Clay Diggins

Nice looking kit. I too like the large bottom. Never got much use out of a smaller pan but you can't have too many pans. So is this kit P.I or VLF?

This same proposal has been made for every budget since 1998. Lots of drama no action has been the result for the last 18 years. Think about this for a minute - a federal agency is asking for fewer duties and responsibilities while asking for a bigger budget. Very "green" - very BLM. You can make your own conclusions about it's probable inclusion in the next budget.

Ah... facebook não é bom - no es bueno - not for me.

I'm not seeing a video? I had a Brazilian business partner for several years. He sponsored a lot of Brazilians into the States and taught English to them so I managed to pick up a little Português. Not saying I could translate but I know the difference between an x and a sh.

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.

I doubt your FootPrints will run there Prickly. The OS for Windows 10 on Android is Windows Mobile. We've got a lot of FootPrints users on Windows 10 for PC but the Android Mobile version is only related to the other Windows in appearance. The Android runs on ARM architecture not on Intel like Windows computers. FootPrints doesn't have a bit of Java or Cordova in it so it's kind of like trying to mate a donkey with a pigeon. The donkey may be smart enough and the Pigeon may be willing but the result is unlikely to be anything you would want to clean up after. If you do decide to try the install I want pictures. Never seen a donkeyette with a beak and feathers. Barry

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

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

I own a 10 foot pole but I decided to pass on this thread anyway until I saw your post Chris. You get it! Thank you for making the facts concise and to the point. Have you considered writing about mining issues? Barry

Welcome Lanny. Good to see you here. Barry

As they do twice each month the Land Matters Mining Claims Maps have been updated. Not much change in California or Colorado this time - more on that later. Arizona had some big closures in Mohave and La Paz Counties. Nearly 1,600 claims total. New Mexico continues with the closing of a lot of claims in Sierra, Catron and Grant Counties. Nevada topped this list again with more than 2,100 closed claims. The most recent Claims Advantage Members Report is showing there have been 26,689 closed since last September 1 with at least 18,904 still to be determined. The bulk of those undetermined claims are in California, Colorado, Nevada and Wyoming. Percentage wise California is the big hold up - they have processed 46 claims in the last 4 1/2 months with at least 3,477 claims still to go. That's a little more than .01% of their job done after more than 1/3 of the mining year has passed.

It is not a map of "just" the mining claims affected. The map has several options for display on the right side. Among those options is displaying the full proposed withdrawal area. Under the category "Mining Claims" you will see an option "Proposed Sage Grouse Mineral Withdrawal" with a checkbox to the left of it. Click on the checkbox and refresh or zoom in on the map and the full area of the "Proposed Sage Grouse Mineral Withdrawal" will be displayed. If the proposed withdrawal is approved new claims will not be allowed for the next 20 years. More than likely prospecting will be allowed. Mineral leasing will still be allowed. You can see the few details about what activities are being restricted by reading the withdrawal notice.

Those are the maps that were used in the five year multi state endangered species study. The result of that five year study was that the Sage Grouse is neither endangered or threatened. The map you show was last updated in May of last year, The Proposed Mineral Withdrawal was first revealed at the end of September. To this date the only map of the proposed withdrawal area is the one shown on the Map I linked you to. I've been working for months on getting better information than the map shown here but this is the only map the BLM is using to describe the proposed withdrawal area. This is the best information available. Read the report and study the proposed withdrawal and I think you will see that the map you posted has nothing to do with the proposed withdrawal. The BLM has not been forthcoming about the details of this withdrawal. Much of what they have published is very misleading. That's why Land Matters has spent so much time and effort to squeeze the facts out of the BS being presented. My hope was that interested citizens would take the time to review the facts and make their opinions known on whether 7,000 claims should face challenges and 10 million acres closed to mining because the Sage Grouse population is so healthy. It appears the BLM misinformation campaign has been effective in obscuring the facts. The link you posted to the BLM map showing the proposed withdrawal is the same as the one I presented but the BLM map doesn't show any mining claims or land status. Neither California nor most of the areas shown on the downloaded "Proposed Plan Habitat" map you linked to are being considered in the proposed withdrawal.

There are no areas in California included in the proposed withdrawal. The map you linked to is not the areas that are a subject of the proposed mineral withdrawal. Take a look at the Map I offered. The withdrawn area layer is a direct feed from the BLM.

That's the male doing his courting dance. He looks pretty good during the mating season. I showed the female - not so pretty but good eating.

About $1.95 a pound. A little more than chicken although the price is coming down since they are breeding faster than they can be dressed and packaged at the market. Pretty aren't they? Because after the largest longest and most expensive endangered species study in history it was determined they were not only NOT endangered or even moderately threatened they nearly doubled their natural population during the study. Too many Sage Grouse and too many politicians = mining bad. That's modern math.

The Sage Grouse Proposed Mineral Withdrawal by the BLM would close nearly 10 million acres of land to mineral entry. This affects claims in 5 western states. Friday the 15th of January (this Friday!) is the deadline for comments on the proposal. Generally comments and opinions don't apply to the Secretary's decision but with the time near and facts on hand a little attention by more than a few voters and representatives might just convince the Secretary to think twice. If the withdrawal goes ahead no new claims can be made in the withdrawn area. In addition the existing claims are likely to come under greater scrutiny and challenges to their validity. That puts nearly 7,000 mining claims in the sights of the BLM land managers. Now is the most effective time to share your opinions and present facts to influence the outcome. With little time left the Secretary will have less chance to bring influence or political pressure to bear on members of Congress should they object. Land Matters has been working hard to figure out how many and which claims will be at stake should the withdrawal be approved. We've produced a comprehensive report on all the claims affected in this proposal and made an interactive map with just the claims within the proposed withdrawal area. The BLM did not assist in the preparation of this report. We spent considerable time and effort in hand mapping the location of these claims in relation to the proposed withdrawal. I could find no evidence the Secretary even knows how many or what claims would be affected. I'm sure she and your representatives would appreciate being informed of this information to help their decisions to be made on all the facts available. This is a factual report that you can not only view online but there is a zipped download available directly from the reports front page. At a mere 159Kb in size this report can be shared by email quite easily. Why not look over the whole situation and check in with your representatives to make sure they know the facts about the potential effects of this withdrawal should it be approved. The new custom interactive Sage Grouse Proposed Withdrawal Map shows just the claims affected with all the claim information normally found only on the Land Matters Mining Claims Maps. Be sure to read and download the interactive Sage Grouse Proposed Withdrawal Report too. To give you an idea of whats at stake with this withdrawal look over this summary chart from the report. Barry

Sulphur detection is probably the major commercial use for XRF. Fuels, chemicals and food suppliers use them extensively. That being said the machines they use now are very programmable so it could easily be that the explanation for no Sulphur was that it wasn't tested for. Good call.

Are they 99.75% certain that it's iron? Or is the material 99.75% iron? The reason I ask is Pyrite runs about 47% iron and 53% sulfur. I'm sure there's some variation in that ratio but 99.75% iron wouldn't form a pyrite. It's nice material and the piece 1515art gave you is particularly suited to jewelry. I'm eager to see the final result. Thanks for sharing 1515art your generosity is inspiring and I'm sure Steve will do a beautiful job. Good stone has always been a fascination for me. I never tire of seeing what will be revealed by the saw and the wheel. Barry

That's Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly nevada00d. It's kinda important to the Navajo. No gold there or anywhere near there. The Lost Adams mine is 187.56 miles away as the crow flies.

There aren't any publicly available systems like the Alaska State mining maps because the lower 48 weren't granted the minerals at Statehood. Alaska is virtually unique in that respect with the exception of Texas. What little mineral lands that are owned by the western states are held in dedicated trusts and are generally leased by the section by non public means. The public claims mapping systems in Alaska, British Colombia and Australia are great examples of how things could be with a little effort and ingenuity. I'm not holding my breath for that sea change. Barry

I was responding to your previous question Jasong: I wasn't offering to map private ownership of subsurface estate for free I was only speaking of mapping public ownership of subsurface estate. The BLM doesn't have any public record of private subsurface (mineral) ownership. If you are a Landman I'm sure you already understand that. There are about 300 million acres of surface estate and about 700 million acres of subsurface estate under U.S. ownership in the lower 48. Essentially that means that only about 42% of all mineral lands are shown on current maps. The fact that the BLM doesn't actually know the total of subsurface acres should tell you something about the accuracy of what maps they do have. I do care about accuracy. Putting out inaccurate information about mineral ownership to prospectors isn't something I'm willing to do. You might try something as simple as downloading the Master Title Plats and Supplements for your area of interest. Historical Indexes and Patents from the General Land Office should further clarify any specific questions you still have. The status of the PUBLIC lands, including the subsurface, is public information that can be looked up by anyone. The fact that the BLM has botched the job of keeping track of those subsurface lands isn't an indication the information is unavailable. Mapping those lands is a huge but doable project. Leasable minerals and O&G on private land is not a subject Land Matters will be addressing anytime in the next few years unless BIG grant money rolls in that's targeted at private lands status. As you already pointed out the status of the private lands in the U.S. is big business so I'm not holding my breath for anyone to pay to have that information available free to the public. Barry

We haven't had much time to work on that map Jasong. We've determined that most of what the BLM has offered for subsurface estate is out of date, inaccurate and not going to be shared in a usable form. We do have a long term plan in place to derive that information from public land and patent information. That's a very big project but it will accomplish several other goals in the process so we've determined that it's worth the effort. The bi-monthly extraction has a lot more information than the LR2000 website does. The whole database download amounts to more than 1 gig each two weeks and the information is presented in the original segregated table form unlike the aggregated LR2000 reporting service. Besides the ability to parse more extensive data and make innovative joins that are not possible with the LR2000 keeping each full database download allows us to do time and volume based analysis that isn't possible with the static data found in the LR2000 or single issue downloads from the bi monthly extract. If you have the drive space, a fully time and spatially enabled database system and some good processing power there are several analysis you can accomplish that go well beyond the LR2000 or BLM static reports available. The Land Matters Claims Advantage Special Reports are a good example with a lot more sophisticated reports still to come as the full database accumulates over time. You are welcome Azavsfan. It's encouraging to know that you have found it useful. The BLM and most other agencies have outsourced these projects for years to ESRI. Virtually every effort by that huge corporation, including the geocommunicator, has been a spectacular multi billion dollar failure. Our own frustration at this situation led us to create Land Matters. Despite the multi billion dollar ongoing budget for the geocommunicator Land Matters has accomplished more in a year with two unpaid part time volunteers working on 6 year old consumer computers than ESRI has done with approximately 4.7 billion dollars and all the resources of the Federal government in more than 15 years. Clearly public information is better presented by the public than by huge mismanaged government programs. The BLM is the least cooperative of the agencies we deal with. That's probably due to the culture that has built up there since the joining of the two agencies into the BLM in 1948. They are the least effective agency we've dealt with when it comes to their primary record keeping function. I think their substandard training and flawed record keeping systems lead to a "who cares" attitude. Add in the armed cop culture that was introduced in 1988 and you've got a generally substandard agency with a bad attitude towards the public they are supposed to serve. That being said there are good people that do a good job within the BLM. We deal with several of them on a regular basis. We've had quite a few of them contact us privately to thank us for what we do and for providing the tools they have come to rely on. I'm sure you would be surprised at who some of our government fans are. I hope we can encourage those individuals since years of hand slapping and shaming by Congress have done nothing to help the situation. In fact the result of Congress' efforts is generally the opposite of what you would expect. It's time to try something different and for us at least we've decided that difference is in encouraging the good ones and helping them succeed. The alternative is virtually unthinkable. The BLM in their Land Office function are the record keepers for the nation - they must succeed if we are to prosper. The fact is that we are stuck with these government agencies and their fruitless outsourcing contracts for the time being. We can make a difference but that's going to come down to individual effort. Trying to drum out the rot in these agencies by complaining is pretty much useless. Not everyone can take the reins with a project like Land Matters. We can however make a better future by encouraging the good, hardworking, competent individuals who work within these agencies every day. They have a thankless low paying job but they mostly persevere. Many eventually leave in frustration but with a little help, recognition and encouragement enough of them may stay and eventually create a helpful responsive government agency culture. All public land users can participate in communicating with the BLM personnel and thanking those who help. That's pretty simple and basic but the current standard of avoiding or making enemies of our public employees has obviously been counterproductive. The choice is always ours. We can curse and complain or we can encourage and enable. We've opted for a get it done attitude rather than waiting for these agencies to come around on their own. We may fail but no one will be able to say we didn't try. Barry

As many of you know Land Matters updates their free online mining claims maps twice a month. Normally we get updates from the BLM servers in Denver on the 2nd and the 16th of each month. We just received word today that the BLM has been having difficulty with their database updates for the last month or two and now it's affecting their partner delivery system. Best estimate right now is we will see updates by end of day tomorrow January 6th. If you were wondering when the claims map update is coming or when the Claims Advantage Member reports will be available now you know. We will bring those updates to you as soon as we have the information. Barry

Just a reminder: Small Miners claim holders need to have their Affadavit of Labor or their Intent to Hold County Record copies filed with the BLM State office by end of day tomorrow Wednesday December 30th. Don't be late or you will lose your claim.