Taxing Unpatented Mining Claims, Fremont County sending out Real Property Notice of Valuations Options

[ASTROBLEME]

Just when I thought I had everything pretty much figured out with mining claim laws, Fremont County sends me a Real Property Notice of Valuation for my unpatented placer mining claims. After running the numbers and reading the fine print, county government was making a demand for several hundred dollars on each claim. No other county has demanded taxes on unpatented claims I hold on BLM lands. After doing a little research, I found this reference to taxing Colorado mining claims;

TITLE 39

I went to the Assessor's Office and complained about the high values and asked how they were determined along with an explanation of why adjacent claims were not being taxed. Well, now they are going to re-asses my claims and send me an updated valuation in a couple of weeks. Both the local BLM Field Office and the Mining Law Administration at the Colorado State BLM Office are looking into this matter as well, since they have never heard of it happening before.

Anyone else ever encounter this?

ASTROBLEME

[ASTROBLEME]

The staff at BLM's Royal Gorge Field Office put a lot of time into tracking down information on this matter. I'm going to share the response with everyone since the links are very valuable.

"In the State of Colorado, Article 6 of Title 39 of the Colorado Revised Statutes deals with the Valuation of Mines. Some key points are provided below:

Per § 39-6-101(1), C.R.S., “Mine” means one or more mining claims or acres of other land, including all excavations therein from which ores, metals, or mineral substances of every kind are removed, except drilled wells producing sulfur and oil, gas, and other liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons, and all mining improvements within such excavations, together with all rights and privileges thereunto appertaining.

Per § 39-6-101(2), C.R.S., “Mining Claims” means lode, placer, millsite, and tunnelsite claims, whether entered for patent, patented, or unpatented, regardless of size or shape.
Per § 39-6-104, C.R.S., All mines, except mines worked or operated primarily for coal, asphaltum, rock, limestone, dolomite, or other stone products, sand, gravel, clay, or earths, shall, for the purpose of valuation for assessment, be divided into two classes: Producing and nonproducing.
Per § 39-6-105, C.R.S., All mines whose gross proceeds during the preceding calendar year have exceeded the amount of five thousand dollars shall be classified as producing mines, and all others shall be classified as nonproducing mines. Mines shall be classified in the manner provided for in this article regardless of the processing method, the ultimate use, or the consumption of the ores or minerals for which they are primarily worked or operated.
Per § 39-6-116, C.R.S., “Unpatented mining claims”, as used in section 3 (1) (b) of article X of the state constitution, includes mining claims located under the federal mining laws, 30 U.S.C. sec. 22 et seq., for which a patent has not been issued; and such term also includes leasehold interests in real property obtained under the federal “Mineral Lands Leasing Act of 1920”, 30 U.S.C. sec. 181 et seq.

These regulations can be found in their entirety at: http://www.michie.com/colorado/lpext.dll?f...n-h.htm&cp=

The Colorado regulations have been annotated further in a Valuation of Land Manual that was prepared by the Division of Property Taxation, Dep’t of Local Affairs. Chapter 6 of this manual outlines the Valuation of Natural Resources and appears to provide the matrices for tax assessment of mining claims in Colorado. Throughout this chapter, the following language is referenced multiple times, “…nonproducing unpatented mining claims, which are possessory
interests in real property by virtue of leases from the United States of America, shall be exempt from property taxation (§ (3)(1)(b), Art. X, COLO. CONST.)” This manual can be accessed at: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?blobc...p;ssbinary=true

The Fremont County Assessor’s Office appears to reference the above manual and regulations, in order to assess the unpatented mining claims that you were questioning. Their website is at: http://www.fremontco.com/assessor/index.shtml

I would encourage you to contact either the county or the state, if you require further assistance with regards to their regulations and requirements. If you have any further inquiries concerning federal requirements, please feel free to email me again."

It took BLM a few days to get back to me but they were very helpful in doing the legal research required in this matter with Fremont County. Now my understanding of the matter is basically non-producing mining claims located under the federal mining laws, 30 U.S.C. sec. 22 et seq., for which a patent has not been issued, shall be exempt from property taxation (§ (3)(1)(b), Art. X, COLO. CONST.)” Thanks to the assistance from the local BLM staff, I now have something to use in support of my rights against an aggressive taxation effort. Wish me luck...I'll need it!

ASTROBLEME