Many Mining Claims Closed

[Clay Diggins]

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.

[Clay Diggins]

I'm seeing a lot of prospecting club claims being closed. I don't know if membership is dropping or the higher fees are affecting budgets ... or both.

It appears one of the nicest prospecting clubs, Havasu Gold Seekers, payment check bounced. Usually when this happens clubs relocate their claims quickly. Just make sure there aren't new or relocated claims before you try to claim those areas.

I'm not seeing a lot of BLM closure mistakes. That's an unusually high number of closed claims so if you own a mining claim it would be as good idea to check your claim status at the BLM or later today after we update the claims map on Land Matters.

[HardPack]

Noticed the same trend in prospecting club claim closures in California. May be related to the banning of suction dredging expanding to include high-banking and the fines related to non-permitted river/stream water out-take and discharge. Cost-wise metal detectors are a cheaper option compared to the State permitting costs to just high-bank those old bench gravels.

[Clay Diggins]

Yeah it looks like California got hit pretty hard. I think small miners with a few claims are particularly hard hit by the higher fees.

I was unaware that highbanking in California, or any other state, requires a permit. When did this happen? Mining is classified as a beneficial water use in California so in most places you can take limited amounts of needed mining water from a stream without a permit.

[HardPack]

7 hours ago, Clay Diggins said:

I was unaware that highbanking in California, or any other state, requires a permit. When did this happen?

My understanding is that a water out-take and discharge permit is required for all mining. Pan and sluicing are still allowed within the waterline (high or low?) of the stream or river. Introduction of any foreign matter (bank material?) into a stream or river is prohibited and subject to fines. The State has not offered much in the way clarification since the legal matter of suction dredging was settled in State court, the US supreme refused to take up the matter. 
I recall the California Water Control Board and the Northern Tribes (Klamath, Trinity & Salmon Rivers) brought about the original lawsuit. After the matter was decided permitting was turned over to the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. The New 49ers website (https://goldgold.com) may have updated information, they have also reduced their claim holdings and membership fees.  
Let me know if I am mistaken and I pull my equipment out of storage.

Here’s a link but dive into the permitting requirements beyond just suction dredging section. 

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Suction-Dredge-Permits

[Bugler]

Many of the areas of West Cental Montana have been closed to vehicle traffic.  There are many active claims

in the area that are foot traffic only.  These areas have roads that have been used for over 120 years.  They are

historical roads.  I dropped my claims years ago due to the many agencies disallowing mechanical equipment.

That was in 2013.  I was able to drive to the mine site since; not now.  I am 80 and cannot carry all the detectors,

pick, coils, ect.  Hopefully the Chevron Decision will rescind some of this madness.

Bugler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 12/23/2024 at 9:24 PM, Goldseeker5000 said:

I had intentions of getting  it done today, but I had errands and chores keeping me busy til almost dark. I got items needed to do test for tomorrow. The suspense is getting  to me too.

[Clay Diggins]

50 minutes ago, HardPack said:

My understanding is that a water out-take and discharge permit is required for all mining. Pan and sluicing are still allowed within the waterline (high or low?) of the stream or river. Introduction of any foreign matter (bank material?) into a stream or river is prohibited and subject to fines. The State has not offered much in the way clarification since the legal matter of suction dredging was settled in State court, the US supreme refused to take up the matter. 
I recall the California Water Control Board and the Northern Tribes (Klamath, Trinity & Salmon Rivers) brought about the original lawsuit. After the matter was decided permitting was turned over to the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. The New 49ers website (https://goldgold) may have updated information, they have also reduced their claim holdings and membership fees.  
Let me know if I am mistaken and I pull my equipment out of storage.

Here’s a link but dive into the permitting requirements beyond just suction dredging section. 

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Suction-Dredge-Permits

Thanks for the link  I've seen the dredge moratorium and there is nothing about highbanking or water use in there.

If you are on federal lands the riparian water right survived the later creation of the water boards "appropriative water rights" (permits).

I've owned and irrigated 20+ acres of farm property in California under the grandfathered riparian rights that were preserved in 1913 and 1928. I didn't need a permit or permission to use the water straight from the river. I did fill out an informational form when my water use exceeded 500,000 gallons but that is a courtesy to the district not a requirement. There is a requirement that all water use must be beneficial under the law but irrigation and mining are already classed as beneficial use in the California Constitution.

 

[HardPack]

5 hours ago, Clay Diggins said:

If you are on federal lands the riparian water right survived the later creation of the water boards "appropriative water rights" (permits).

I believe that was the core argument that the suction dredgers represented to the State Supreme Court. From my old research a high-banker had a be a minimum of 100 yards (300 feet) from a stream or river, required a sediments settling pond and a permit/fee to pump water from the stream or river. Since the bench gravels were less than 70 feet from the stream that would require moving the gravels upslope 230 feet to the high-banker. Considering the slope angle exceeded 30 degrees and the cost to pump water upslope 300 feet, opted to bucket the material to the truck for transport off-claim. The New 49ers website (left side column) under “Legal Affairs” has a history of the legal battle they fought (goldgold.com).  

[Clay Diggins]

We updated the Land Matters mining claim maps today.

All those 58,000 closed claims have now been removed from the claim maps.

It's still out there...  pick a nice day and go get some.