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New Mining Claim Patent Issued
Clay Diggins
post Jan 17 2016, 09:47 PM
Post #16


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QUOTE (CP @ Jan 10 2016, 03:58 PM) *
On a side note for the moratorium itself.......If I remember my reading correctly research.gif , much of what set off the movement to set the moratorium in place by 1993 was the misuse of patenting processes during the 60's & 70's by the now huge conglomerate ski corps to secure and then privatize vast parcels of land out of the FS lands (1,000's of acres). These are now the most popular winter tourist destinations in the state making billions per year. Still got what they wanted even though the moratorium went in place, deed was done literally and ski areas now have lots of private land to charge access for per head!


I think that perception of the issue of patents and ski areas came from the GAO report in 1989. That report did mention a patent for lands near (not adjacent to) an already existing ski resort on private land near Keystone. I too remember the press pushing that story to the limit and beyond.

Of course the whole issue of mineral patents being made for other purposes was already addressed in the 1955 Surface Act and the 1962 Mining Claim Occupation Act as well as the 1976 Federal Land Policy Management Act. Congress had already dealt with that problem 34 years before the GAO report was produced.

The GAO report was more of an effort to deflect attention from the multiple coal mining deaths in the 1980's. The contributors to the report reflect that intent. For the most part only a few eastern states non metallic mine operators were consulted and the prime motivator for the report was the central association for coal miners The American Mining Congress (After merging with the National Coal Association in 1995 it is now the National Mining Association).

You can read the whole GAO report HERE (PDF 49 pages). Being involved at the time I saw a hack report that had a predetermined goal. Others may have a different opinion and I would very much like to hear other perspectives on the value of this report. This report was the major tool used to suspend mineral patents and institute fees for mining claims so I think it's an important historical document in that respect.
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