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Again I want to say thanks for the work you do! I was curious as to what you think the reason is behind the big drop in claims in the AZ counties you listed? I'm assuming the land status did not change or did it?

I have a theory but it is based on my very limited experience and minimal research in my neck of the woods sands. I think the 2 biggest factors were the decrease in the price of gold and the concurrent increase in the cost of claim fees. I know that the association my Dad belongs to down here had to drop more than 50% of their claims when the fees went up. I think there are a lot of folks who bought claims thinking the gold price would continue it's rise and they would score by selling the claims they owned but we all know what has happened short term.

Thanks again and once I get done with some of my programming classes maybe I can volunteer some time to help if you're in need of that type of thing.

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So, I take it the only way a guy can be sure about California is to hit the County Recorder's Office before doing any detecting to be sure you're not on someone's claim?

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On 1/19/2016 at 7:42 PM, nevadad00d said:

So, I take it the only way a guy can be sure about California is to hit the County Recorder's Office before doing any detecting to be sure you're not on someone's claim?

That, a search of the LR2000, knowledge of the current land status and a survey with boots on the ground are all required before entering the public lands to prospect for valuable minerals.

The County Recorder usually has much more up to date and accurate records than the BLM case files or the LR2000. Even if both those show no claims new locators still have 90 days after making their location to record public notice and file with the BLM. 90 days is 1/4 year.

The BLM LR2000 mining claims maps offered on Land Matters are only one tool in the research needed to determine public lands open to location. Other very useful and necessary tools offered there are the current land status maps and the ability to download the Master Title Plats directly from the map. Together these tools cover most of the information needed to determine the "current" status of the public lands from the Federal point of view. That's not enough to know if the land is open to claim but it's a good start.

Land Matters makes land research much easier than visiting the various government offices or websites. It's an information source that is usually more current and accurate than the public offerings of the various land management agency websites. Easier, more current and more accurate is good but it's far from the complete picture needed to be assured that any particular piece of land is open to prospecting.

Barry

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On 1/19/2016 at 5:54 PM, Azavsfan said:

Again I want to say thanks for the work you do! I was curious as to what you think the reason is behind the big drop in claims in the AZ counties you listed? I'm assuming the land status did not change or did it?

I have a theory but it is based on my very limited experience and minimal research in my neck of the woods sands. I think the 2 biggest factors were the decrease in the price of gold and the concurrent increase in the cost of claim fees. I know that the association my Dad belongs to down here had to drop more than 50% of their claims when the fees went up. I think there are a lot of folks who bought claims thinking the gold price would continue it's rise and they would score by selling the claims they owned but we all know what has happened short term.

Thanks again and once I get done with some of my programming classes maybe I can volunteer some time to help if you're in need of that type of thing.

 

You are welcome Azavsfan.

I'm not seeing a particularly big drop in claims in Arizona. Annual mining claims turnover has always been high in Arizona. I do think some of the recent turnover is related to fees but most claims are lodes that have experienced very little fee increase. Gold price in itself does contribute to the fluctuation in the number of claims but all mineral commodity prices and demand are in a slump. Gold has done better than most mineral commodities and most mining claims are made for those other minerals. In Arizona copper is king. Copper is suffering badly these days.

I think a lot of the placer claim losses are due to extreme prejudice in claims regulation enforcement by the Arizona State BLM. There is now an obvious effort at the Arizona BLM to challenge placer claims on the shallowest of pretexts. I get quite a few claim owners distressed over silly challenges and demands that are often unenforceable. I've helped a lot of them deflect these challenges but the smaller miners often give up their claims rather than go through a six month to two year appeal cycle. The Arizona office is the training center for the nation so this recent activity has much wider implications in the long run.

Prospecting clubs in particular have been hit hard by these challenge policies. These clubs rarely have a good knowledge of the laws and regulations regarding mining claims so they are an easy target that produces a lot of closed claims and fee generation from new claims being made to replace the closed claims. Most of these claim challenges have been justified on a minor regulatory interpretation basis but the misinformation passed to the clubs from the BLM in a "friendly" effort to help them come into compliance often actually results in closure.

Currently there is an attempt by the Arizona office to enforce claim closures on 9 million acres of former state lands that have been declared open by both the Arizona Supreme Court and the Federal District court.  The BLM is up to about seven months of multiple administrative hearing delays to the appeal because they are still searching for any document that might support their position. The IBLA continues to grant those delays automatically despite the fact their previous decisions on these lands have been overturned before.

We can always use good programming help. In particular PHP, GIS and spatial data work are always needed at Land Matters. Give us a call or an email when you've got the time and we will see how you can volunteer. Your continued support is really appreciated.

Barry

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  • 4 weeks later...

The LR2000 is still down as it has been for the last six days.  If you are looking for an alternative check out the Land Matters Mining Claims Map.

The main Denver BLM customer data servers where we get the latest claims updates are still operating and they did update with the latest extraction. They were a bit late putting that together so we've been working to get that information to you as soon as possible.

The new BLM active claims map update has just now been loaded up to the Land Matters servers.

Now we are in the curious situation where Land Matters has more current BLM claims information than the LR2000 or any other source on the internet.

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