Mineral and Gem mining and prospecting, What is the first step Options

[zziipp]

I am having trouble getting a straight answer from the officials in Colorado. Can someone please tell me how to obtain permits or stake a claim on Mt. Antero. What is my first step

[Rocket]

Glad to hear you have had good experience with the BLM.

Did you notice that the Mining Claim Packet is from the BLM?

To clarify another point for other readers, the BLM website (LR2000) is for locating mine claim ownership and the County Assessor's office (for on-line info) and County Clerk and Recorder are for private property ownership.

Sorry to hear you have had bad experience with the Forest Service. So readers can discern misinformation for themselves, here is the link for the US Forest Service Handbook.

www.fs.fed.us/dirindexhome/dughtml/fsm.html

Explore the links to get to the official (ooooo! there's that terrible word) websites for the laws and regs and forms.
What is the problem with complying with these requirements, staying within the laws? We are professional miners are we not?

[Crusty]

Glad to hear you have had good experience with the BLM.

Did you notice that the Mining Claim Packet is from the BLM?

To clarify another point for other readers, the BLM website (LR2000) is for locating mine claim ownership and the County Assessor's office (for on-line info) and County Clerk and Recorder are for private property ownership.

Sorry to hear you have had bad experience with the Forest Service. So readers can discern misinformation for themselves, here is the link for the US Forest Service Handbook.

www.fs.fed.us/dirindexhome/dughtml/fsm.html

Explore the links to get to the official (ooooo! there's that terrible word) websites for the laws and regs and forms.
What is the problem with complying with these requirements, staying within the laws? We are professional miners are we not?

Part of the problem with "complying with these requirements, staying within the laws" is the incredible amount of misinformation out there. For example your statement regarding Lr2000 being for claims and the county for private property. LR2000 isn't updated constantly and there may have been claims filed up to 90 days ago that won't show up in LR, but the county will be able to tell you about them... so if you just go off LR and head out to the field thinking you are good to go, you might find yourself in the middle of someone else's freshly filed claim! LR is a good place to start and to do a virtual recon of the location, but verifying it through the county is a must.

[Clay Diggins]

Part of the problem with "complying with these requirements, staying within the laws" is the incredible amount of misinformation out there. For example your statement regarding Lr2000 being for claims and the county for private property. LR2000 isn't updated constantly and there may have been claims filed up to 90 days ago that won't show up in LR, but the county will be able to tell you about them... so if you just go off LR and head out to the field thinking you are good to go, you might find yourself in the middle of someone else's freshly filed claim! LR is a good place to start and to do a virtual recon of the location, but verifying it through the county is a must.

There is some excellent information on this thread and the above statement is a good explanation for newbies about how not to proceed when looking for prospectable or locatable mineral lands.

I'm glad the members here are so well informed on land status research. So often honest people trying to find out how to proceed are mislead by myth and rumor on other websites and forums. It's refreshing to see correct land status research methods being promoted with such vigor.

I'm not privy to club information but I have noticed a rather important step in public lands research has not been mentioned on the public side of these forums. I'm hoping we can discuss that here without distracting from the good information already provided.

Each federal land management agency has their own land status issues to deal with. These involve things like Land Orders, Acts of Congress, reconveyances, purchased lands, temporary administrative withdrawals and access restrictions. These different land status variations are not represented at the County Assessor, County Recorder or the LR2000.

Luckily these agencies are required to cooperate in mapping and recording all these variations in one central set of documents. These documents are available to the public for free. In Colorado you can find all these public land status documents at the General Land Office website free for download.

A good place to start when investigating public lands status is the Master Title Plat map (MTP) for the Township(s) of interest. From there you may need to investigate any MTP Supplemental maps available as well as the Historical Index and any Control Document Indexes available. Sometimes a trip to the Federal Register may be necessary to clear up the sometimes ambiguous language used in these records.

The type of land status classifications you find on these maps and indexes can help you understand public land areas that are not open to location or require additional steps to complete the location process. In Colorado the main status issues you will encounter are mostly powersite withdrawals, mineral withdrawals and, most commonly, reconveyed lands. There may be several dozens of other issues but each will be indicated on the MTP, Supplements and Indexes.

As a bonus private lands are clearly marked on the MTPs with reference to their conveyance documents and patents. All those documents as well as Patents and Mineral Surveys are also available for free at the General Land Office website. These documents can be very helpful in accurately locating a claim adjacent to private patented land as each Patent and Mineral Survey is described as a legal land description, including metes and bounds.

By studying the Historical Index you can find mineral withdrawals that are expiring soon. In 1980 I located my most productive claim by being the first in to make a location to lands that had been closed to entry for more than 60 years. Research does pay off in unexpected ways sometimes.