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I have staked several mining claims over the years starting in 1991, and still have 6. Now, someone wants to lease one of my mining claims. I have never leased a claim of mine for someone to work, or tried to lease a claim to work myself. Should I sell the claim instead? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a heap! snakejim

In the last two weeks the BLM closed 58,211 mining claims. Nevada alone had more than 35,000 claims closed in one day. This is opening a lot of land to new claims. More than 1.2 million acres! Here's a simple map showing where the newly closed claims are in each state. Land Matters Claims Advantage members received a special map based on the claim status on January 5, 2025. That map showed all the mining claims that had not paid their annual maintenance fees by September 1, 2024. That map effectively mapped all of the claims subject to closure. We received a lot of comment from our members about that map. Several members discovered that their claims, although being paid up and current, had not had their claim status updated. Here's just one example of the responses we received on that map. "The "unpaid claims" layer saved me a potentially huge headache. To my surprise, 3 out of 4 of my claims were in jeopardy this year due to a clerical error at the BLM. I had filed the paperwork for all 4 claims in person in July, but the MLRS only reported one of either the small miner cert or evidence of work, not both, for each claim. I was a little nervous! I contacted BLM via email and as of today, MLRS system now shows all claims in good standings with next fees due 2025." We just sent out the January 19 Claims Advantage Report that shows all these 58,000 plus newly closed claims on a custom interactive map. Each newly closed claim is listed in the report with details and links to the BLM register page for that claim as well as a direct link that opens up the Claims Advantage Member map to where the claim is located. Smart prospectors might like to know where these closed claims were located. You can have those closed claims reports and maps as well as two more reports per month for the next year for a measly $100 a year - that's only $8.34 a month or about $4.17 a report. Way less money than a new coil or drywasher and neither the coil or drywasher will point you to potential open areas to prospect or claim. Or you can wait until the free public Land Matters Claims Maps are updated later this week and then try to guess what's missing. Those maps are free for all users and very popular. Map use there nearly doubles every year. The only problem with free is Land Matters relies entirely on user donations and volunteer workers. Yep we all work for free and if users don't donate we can't pay the bills and Land Matters goes away. It's that simple and it's worked very well for more than 10 years. With your help we can go another 10 years. Here's a real life example of why you should support Land Matters. Behind the scenes the BLM has been going to great lengths to hide parts of mining claims public information for the last four years. Twice claim owner names have been removed by the BLM from public access, the first time for four months beginning in January 2021 and again from November 2022 until December 30, 2025. Out of the last four years the BLM has hidden this public information for a total of nearly two and a half years. Land Matters has provided claim owner names through their maps and reports for this entire period. The latest efforts by BLM to remove this public information is ongoing now. The Mining Claim serial register page reports are now limited to one claim owner name no matter how many owners there are on the claim. This is true even if you sign in with a registered account. Land Matters is now the ONLY source that displays ALL claim owner names. Land Matters - Public information always open to the public for free.

Another question via email, with personal references removed. I prefer to answer these on the forum so everyone gets the benefit of the answer plus others can offer their opinions also. "I am new to metal detecting and, your site here has really helped me out. I have a couple questions that maybe you can help me out with. What are some of the geologic indicators that you look for to determining where to prospect for nuggets? I try to study some of the geology maps but I could use some further pinpointing. I have also been looking at the National map of Surficial Mineralogy. Using the aster and minsat7 maps what are some of the indicators that may point you to higher gold bearing ground? Any help would be deeply appreciated. Could you point me to some old places where you have found gold? I'm not asking to be shown active patches. Just areas that you feel are worked out. I just want to see what gold bearing ground looks like. This would help me to start to learn the commonalities and characteristics of gold bearing grounds. Still looking for that first nugget! Thanks again for any info you can provide." My method is much simpler than that. I basically look for gold where gold has been found before. Think of it like fishing. If you want to go catch salmon you have two options. You can go to where people have caught salmon before - pretty good odds here. Or you can go where nobody has ever caught a salmon before. Very poor odds! So call it prospecting using history to determine where gold has been found before, and then getting as close as I can to those places. History and proximity. Finally, I may then employ geology to narrow that search in a given area if it turns out the gold is confined to certain rock types. The first place I normally turn as a rough guide to any new location in the U.S. is: Principal Gold Producing Districts Of The United States USGS Professional Paper 610 by A. H. Koschmann and M. H. Bergendahl - A description of the geology, mining history, and production of the major gold-mining districts in 21 states. This 1968 publication obviously lacks the latest production figures but it still is a great overview to where an individual prospector can look for gold in the United States. It is a 283 page pdf download so be patient. Pay particular attention to the listed references in the extensive bibliography for doing further research. You can download this here and find many more useful free books on this website at the Metal Detecting & Prospecting Library Principal Gold Producing Districts of the United States So just for fun let's say I want to go look for gold in New Mexico. The section on New Mexico starts on page 200 and here is a quick summary of the opening paragraphs: "The gold-producing districts of New Mexico are distributed in a northeastward-trending mineral belt of variable width that extends diagonally across the State, from Hidalgo County in the southwest corner to Colfax County along the north-central border. From 1848 through 1965 New Mexico is credited with a gold production of about 2,267,000 ounces; however, several million dollars worth of placer gold was mined prior to 1848. Mining in New Mexico began long before discoveries were made in any of the other Western States (Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 17-19; Jones, 1904, p. 8-20). The copper deposits at Santa Rita were known and mined late in the 18th century, and placer gold mining began as early as 1828 in the Ortiz Mountains south of Santa Fe. In 1839 placer deposits were discovered farther south along the foot of the San Pedro Mountains. The earliest lode mining, except the work at Santa Rita, dates back to 1833 when a gold-quartz vein was worked in the Ortiz Mountains. In 1865 placers and, soon afterward, quartz lodes were found in the White Mountains in Lincoln County; in 1866 placer deposits were discovered at Elizabethtown in Colfax County, and silver-lead deposits were discovered in the Magdalena Range in Socorro County. In 1877 placers and gold-quartz veins were found at Hillsboro, and in 1878 phenomenally rich silver ore was found at Lake Valley in Sierra County. The mineral belt of New Mexico is in mountainous terrain that lies between the Colorado Plateau on the northwest and the Great Plains on the east. It is a zone of crustal disturbance in which the rocks were folded and faulted and intruded by stocks, dikes, and laccoliths of monzonitic rocks. Deposits of copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver occur locally throughout this belt. Some deposits of copper and gold are Precambrian in age, but most of the ore deposits are associated with Upper Cretaceous or Tertiary intrusive rocks. The gold placers were probably derived from the weathering of these deposits. In later Tertiary time lavas spread out over wide areas of the State, and fissures within these rocks were later mineralized. These fissure veins are rich in gold and silver, but in most places they are relatively poor in base metals. In New Mexico, 17 districts in 13 counties yielded more than 10,000 ounces of gold each through 1957 (fig.19). Figure 19 is a handy map showing us where you want to look in New Mexico and also where looking is probably a waste of time. Click for larger version Gold mining districts of New Mexico The map shows what the text said "The mineral belt of New Mexico is in mountainous terrain that lies between the Colorado Plateau on the northwest and the Great Plains on the east." Sticking to this area is going to be your best bet. Based just on this map I see two areas of general interest - the central northern area, and the southwestern corner of the state. The text mentions that placer deposits were discovered at Elizabethtown in Colfax County, and the map shows that as the Elizabethtown-Baldy mining district. Following along in the text we find this: "The placer deposits along Grouse and Humbug Gulches, tributaries of Moreno Creek, each yielded more than $1 million in placer gold and silver. Another $2 million worth of placer gold and silver was recovered from the valleys of Moreno and Willow Creeks (Anderson, 1957, p. 38-39), and some gold also came from the gravels along Ute Creek. Graton (in Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 93) estimated the placer production of the Elizabethtown-Baldy district prior to 1904 at $2.5 million, and C. W. Henderson (in U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1929, pt. 1, p. 7 40) estimated the production through 1929 at about $3 million (145,138 ounces). The total placer production through 1959 was about 146,980 ounces." The reference material from the passage above is in the back of the book and is where we can get real details. Google is our friend. This stuff used to take me lots of visits to libraries! Anderson, E. C., 1957, The metal resources of New Mexico and their economic features through 1954: New Mexico Bur. Mines and Mineral Resources Bull. 39, 183 p. Lindgren, Waldemar, Graton, L. C., and Gordon, C. H., 1910, The ore deposits of New Mexico: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 68, 361 p. Henderson, C. W., 1932, Gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in New Mexico: U.S. Bur. Mines, Mineral Resources U.S., 1929, pt. 1, p. 729-759. That is more than enough, but let's also Google placer gold new mexico Lots of great links there, but two jump out: Placer Gold Deposits of New Mexico 1972 USGS Bulletin 1348 by Maureen G. Johnson Placer Gold Deposits in New Mexico by Virginia T. McLemore, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources May 1994 Notice the source of the last one. Most states with much mining have a state agency involved that can be a good source of information and in this case it is the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources. That last one is a real gem and contains this passage: "All known placer deposits in New Mexico occur in late Tertiary to Recent rocks and occur as alluvial-fan deposits, bench or terrace gravel deposits, river bars, stream deposits (alluvial deposits), or as residual placers formed directly on top of lode deposits typically derived from Proterozoic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary source rocks (eluvial deposits). During fluvial events, large volumes of sediment containing free gold and other particles are transported and deposited in relatively poorly sorted alluvial and stream deposits. The gold is concentrated by gravity in incised stream valleys and alluvial fans in deeply weathered highlands. Most placer gold deposits in New Mexico are found in streams or arroyos that drain gold-bearing lode deposits, typically as quartz veins. The lode deposits range in age from Proterozoic to Laramide to mid-Tertiary (Oligocene-Miocene) (Table 2). There are some alluvial deposits distal from any obvious source terrains (Table 2). Eluvial deposits are common in many districts; some of the larger deposits are in the Jicarilla district." So now we have a lifetime of ideas on where to go and a basic idea of the geology. And an even better map! Click for larger version. Placer gold deposits in New Mexico Let's look for specific site information. 1. Go to http://westernmininghistory.com/mines 2. Click on New Mexico Mines 3. Click on Colfax County Mines 4. Click on Elizabethtown - Baldy District Here you will find basic site information, references, and a zoomable map with alternate satellite view. An alternate site... 1. Go to https://thediggings.com/usa 2. Click on Browse All States 3. Click on New Mexico 4. Click on Browse All Counties 5. Click on Colfax At this point note you can browse mining claim information or deposit information. Researching mining claims, land ownership, etc. is another topic but here is one source of mining claim location information. For now.... 6. Click on Browse All Deposits or Use The Interactive Map 7. Click on Elizabeth - Baldy A little more detail than the previous site, including this note "SOME FAIRLY COARSE NUGGETS IN WILLOW, UTE, SOUTH PONIL CREEKS, GROUSE AND HAMBURG GULCHES, MORENO RIVER" One more... 1. Go to https://www.mindat.org/loc-3366.html 2. Way down at bottom click on New Mexico 3. Way down at bottom click on Colfax County From here you can dig into all kinds of specific site information but the navigation is a real mess. Have fun! Historic claim staking activity can be a clue. You can get the Big Picture by looking at Mine Claim Activity on Federal Lands for the period 1976 through 2010 OK, that really should have answered your question. As far as places I have been, they are nearly all in Alaska and can be found here. Now, I did all the above from scratch with no real prior information on New Mexico in about 2 hours. You can do the same for any state. However, finding where the gold is really is the easy part. The hardest part by far is finding out who controls the land and getting proper permission for access. In Alaska everything is covered by thick ground cover, so opportunities for metal detecting are strictly at creek level, and nearly always claimed. The process there is simple - find out who owns the claims and get permission for access. In most of the western U.S. there is far less or no ground cover, and so getting in the vicinity of and searching around or near mining claims without being on them is a far more viable option than in Alaska. Or you can try and get permission to access the properties. You still need to be able to track down property locations and owners however. For private property I subscribe to and use OnXMaps for my PC, Google Earth, iPad, and iPhone. It quickly maps private property and gives you access to tax roll information about the owners. Tracking down mining claims is easy in the big picture and harder in the details. The Diggings referenced before has interactive claims maps. I subscribe to Minecache for their Google Earth overlay. However, the most comprehensive source with the deepest repository of Land Ownership information is Land Matters. They have online claim mapping with direct links to claims owner information. Note that all online sources have a lag time between the actual staking of a claim on the ground and when it reaches the online systems, if ever. I say if ever because some claims exist solely at the county or state levels and there is no good way to find them short of visiting local recorder's offices or eyeballs on the ground. Prior thread on finding claims information. Finally, I am not an expert geologist by any means. This is just how I go about it, but any tips, hints, advice, or information anyone is willing to share on this thread are very welcome!!

I was looking at some claims and noticed there pretty cheap and was thinking about getting one but have never looked for gold before, can anyone give me some advice on what to expect to spend on equipment for a small operation, what would be the best way to go when looking for gold wether it be a smaller sluce box or water dredge, any other info would be much appreciated.

I’ve been curious about using the Bureau of Land Management’s MLRS site https://mlrs.blm.gov/s/ to figure out where to go detect on open lands in heavily claimed areas, and I’ve noticed that it does show some “active claims” on the maps highlighted with red crosshatching, but it doesn’t show “active claims” in other areas at all. It’s strange because the map key includes a code for active load and active placer claims, in addition to closed ones. I’ve heard that it’s because BLM hasn’t caught up on the records yet, but does anyone know why otherwise? I hope it becomes available because that would be a wonderful feature instead of having to get records from their offices.

The BLM posted a notice to the Federal Register at 1 am on Saturday morning raising the maintenance and location fees... effective today July 1. You can read and download the notice here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/01/2024-14301/required-fees-for-mining-claims-or-sites Mining claim annual fees are now $200 per year for each lode, millsite or tunnel site claim and $200 per each 20 acres of placer claim. A single 160 acre placer claim now has $1600 in fees due annually! Until 1993 the same placer claim was only $15. Location fees are going up as well. The base location fee is now $49 plus the $25 filing fee. A single mining claim location now requires a mandatory minimum $274 fee payment to BLM (no small miner waiver in the first year of a mining claim). A 160 acre placer claim now requires a $1,674 filing fee. If you already paid your annual maintenance fee for mining year 2025 you will need to pony up the additional $35 by August 31 or you will receive a deficiency warning notice and could lose your claim if you don't respond timely. If you are locating a claim today you will need to pay the full $249 location fees, your county recording fees plus the cost of staking. This time of year Land Matters distributes their Annual Federal Mining Claims Filing Requirements instructions with a flow chart to guide you. We did update the fee requirement on that handout to help claim owners understand the current requirements. You can download a copy of the PDF file here. Please feel free to share this and help educate your fellow miners. 2025mcf.pdf

It's easy enough to look up areas and see what sections have claims, how many claims, and the type of claims, but to get the exact location of each claim, you need to submit a request to the county recorder to get that info. At least that seems to be the way it works where I live. My question is, is it fair practice to just rely on claim markers when your hunting for a spot to prospect ? And what is the legality of the situation if you wander onto a claim that isn't properly staked?

We've added a new mapping layer to the Land Matters Mining Claim Maps. You will find the new layer under the "Claims" mapping group on every mining claim map. It's named "Mining Claim Fees Paid". The mining claim maps start without the new layer displaying so you will need click the checkbox next to the layer name to begin using this map layer. This new map layer shows the total amount of maintenance fees paid to the BLM for each Section since annual Maintenance fees were begun in 1993. These fee totals are for annual maintenance only and do not include filing or locating fees or the costs associated with State recording fees. Mining bonds and permit expenses are not included. Each Section that has had claims during the period from 1979-2024 are represented in green on the map. The more fees that have been paid for the section the darker the green. Some sections may have $0 in fees paid yet show several claims. These are Sections where all claims were closed before the maintenance fees began in 1993. As you zoom in the amount of fees paid will be displayed in the section. In this example the Fees Paid are displayed between the normal active mining claims display. To get Information at any zoom level you can select the information tool and click on your area of interest will return a window with the number of claims and the total of fees paid in that section. As with all our mining claim maps the current or prior existence of mining claims does not mean that the area is now open to new mining claims. What are annual maintenance fees? Until 1993 all Mining Claims were held by completing a minimum of $100 worth of development work per claim per year. This was known as the mining claim labor requirement. If you didn't perform work on your mining claim each year before 1993 they became invalid. In 1993 Congress, at the request of the BLM, enabled claim owners to pay an annual fee of $100 instead of completing their annual claim development work. This brought in funds to the BLM to administer the program as well as relieving them of their responsibility to check existing mining claims for evidence of development work. No longer did the BLM need to do field work to administer mining claims. Since 1993 the annual claim fees have risen to $165 per year for each Lode claim and $165 per 20 acres for each placer claim. Placer claim fees can be as much as $1,320 per claim. Unlike other government programs the mining claim case administration system at the BLM is entirely supported by claim owner fees. These annual mining claim maintenance fees are paid directly to each BLM State office to offset the costs associated with administrating the mining claim case files. No public monies are used. Here are the totals by State of mining claim fees paid for the years 1994 - 2023 Arizona $507,229,955 California $385,681,600 Colorado $380,865,975 Idaho $307,600,865 Montana. $224,791,660 Nevada $1,523,212,855 New Mexico $190,491,505 Oregon $99,909,290 South Dakota $107,769,290 Utah $556,540,015 Washington. $53,075,435 Wyoming $468,886,230 Total $4,806,054,675 Nearly 5 Billion dollars have been spent by mining claim owners to support BLM mining claim administration. The BLM is now collecting more than 83 million dollars in mining claim maintenance fees each year.

If you have permission to prospect on private land in NV, does a claim need to be filed for mineral rights by the owner? Just curious. Does anyone have experience with this?

I, like many people use onx for hunting and anything else to mark locations and to know land status. Since I got the prospecting bug, I've often wished there was an app to show current mining claims status. My questions to everyone are (1) who would subscribe to an app like this? And (2) Is there anything negative for having an app like this?

I live in elko county NV. There is about 50 historical claims within a mile of my home. All claims ended in the mid 1990's. From what I understand, up until the mid 90's, you could patent a claim, and the property was essentially yours. I've only found one spot that looks to have been dug and possibly washed. Otherwise I haven't seen any signs of workings at all. I'm wondering if maybe the main intention of these claims were solely for the purpose of acquiring the land, but gave up when Clinton put a stop to patented claims. Is this common throughout Nevada? I'm not near any known placer deposits. A few of the claims were listed as placer, but the large majority were lode claims. The only info on them when opened in mylandmatters, is number of claims, years of claims, and type of claim. No record numbers listed . I doubt I'll be able to get any history of them, but I will try.

I am interested to know what Seasoned Detector Prospector's thoughts are on owning mining claims. Is it worth the money and time to have private claims to work? Or do you just prospect open land or join a club with claims? ••• Here is an example ••• I seen claims in the Rye Patch for sale often. But then I read on this forum that the Rye Patch has been hammered for 60 + years, but yet Gerry In Idaho classes seem to always pull out gold with advanced tech. Would it be wise to purchase a claim in the Rye Patch in hopes that the technology advances greatly in X amount of years? And it doesn't have to be The Rye Patch, just mining claims in general as a Detector Prospector. Thank you for your time and advice on this topic.

Good evening fellas, Last trip To WA I was impressed as there were so many old gold mines, many were 5-30 meters deep, and I saw one shaft actually had two leves (stories). I wonder if someone can dive in and prospect in the tunnel, where there still might be gold behind the tunnel but cannot be found by the early explorers as 100 years ago they didn't have detectors? Any stories or experience? Surely it Must be dangerous ☠️??

For the last two years the BLM has CLOSED many thousands of mining claims on one day. These claims are the "Abandoned and Forfeited" mining claims that didn't file their annual requirement. Last year the BLM closed 28,340 claims on November 17th. The previous year the BLM closed 20,704 claims on November 17th. At present there are 29,069 mining claims in the BLM database that are marked as not having paid their annual fees. Land Matters Claims Advantage members have been receiving updates and maps on these claims scheduled for closure for the last month. If the past MLRS system is followed this year there will be more than 20,000 claims closed tomorrow. Those closed claims will be removed from the Land Matters Mining Claim Maps next week with our new claims update. Land Matters Claims Advantage Members will get a map of those closed claims for their use. A smart prospector might find these closed claims maps useful. A forward looking prospector might see it's a great way to support the only FREE non profit mining claims mapping and educational charity organization.

If you are maintaining your mining claim under a small miner's waiver you should be aware that the required Form (3830-02) due August 31 is not yet available. Here is a link the official BLM version of the form on their website. As you can see it expired this past April. https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/3830-002_0.pdf The BLM is required to renew official forms every three years or the form becomes invalid. (Privacy Act, Paperwork Reduction Act) The currently available 3830-02 Form expired in April of this year. The BLM did put in a request for extension in March of this year but the paperwork never moved forward. In the last week or so the 3830-02 form has been removed from the approval process. It appears it is no longer on the list of BLM forms. Here are the current results from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the agency in charge of approving the form. https://omb.report/search.php?terms=1004-0114 That is where you will see if the required 3830-02 form has been approved. It will be at the very bottom of the list. At present it isn't even listed as a valid form. Some mining claims have been closed for submitting out of date forms. Technically the form has no value to the user or the BLM until the OMB approves the extension. This is a tricky situation. The California BLM put a modified 3830-02 in their mining claims packet this year. You wouldn't get one of those unless you requested it. Even though the form hasn't been approved they pasted a "2024" over the top of the "2023" on the expired form. They didn't change the approval date so it's obviously bogus. Some state offices have been suggesting owners just cross out the "2023" and write in "2024". I would not suggest doing that, I won't get into the details here but as you can imagine forgery of federal documents to receive a benefit is frowned upon. Here's what you need to watch out for with these forms. There is a block of type on the upper left corner and another on the upper right that together show that the form is current and valid. Here's an clipped example I made up of the top of the form with the critical numbers in red. If the dates don't reflect the three year extension period (2023 - 2026) it's bogus. If the form hasn't been approved by the OMB yet it doesn't matter if the numbers match it's bogus. I've discussed this problem with quite a few worried miners and the only real advice I can give is be prepared to pay the fee??? There may some political and there are certainly some social aspects of the BLM's failure to produce this required form. Please let's respect our host's wishes and keep any discussion about this on the practical and informative side. No politics please. Barry

Here it is summer already and the BLM has removed their mining claims maps - again. They say they think they will be back online on the 26th. ?? For all those hoping to do some research before a weekend of prospecting Land Matters updated their Mining Claim Maps this week. These are the most up to date claims maps available anywhere. Heck they may be the only current free mining claim maps available anywhere. The Land Matters maps have more information than the BLM maps and they are the only maps that have the claim owner names. Anyone who has researched a potential prospecting area understands how important it is to be able to look up the claims paperwork and you can't do that without a name. So if you have been wondering how to check out that new area while the BLM is down again just wander on over to Land Matters and take a look around. We are always up and running and have been every day since 2014.

Back online.

If you own a mining claim in the lower 48 you may need to check the current status of your claim with the BLM. On November 17th the BLM closed 28,340 mining claims. On this same day last year they closed more than 20,000 mining claims. Many of the mining claims closed last year were closed in error. Although the BLM has reopened many of those mining claims closed in error last year many claim owners were left in limbo while the BLM tried to sort the mess. Unfortunately you may find it difficult to check claim status with the BLM. At the same time the BLM closed the 28 thousand plus mining claims they shut down access to the MLRS claims mapping and removed 91% of claim owner names from the search databases and maps. Now it appears they have also shut down the online records entirely. There is no indication if or when any of these public services will be returned. Land Matters Mining Claim maps have been updated since the claims were closed. The 28,000+ mining claims have been removed from the Land Matters claims maps. If you look on Land Matters and your claim isn't listed there is a very good chance your claim was closed. The mass mining claim closure took place on November 17th and the Land Matters mining claim data is current as of November 20th. I think at present Land Matters is the only source for this closure information and they have the most current claims information. If you know of other more current claims maps please share them here. You can also do a search on the Land Matters mining claim maps by the claim owner name and get the info on all your claims in one window. Land Matters did not remove claim owner information like the BLM did so you may have more luck searching Land Matters than searching the BLM (IF BLM returns the search tool functions) Land Matters also sent out a very large report early this week to their Claims Advantage Members with every closed claim listed with individual maps and links to the BLM records. Now you know why they call it the Claims Advantage. Land Matters educational charity was founded in 2014 for just these circumstances. After the BLM geocommunicator claims and land status map was taken down without notice or explanation in 2012 we noticed a lot of public information being removed from public access. We decided to do what the government has failed to do and aggregate and present this public information in a place that would be available to all people all the time. I just looked and the Land Matters servers have been providing this updated mapping for the last 1,650 days without a single glitch. More than 100,000 maps are served some days. And here is the remarkable thing. All these years and all this work are the result of an all volunteer non profit organization that relies exclusively on individual donations. Land Matters has no grants, has no advertising income, doesn't sell data and doesn't receive federal or state money. It really is a user supported resource. Thanks to all of you. Of course the Land Matters website is even busier with the BLM land mapping being closed. This has been a boom year for Land Matters user growth but like most small non profits it's been a tough year for donations. If you have found value in Land Matters and would like to see Land Matters continue to bring you public information there is no better time to make a donation. Or you could become a Claims Advantage Member by donating $100 or more and we will send you a copy of the 28,000 closed claims report along with another 23 (twice a month) for the next year. I don't know yet if any mining claims that were closed shouldn't have been closed. I've heard a few complaints but I haven't had time to check them out. I certainly hope that isn't the situation this year. If I owned a mining claim I would be checking the status. Barry

I’m not sure if I’m in the right forum but I found these minerals I believe to be Turgite on Magnetite. I am the first to discover it and there are 1000 pounds plus in this location. I found it with my pulse dive. The pieces are heavy and slightly magnetic. The issue is I’ve never done a mining claim and so far every international attorney I’ve talked to says they only work with companies not individuals. I found them in Italy. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

We have a rich area on one of our claims in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains of California and have had issues with tresspassers who are highgrading. We have not caught them yet. They opened up a big dig site on a bench near a creek. We tested the ground. My partner processed 20 buckets and got 5 grams of gold. Now I see why they are digging in there. We posted a claim sign on a tree right where they are digging and they have to look right at it. We put up two cameras which they found and stole. One was higher up in a tree and out of sight so they are be cautious and looking for traps. I called the Forest Service & they said it's the Sheriff's departments job. The sheriff's dept said they don't get involved in that kind of thing and it would be our job to catch them in the act, find out their names, and get proof they are stealing gold from us. Even if we call them while the thieves are there digging they won't get involved and say it is a civil matter for us to deal with. My younger partners want to lay in wait, catch them, and beat them up. I told them that's not a good idea as they could face charges and the thieves could bring back friends and relatives. Then you have a war. It's frustrating to say the least. One of my partners saw a green Dodge Dakota with a cap driving up and down the road many times while they were working there. It may have been the thieves waiting for them to leave. Not sure. Does anyone have any good suggestions other than shooting them or hanging them?

I have debated writing this but some things need to be aired. I don't intend to trespass on our forum rules of ad hominem attacks, so I'll be vague (barely). Last week I did a solo run to Rye Patch, intending to stay 3 days. For 2 days I hadn't seen a soul except far off dust trails. On the 3rd morning I saw a dark colored truck due west of section 19 so I thought I would go and visit and see if it was anyone I know. I found 2 guys with bright colored LSU shirts and a truck bearing Louisiana plates. The were struggling to assemble a brand new XP Deus I with a High Frequency coil. We got to talking while I took over the assembly of the Deus, and they told me they had purchased 2 gold claims in the area. After I got the detector up and running we chatted awhile longer and it was clear they were out of their element. Very amiable fellows and we continued talking about detecting and the likelihood of finding gold. I told them while the Deus 1 is a capable detector, it would not be a first choice for detecting Rye Patch. It seems that in their haste they had gone to their local detector dealer in LA and told him they needed a gold detector. He had 1 detector left in his shop, that being a Deus 1. He demonstrated the detector in his front yard over a man's gold ring. The detector clearly detected a gold ring and they bought it full retail with a High Frequency round coil and a pinpointer. In all fairness, the dealer in a southern state knows little to nothing about detecting gold nuggets in the west. Plus, that's the only detector he had available and they were in a hurry. So, we talked awhile longer and after a little private consultation they offered me the opportunity to detect their claim with them. We agreed to a 50/50 split and off we went following GPS coordinates due west and straight uphill. After a time I asked them if this claim had produced any gold, not having seen any evidence of workings, dig holes or old timers camps. They told me that according to the seller they could expect to find an ounce a week and that it was not uncommon to find an oz a day. I shook my head an told them I don't think so, since this was way outside the known gold producing zone. Nevertheless, I detected about a mile in a horseshoe loop back to our starting point. Not one single target, no trash, no bullets and no evidence of workings. I had a pretty good idea that they had been sold on a dream but they were such nice and decent guys I wanted to help. I called home in Fernley NV and had my girlfriend gather up my GPZ 7000 and Equinox 800 and meet me in Lovelock. The next day I met with my new Cajun friends and they still had not met with their seller so I told me let's go detect using my true gold detectors. I gave them some quick lessons and followed along while they detected and dug trash targets. I detected a few promising signals with the 6000 and had them come and listen with the other detectors. Unfortunately, none of my promising targets were gold, but they had a chance to learn about the whisper targets, and try understand the loud booming targets were likely trash. They offered to pay me for my time and use of detectors and I countered they could pay for my girlfriend's gas for delivering the detectors, but that I was happy to spend time with them detecting. Mind you, I'm no Albert Sweitzer, but I just felt bad that these guys had been abused trying to join and learn my favorite hobby. By day 6 of my 3 day trip I needed to get home for some appointments. They had finally met with their seller and learned that the area we explored was not in fact their claim. He showed them the claim (from the description worse) although he didn't show them where the gold was, but they enjoyed some sightseeing of Majuba. I remained dubious, but they had renewed faith and I had to leave. They detected their new claim (with my detectors) the next morning and found a bullet, and some aluminum targets. Nothing promising. I called Lucky Lundy and explained this dilemma of some nice guys getting some bad information. He was otherwise committed and couldn't help, but made some calls and found another fellow prospector who needed a good excuse to get out for a day of prospecting and agreed to meet my Cajun friends. He helped them as much as he could, no one found any gold. All I can say is we gave it a game effort, or an honest effort as it were. They are on their way back to Louisiana having learned the promise of riches in gold claims out west can be alluring but success is fleeting. $12k may not be a lot to most folks, but it sure is to me. I understand that in the business of selling used cars and gold claims a little puffery is to be tolerated. I think this went way beyond puffery, I saw the text exchanges. To add insult to injury, the seller offered to sell them a 3rd claim with a deposit due immediately. I am personally embarrassed and pissed that this still goes on. These guys were really nice people and honest to a fault. I know, they should have done more research and been more skeptical of the claims made. They never heard of this forum, but had they inquired here, our people could have cautioned them. All I can say is thank god they hadn't heard of Long Range Locators, or whatever they're called these days. Perhaps the seller came in and tell his version of events. Unlikely.

The BLM MLRS reporting system will be closed from 8 pm central time today March 8th until 9:30 am central time on Monday March 14th. You will not be able to research or file mining claims online until next Monday. If you need to file paperwork the BLM State offices will be available for walk in filings. Land Matters will still be available for current research and mapping during this time. We will be updating the Mining Claims maps later today.

In North America or Aussie if you are nugget shooting with the claim or land owners agreement, subject to them getting a piece of the value of any finds, what would be typical percentages for their "take"? I assume it would be based on the spot price of gold and you'd have to assume 100% fineness?

It seems ever few yrs we get a post on here about folks who own gold claims having issues with Claim Jumpers. I'm not saying it's right or wrong to own a gold claim but I sure see issues that I don't want to mess with. I have friends and customers who own good gold claims and every one of them have caught folks in pursuit of precious metals. Yes it's ok to drive across, park and even camp on someones claim and I have no issues with that. I have also ran into a few rough neck who won't allow you to camp or even park on their claim. I know I'm in the right, but I'm not going to argue and or do I like worrying. Besides, I am usually the one driving the nicer fancy truck and I know how much it cost to get 4 new tires replaced (not from experience). I simply turn around and go somewhere else where I feel it's more safe. There's a guy in NV (won't mention names but he has been on here before) who is so anal about people getting on his claims. He's called me in times past and swore I was on his claims and in fact I had not been to NV in months. This guy has blamed my Field Staff being on his claims and even says he flies over and takes pictures. But yet he has never proven it. Yes he owns gold claims and a couple of them are really good producers and I have even found gold on his claims (with him being there). I feel the stress some folks go through is not worth it and wonder why even own one? I've come to the conclusion that owning a good or productive gold claim is like marrying a really good looking lady. There's always someone trying to get in on the poke. No I don't own any claims and I really don't think I need the stress of always worrying about it either. If you own one, do you stress over it or are you low key and just roll with it? No right or wrong answers.

Just thought i'd start a post about mining in Australia and what it's like compared to California. As some of us know, California is not mining friendly. I've actually had people say to me "Oh no, you're not one of those people are you?" Sort of makes you feel like a second class citizen. So how is it for the miners in Ausralia?