense. Lets look at how that actually works in practice.

A placer claim can be as large as 160 acres. How many notices would the claimant have to post to make sure you know you are on a mining  claim? (Your stated standard) That probably depends on the terrain. Lets suppose that 160 acre claim is almost flat. How far away can you see a mining claim sign when you are wandering around prospecting on that claim? Can you read a sign 1/4 mile away? That's the distance between corners on a 160 acre claim. Now imagine the typical mining claim with it's many hills, washes and cliffs. How close together do the signs have to be then? A few hundred feet or less right? Now you are up to as many as 40 - 50 signs around that mining claim. Now imagine this very common situation where a range cow finally found a nice post to scratch that itch. The cow destroys your sign but dam it felt good to finally scratch that itch! This happens a lot. Is the claimant required to walk the mile boundary of their claim every day in case you show up prospecting and don't see the cow destroyed sign?

Now I know I'm just some guy on the internet and you quite clearly believe you know the laws of mineral trespass so I'm going to share some of the California laws about mining claims:

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE
SECTION 3900-3924

3921.  The record of any location of a mining claim, millsite, or
tunnel right in the office of the county recorder, as provided in
this chapter, shall be received in evidence and have the same force
and effect in the courts of the state as the original notice.


3922.  Copies of the records of all instruments required to be
recorded by this chapter, duly certified by the recorder in whose
custody the records are, may be read in evidence under the same
circumstances and rules as are provided by law for using copies of
instruments relating to real estate, duly executed or acknowledged or
proved and recorded.

So yeah - mining claims are real estate. Taxable real estate in California. Entering someone else's real estate with the intent to take some of the real estate for yourself is theft under California law and every other state's laws. That pretty much covers the legal aspect of mineral high grading.

Now the part where I said your idea was foolish and counterproductive. That wasn't meant to be a comment on your character but a warning as to the eventual consequences of your ideas about mineral ownership. From your posts I see you are a casual prospector. Usually folks that pursue mining for recreation get their knowledge of how to prospect successfully and their knowledge of good gold areas from other casual prospectors. Quite often casual prospectors will share a location or even their own claim with other prospectors. If those other casual prospectors can't trust your knowledge of where it's OK to prospect why would they share the spots they have already researched and found open to prospecting? As any successful prospector knows the key to success is doing the research to put you on good gold on open ground before putting boots on the ground.

This legal requirement to determine the land status before you prospect is nothing new. It's just another skill needed by the successful prospector. Prospectors in the 1880's were able to meet that requirement by traveling to and studying the paper records so there is no reason a modern prospector can't do the same thing more easily. With online public records and resources like Land Matters that necessary research step is easier than it ever has been before.

Maybe rethink your theory in light of the facts. It's the legal thing to do but more importantly respecting other people's property is the right thing to do.

 

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Clay Diggins said:

That's a foolish and counterproductive attitude Tom. It's always the prospectors legal duty to determine the status of any land they intend to prospect - that includes mining claim rights.

I see you are in California. Are you aware there is no legal requirement in California to maintain markers or signs indicating the boundaries or even the existence of a mining claim? Those are the "current regulations".

Mineral ownership (mining claims included) in California have the same status as any other real estate. Just like you aren't required to post a sign to keep people from entering your garage and "prospecting" for some nice tools there is no legal requirement to maintain signage on a mining claim. Under the law the only notice you need to provide to the general public is a record of the mining claim location notice recorded at the County Recorder's office. That single location notice public record legally puts the public on notice of your mineral rights. No signs or markers required.

Personally I think any mining claim worth owning is worth posting with notices informing the public of the mineral status. That's not a legal requirement in any state but as a practical matter it makes sense. Lets look at how that actually works in practice.

A placer claim can be as large as 160 acres. How many notices would the claimant have to post to make sure you know you are on a mining  claim? (Your stated standard) That probably depends on the terrain. Lets suppose that 160 acre claim is almost flat. How far away can you see a mining claim sign when you are wandering around prospecting on that claim? Can you read a sign 1/4 mile away? That's the distance between corners on a 160 acre claim. Now imagine the typical mining claim with it's many hills, washes and cliffs. How close together do the signs have to be then? A few hundred feet or less right? Now you are up to as many as 40 - 50 signs around that mining claim. Now imagine this very common situation where a range cow finally found a nice post to scratch that itch. The cow destroys your sign but dam it felt good to finally scratch that itch! This happens a lot. Is the claimant required to walk the mile boundary of their claim every day in case you show up prospecting and don't see the cow destroyed sign?

Now I know I'm just some guy on the internet and you quite clearly believe you know the laws of mineral trespass so I'm going to share some of the California laws about mining claims:

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE
SECTION 3900-3924

3921.  The record of any location of a mining claim, millsite, or
tunnel right in the office of the county recorder, as provided in
this chapter, shall be received in evidence and have the same force
and effect in the courts of the state as the original notice.


3922.  Copies of the records of all instruments required to be
recorded by this chapter, duly certified by the recorder in whose
custody the records are, may be read in evidence under the same
circumstances and rules as are provided by law for using copies of
instruments relating to real estate, duly executed or acknowledged or
proved and recorded.

So yeah - mining claims are real estate. Taxable real estate in California. Entering someone else's real estate with the intent to take some of the real estate for yourself is theft under California law and every other state's laws. That pretty much covers the legal aspect of mineral high grading.

Now the part where I said your idea was foolish and counterproductive. That wasn't meant to be a comment on your character but a warning as to the eventual consequences of your ideas about mineral ownership. From your posts I see you are a casual prospector. Usually folks that pursue mining for recreation get their knowledge of how to prospect successfully and their knowledge of good gold areas from other casual prospectors. Quite often casual prospectors will share a location or even their own claim with other prospectors. If those other casual prospectors can't trust your knowledge of where it's OK to prospect why would they share the spots they have already researched and found open to prospecting? As any successful prospector knows the key to success is doing the research to put you on good gold on open ground before putting boots on the ground.

This legal requirement to determine the land status before you prospect is nothing new. It's just another skill needed by the successful prospector. Prospectors in the 1880's were able to meet that requirement by traveling to and studying the paper records so there is no reason a modern prospector can't do the same thing more easily. With online public records and resources like Land Matters that necessary research step is easier than it ever has been before.

Maybe rethink your theory in light of the facts. It's the legal thing to do but more importantly respecting other people's property is the right thing to do.

 

Clay is the man! Great info and yes, I pay my share of taxes on land the claims are on. We need more people like Clay for sure. 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

Clay is the man! Great info and yes, I pay my share of taxes on land the claims are on. We need more people like Clay for sure. 

   One more thing. It is great that Clay took the time to educate and post this info for everyone. Many thanks.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, GotAU? said:

When are you going? Send me your email in a PM if you are interested in going to Franconia.  Also, are you in any clubs?

-Anthony

Back to the original topic, If @Bucksnboulders would like some help and is going to be out there this week, give me a PM.

Clay’s  website Mylandmatters.org, will help clear up any issues with claims that you should avoid. You don’t need to worry about it if you are only looking for meteorites, but I would get permission first if you happen to be doing anything like that on someone’s mineral claim.

I’m not that familiar with Havasu City area,  however I noticed in some of the old historic reports that Havasu is sitting near some gold districts near the river and mountains to the east of it where there has been previous placer mining, including the Chemehuevi placers, Gold Wing Mine, Mexican Diggings, Crossman Peak, among others.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Clay, I would love to be able to figure out how to use the site you set up, some kind of mental block I guess. I normally can figure out these things but so far not this. Regardless, I still believe claims should be marked, it's not that tuff. I belong to a club located in AZ that marks their claims very well, to me, every one can do the same. I/we spend time to find all of the claim markers on our claims before detecting. Some folks, if not many, do not have the resources or not the up-to-date knowledge of using modern tec. to check on-line or to go to regional BLM to check on current claims. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...