New Mining Claim Patent Issued Options

[Clay Diggins]

Congratulations to our fellow miners in Oregon!

The patent for the Garden Spot placer mining claim was finally issued.

Some hard working miners now have their own 50 acres of private land in the Siskyou National Forest and BLM managed lands.

The final cert was awarded in 1990 so it only took the BLM 25 years to get that stamp to the ink pad, stamp and sign the Patent and mail it out. Our fine employees at work!

ORMC86146 is now closed and private patented mineral property. The beauty is the proud "new" owners live on Galice Creek.

Read and Rejoice!

[Gene Kooper]

CP,

Regarding the moratorium on patents, I recall hearing that the Clinton Administration, particularly Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt was mad at Congress for their inaction in revising the mining laws to add a royalty. There wasn't enough votes to change the mining law, but there was enough votes in the House to impose a moratorium. I was surprised that the moratorium wasn't ended during the Bush Administration.

There was a legislative effort to change the mining law to include royalties and fair market value rather than the $2.50/acre for placer claims and $5.00/acre for lode claims. The legislation was sponsored by Nevada Congressman Jim Gibbons and surprisingly passed the House. The Senate pulled a parliamentary "trick" to avoid having the bill come up for a vote. This happened near the end of Bush's Presidency.

Here is a link to a September 7, 1995 New York Times article regarding Babbitt's disdain for the 1872 Mining Law and a little bit on the differing views of the Senate and House.

Babbitt Blames Old Mining Law in Ceding a Potential Windfall

What I do know is that the last Mineral Surveyor Examination was administered in 1986 in Anchorage, Alaska. The Nevada State BLM office is in charge of the Mineral Surveyor Program. I've quietly hoped that eventually there would be a demand for additional U.S. Mineral Surveyors and the BLM would give another exam. The last time I checked there were 39 U.S. Mineral Surveyors with active appointments. They are dying off quickly.

The last mineral survey conducted in Colorado was approved April 6, 2006 (MS 20931). It is the only mineral survey approved in Colorado where GPS equipment was used. The mineral survey before that is located in the Sugar Loaf Mining District west of Boulder. It was approved in 1997. Things don't appear to be much different then than they are now. The claimant named the lode claim included in that survey (MS 20930), "They Change the Law As I Go Lode". I suppose it would be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

Here's a link to the plat on the BLM's GLO Records web site They Change the Law As I Go Lode