Mining Laws and Regulations from a Land Surveyor's Perspective Options

[Gene Kooper]

I am a land surveyor that specializes in mineral survey retracements and, when necessary dependent resurveys. By that, I mean that I retrace the original boundaries of U.S. mineral surveys and when corners have been obliterated or destroyed I will reset the corners. A mineral survey is originally surveyed by a U.S. [Deputy] Mineral Surveyor. In addition to abiding by the instructions issued to mineral surveyors by the General Land Office or BLM, the mineral surveyor was required to know and understand the federal mining laws, their amendments, promulgated regulations, state mining laws and local mining customs before beginning the mineral survey.

Since my job as a retracement surveyor is to follow in the footsteps of the original surveyor I must know and understand what the mineral surveyor was charged with knowing. As such, over the years I have also become an amateur historian of the evolution of mining laws and regulations thereunder. I thought this forum would be a good place to post some of my research over the years. My perspective is different from most/all on this forum. I start from the beginning and note how the mining laws have evolved to the present while you folks are focused on how to procure and protect your possessory right to the locatable minerals on the Public Lands. IMHO if someone wants to know why the laws and regulations are what they are, it is informative to see how they came about and the numerous changes made up to the present time.

A CAVEAT: My primary objective is to understand the mining laws, regulations, instructions, DOI Land Decisions, etc. issued since 1866 as they apply to the boundaries of patented mining claims. I am not a prospector and have only staked mining claims for my clients. However, I do photograph and collect stones (mineral survey corners). My avatar is a porphyry stone that marks Cor. No. 1 of the Mother Lode (Sur. No. 204), Cor. No. 1 of the Mater Lode (Sur. No. 15889) and Cor. No. 4 of the Towne Lode (Sur. No. 17327) at the London Mine in Mosquito Gulch (American Flats is in the background).

So with that disclaimer stated, I thought I would start with a reference list I compiled as a handout for my mineral survey retracement workshops, which is attached to this post. In the reference list is, "Mineral Survey Procedures Guide, 1980, John V. Meldrum, U.S. Bureau of Land Management." The guide was issued to all U.S. Mineral Surveyors upon receiving their first appointment as a mineral surveyor. The next post will begin with a discussion of Chapter I Mining Laws, which includes the federal mining laws, their amendments and state mining laws.

I believe the last two references will be of interest to several here (if you don't already have them as references). They are in my opinion good references for locating and staking mining claims.

• Digest of Mining Claim Laws, Robert G. Pruitt, Jr., Fifth Edition, 1996; and
• Mineral Law, Terry Maley, Sixth Edition, 1996, Mineral Land Publications.

Edit: Fixed some spelling and grammar errors.

[Clay Diggins]

Thanks Gene! Very generous of you to share your knowledge and library.

Just curious why you start with the 1866 Act? The 1865 Act was the foundation of the relationship between the Federal government and the miners themselves. It doesn't directly affect the wording of the Mining Acts that followed but it certainly defined the scope of those Acts in relation to locators and claimant disputes. Seems like if one is to understand the tone and nature of the Mining Acts the 1865 Act is essential. To this day I get a lot of questions from claimants that go to the heart of the 1865 Act. Many don't understand why the feds have no power to resolve claim disputes.

Thanks again. I hope others are reading and appreciating the depth of what you are presenting here.