Prospecting, Government definitions |
Prospecting, Government definitions |
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#1
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![]() Master Mucker! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Admin Posts: 4,149 Joined: 7-October 03 From: Colorado Member No.: 3 ![]() |
For those of you wondering exactly what "prospecting" would be defined as..............
Here is Colorado state gov's definition. QUOTE 34-32-117 (2). (12) "Prospecting" means the act of searching for or investigating a mineral deposit. "Prospecting" includes, but is not limited to, sinking shafts, tunneling, drilling core and bore holes and digging pits or cuts and other works for the purpose of extracting samples prior to commencement of development or extraction operations, and the building of roads, access ways, and other facilities related to such work. The term does not include those activities which cause no or very little surface disturbance, such as airborne surveys and photographs, use of instruments or devices which are hand carried or otherwise transported over the surface to make magnetic, radioactive, or other tests and measurements, boundary or claim surveying, location work, or other work which causes no greater land disturbance than is caused by ordinary lawful use of the land by persons not prospecting. The term also does not include any single activity which results in the disturbance of a single block of land totaling one thousand six hundred square feet or less of the land's surface, not to exceed two such disturbances per acre; except that the cumulative total of such disturbances will not exceed five acres statewide in any prospecting operation extending over twenty-four consecutive months. CP This post has been edited by ColoradoProspector: Jan 4 2007, 05:41 PM -------------------- CP-Owner/Administrator
www.ColoradoProspector.com IF YOU USE IT, THE GROUND PRODUCED IT! MINERS MAKE "IT" HAPPEN!! ![]() |
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#2
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![]() Diggin' In! ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 38 Joined: 3-March 17 From: Salida CO Member No.: 127,759 ![]() |
I'm late to the conversation, but based upon another thread or two out there, I figured I'd better read this one.
I have a couple questions. " While information gathered by prospecting concerning mineral resources within National Forest Wilderness may be utilized in connection with the location of valuable mineral deposits which may be discovered through such activity and which may be open to such location, attention is directed to the fact that no claim may be located after midnight, December 31, 1983, and no valid discovery may be made after that time on any location purportedly made before that time." What does that mean? And then we have this one: "Casual use means activities ordinarily resulting in no or negligible disturbance of the public lands or resources. For example-- (1) Casual use generally includes the collection of geochemical, rock, soil, or mineral specimens using hand tools; hand panning; or non- motorized sluicing. It may include use of small portable suction dredges. It also generally includes use of metal detectors, gold spears and other battery-operated devices for sensing the presence of minerals, and hand and battery-operated drywashers." The last one would suggest that under the definition of casual, a small dredge does not require a permit. That's confusing because the BLM specifically requires a permit for any dredge work at all. Also, all of this seems to revolve around the concept of "A significant amount of surface" changes. Well, has anyone been to Cripple Creek and viewed the mine up there? THAT is significant land damage. In one persons entire lifetime, even with an operation like the Hoffman's on "Gold Rush", that much damage could not be caused very easily. That mine took a century to get that big. So my question would be, who sets these "standards" on what is significant? Some ecologist's would scream over a shovel full, others who are a little more industrial minded wouldn't consider "significant" damage until tree's fall down. Almost the entire of Southern Colorado is built on prior gold mining efforts. Garfield, Monarch, Breckenridge, Maysville, Granite... all these towns are literally built on tailings. And there are a lot more. The Arkansas River is just one long tailings all the way from North Fork all the way down to Pueblo. How can we damage anything with small dredge's when those giant dredge's already destroyed the natural landscape over a hundred years ago? Further, there are no "natural wildlife" in the Arkansas. We destroyed the natural ecology at the same time frame and all the trout that are in that river is bred in Salida. They can't even claim that small dredge work will disturb them because they don't belong here either! Plus it doesn't matter - if we accidentally kill a few fish, well a lot more will replace them by next breeding season. The river is too fast now for catfish because when they dredged it, they also straightened it - the damage is done and now they "mitigate" it, and yet they are clamoring over us? OMG. As an individual, when I leave a site I always back fill, but I dig one heck of a hole. I try to move about ten yards a day by hand. By some people's definition, I am worse than a beaver but I just use a shovel and a pick - I have seem claims with less damage than I do in a day and they have machines. This whole thing is very confusing and there are no specific definitions. -------------------- Michael D. Shelest
OIF Reg Army, BSEE, IEEE "Fallen but not Forgotten" |
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#3
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![]() Rock Bar! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 898 Joined: 9-January 14 From: Denver, CO Member No.: 116,265 ![]() |
I would argue the first clause Olog mentioned about wilderness is not absolute. Some of the individual legislation designating wilderness areas have written into them exemptions such as being able to establish mineral rights (stake a claim) for 20 years after the designation is made.
Although some states and agencies push for permit for dredging, the regulation mentioned is more in line with the law and I would argue the law does not prohibit "motorized sluicing" like it portrays in the regulation either(my personal take). The larger mining operations mentioned are well beyond "casual use" and they are in most cases following proper plans of operations and other requirements. -------------------- |
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