Staking a Mining Claim in the US

There are federally administered lands in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The federal Bureau of Land Management is responsible for the subsurface on both public lands and National Forest System lands.

Some areas are withdrawn from the staking of mining claims and these include National Parks, National Monuments, Indian reservations, most reclamation projects, military reservations, scientific testing areas and most wildlife protection areas.

Anyone who is a US citizen or a corporation organized under State laws and there is no limit to the number of claims and sites that may be held by a claimant. A mining claim is a parcel of land deemed to be valuable for a specific mineral deposit or deposits and it carries the right to the extraction and development of a mineral deposit. There are two types of mining claims; lode and placer.

Deposits subject to lode claims include classic veins or lodes having well-defined boundaries such as quartz or other veins bearing gold or other metallic minerals and large volume, but low-grade disseminated metallic deposits. Federal statute limits their size to a maximum of 1,500 feet in length along the vein or lode and a maximum width of 600 feet, 300 feet on either side of the centerline of the vein or lode. The end lines of the lode claim must be parallel.

Mineral deposits subject to placer claims include all other types of deposits. These include deposits of unconsolidated materials, such as sand and gravel, containing free gold or other minerals as well as many nonmetallic bedded or layered deposits, such as gypsum and high calcium limestone.

Placer claims, where practicable, are located by legal subdivision with a maximum size of 20 acres. The maximum area of an association placer claim is 160 acres for eight or more persons. In Alaska the maximum size is limited to 40 acres. Corporations are limited to a maximum size of 20 acres per claim.

Claim boundaries must be distinctly and clearly marked to be readily identifiable on the ground according to Federal law and many States have established their ownlaws regarding the manner in which mining claims and sites are located. This may include the placement, size, and acceptable materials for a corner post or a discovery monument.

Staking a mining claim includes:
(1) erecting corner posts or monuments and
(2) posting a notice of location on a post or monument in a conspicuous place.

It is up to the locator to determine if there are prior existing claims on the ground and interested parties are advised to check with the local BLM office to check all legal maps that show registered claims.

Claims and sites must be recorded with both the county and the proper BLM office. In Alaska, claims may also be recorded with the BLM office in Fairbanks. Each State has its own rules for filing and recording a claim. This period is usually within 90 days of staking the claim on the ground.

The recording of a claim must include reliable survey coordinates or the sufficient data to unambiguously tie the claim to a fixed, known location (survey monument, bridge foundation etc.) There is a charge for filing claims that may vary by location.