Rail Dawg

Clay your contributions to your fellow prospectors are nothing short of incredible!

I encourage everyone to become a member of mylandmatters.org

Half the battle in prospecting is trying to locate a place where we can legally do so.  

Clay and the good folks at mylandmatters make this process so much easier...

Please keep up the good work.

Hey Lunk well done!

We have a dozen+ claims in Rye Patch and go at least once a month sometimes more!

The 2 trips last month were great!

We were wondering if we saw you out there.

I've had a few folks say there's no gold in Rye Patch but there most definitely is!

Heading out this week for 5 days of detecting in Section 18 and our secret area.

Looks like Thanksgiving Day will be spent out in the mountains of Rye Patch lol.

We are upgrading soon to the Minelab 7000gpz's and also have firm plans to file with the BLM so we can get a bulldozer out to do some scraping.

We have found several areas on our claims where we pull out gold along with trash that has been buried for a very long time... telling us many parts are still undetected with good machines.

Glad to see you had such good luck.

Maybe we'll see you out there soon.

We'll keep an eye out for hi-graders if you'll do the same.

Saw 2 last week on one of our claims and asked them nicely to leave.

Next time not-so-nice lol.

Take care!

Going to prospect at Rye Patch for 4 days next week.  

As long as no snow and ground not frozen we’re on it lol!

Maybe we’ll see some of you out there. 

4 hours ago, cobill said:

 

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

Getting back to the original topic subject for those computer experts, are Sections 17 and 21 private subsurface status and therefore there can be no prospecting (including metal detecting) or mining on those sections without the mineral owners written permission?

Bill

Hi Bill,

Good question.

This is correct.

On the Master Title Plat (you can get one from mylandmatters.org) it shows 17, 19 and 21 as having Restricted Minerals which means that the minerals are privately owned.

As Clay Diggins has mentioned you do need written permission from the owner to prospect/mine on these claims.

Lots of smart people on here.  

Clay Diggins continues to be the expert whose knowledge of mining and land law is priceless. 

The fact he shares this knowledge freely on this forum means a great deal.  

Prospecting is just one part of the equation in mining.  

Knowing the laws and land matters is equally important.   

I now use the Master Title Plat because this is the document that the BLM uses to keep track of land status.  

Clay Diggins is far more knowledgeable than me and he will weigh in again I bet Mitchel.  

You bring up great points that do need further discussion.  

The Master Title Plat for T32N R32E is here:

We can see that Section 19 has Restricted Minerals as do the other odd-numbered sections. 

I'll ask that Clay Diggins perhaps explain this in his way because he is so good at it.  

Bottom line is many of us expend a lot of time and money to locate and maintain our Rye Patch claims.  

We have to protect what is lawfully ours and I'm glad we are having this discussion.

We have plans to scrape down a couple feet in areas that have never been scraped.

We never prospect anywhere but where we know our prospecting is right by the mining laws.  

This has been educational for all of us.  

In the end we'll all be on the same page and we need to mentor others on the correct way to prospect.  

Many thanks.   

29 minutes ago, benzyoc said:

Next time I'm out there I'll ask around about section 19 and stick to dans claims. I know they have outing events on 19 all the time. Even sponsored events right at burn. But just doing what everyone else does doesn't make it right.  If I figure anything out I'll post. 

Would like to meet with you out there. 

Still lots of gold in Rye Patch.  

There are several areas not hit by the best detectors. 

10 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

Barry,

Thanks for your clarification.  It is humbling to know that my 'common knowledge' and research is inadequate and incomplete in this matter.

I'll have to look at more than Land Management and claims when I research open ground.  

Mitchel

It takes a real man and a true prospector to say this on an open forum of peers.

You've got my respect Mitchel.

Trust me I learn something new every day about mining for gold.

I just made yet another donation to MyLandMatters.org

Clay Diggins (Barry) works hard to bring this information to all of us and it is a site worth visiting on a regular basis.

We have been finding a lot of trash in Rye Patch so the area isn't as picked over as it might seem.

Square nails, screws, bottle caps from a long time ago.

Some of this trash a few inches deep so it's obvious that the ground wasn't hit by metal detectors.

And we did find gold on Sunday.

We do need to upgrade from the ATX Pro and are going to be buying 2 of the Minelab GTZ 7000's.

My original post was only to call out that we saw prospectors hi-grading in Section 19 and we are well-versed on who owns those minerals.

I didn't realize as a new member to the forum that maybe those prospectors were here!

We have many claims that we work out there and have worked very hard to gain the knowledge necessary to locate and maintain those claims.

No they weren't bought off eBay we did it the hard way lol.

To Rudy and Lucky Lundy you guys were great to talk with at the Gold Digger Inn.

We go out to Rye Patch almost monthly so maybe when we see you again you can give us some pointers on operating the 7000's.

We're not going to spill any secrets but there is definitely gold still at Rye Patch in certain areas.

Again Clay Diggins is the MASTER of claims and all things land-related.

His words are worth their weight in gold.

No harm no foul we move forward from here as fellow miners.

Clay.  

Thank you.  

It’s what we live by as miners.  

You have taught me plenty over the years. 

From what I understand Newmont Mining owns the mineral lease on Section 19. 

The gold is technically theirs.  

That is why we see no claims on the odd-numbered sections.

I'll ask BLM Reno tomorrow and post the answer. 

I see your point about trespassing.

In the law you posted I see in the first bullet points:

"1. Unless a greater penalty is provided pursuant to NRS 200.603, any person who, under circumstances not amounting to a burglary:

(a) Goes upon the land or into any building of another with intent to vex or annoy the owner or occupant thereof, or to commit any unlawful act; OR

(b) Willfully goes or remains upon any land or in any building after having been warned by the owner or occupant thereof not to trespass,is guilty of a misdemeanor.

The meaning of this subsection is not limited by subsections 2 and 4."

Just going on the land is trespassing (an unlawful act) as is the taking of minerals (another unlawful act) with or without signs or warnings.

It still doesn't seem right to go onto someone else's private land without permission but maybe that is just me.

If one takes the landowners minerals can they also take their cattle?

Where is the line drawn?

I won't do it as I see it as unlawful.

As long as folks are aware that most of Rye Patch especially 08, 18, 20, 24 and 30 are all claimed up and they should not prospect there I'm cool.

It's up to Newmont if they don't mind trespassers I won't fight that battle for them.

That's all I've got thanks for the good discussion!

Every claim in Sections 08, 18, 20, 24 and 30 I know are fully claimed.  

The odd-numbered sections are privately owned and Nevada Law does not require owners to post No Trespassing signs.  

We as prospectors are obligated to find areas that aren’t claimed or privately owned.  

To not do so earns one the title of Claim-Jumper or Trespasser.  

MyLandMatters.org is a great place to do research as is LR2000.

14 hours ago, benzyoc said:

If the claims are clearly and properly marked I doubt many people will chance jumping on to a claim especially one like section 18. Section 19 has plenty of detectable gold and it's not claimed. Also Dan kindly offers his GOOD claims to anyone for 20 bucks a day. 

A simple google search shows that " running plates" is illegal. So if your running plates I wouldn't advertise that. None of the land is marked no trespassing. Owning a claim is different from owing the land. 

Also so if I see a game camera laying around on on unmarked land it's going in my backpack. 

Best solution is to clearly mark your claims. I doubt many people are interested claim jumping the sections you have. 

Make friends with the local people. 

You catch more flys with honey.

I think Section 19 is owned by Newmont Mining.

I'll do a quick search and find out although they did own it for years or have the lease on it.

Have spoke with them recently and they insist they don't want trespassers on their property mainly for liability reasons.

I'm friends with many claim owners out there and we keep an eye on each other.

I must admit if you steal one game camera it would be funny to have the other cameras catch that lol.

No worries we're all prospectors.

Don't claim-jump and don't trespass I think we'll all get along just fine don't you?

6 minutes ago, cobill said:

Hey Rail Dawg,

If you see any claim jumpers on my two 20-acre claims in NE Sec 18 run them off! Those claims were expensive. I was out there in May and a neighboring claim owner stopped by and we talked...he had to run some guys off my claims. They dug holes without back filling them, left a pick and Kellyco bag....my buddy has them now. 

Bill Moore

Laporte, CO.

We're with you Bill!

We also have claims in the NE of Section 18 (also Section 8).

Absolutely no tolerance for claim-jumpers.

Just glad the sheriff is willing to write citations.

Pershing County (Rye Patch) Sheriff will write citations based on video evidence.

At Rye Patch we only called the claim-jumpers and told them next time we'll press charges.

It's not that hard to do it right and get your own claim.

We have installed a few game cameras because of other claim-jumpers on our claims several months ago.

We did run their plates and were able to contact them.

It was a friendly conversation and they agreed not to trespass on our hard-won claims.

I do hate to be like this.

But the laws are there for a reason as is our code.

1 hour ago, LipCa said:

" but we aren't the police and didn't want conflict." ......................... good judgment

"Perhaps these prospectors had the required permission " .....................  maybe they did?

My advice is that unless you know a crime is being committed,  don't do anything. 

Now, you could contact the owners and say, "I see you are giving permission to detect on your claim/property. Could I get permission too"

By asking, you may be the only one that ends up getting permission.

We own several claims in Rye Patch and unfortunately we have witnessed something disturbing.

BLM land is in squares next to private land that used to belong to the railroads.

The private land for the most part is owned by some of the big mining companies like Newmont Mining.

Recently there were several prospectors seen on both claimed land and on the private land owned by Newmont.

We have been going to Rye Patch for years and know many of the claim owners.

Prospecting on private land or on anothers claim without permission goes against the "code" we miners hold dear.

They weren't on our claims (fortunately).

We probably should have stopped by and asked if they had permission but we aren't the police and didn't want conflict.

I'm posting this here because "claim-jumping" from what I understand is a felony.

Perhaps these prospectors had the required permission but if not any gold obtained is basically stealing...

Something most of us are very much against.

Not sure what to do the next time we see these types of prospectors although if they are on our claims I know very well what we will do.

Any advice appreciated.