A seminar eh?
...... I do believe that is what the whole club concept is! Your individual knowledge is paramount for your success in the field.
Anytime you need more help on this topic Emac, remember as a club member you always have myself and the other club members to reflect upon these topics. As far as LLC's protecting against this happening......not at all will an LLC protect you from this.
Quick recap of what the article says even though this thread title is a little misleading to the facts.
The person in question/accused was not found guilty of mining without a claim but rather quite the opposite. He was caught red handed by the BLM as a claim jumper!(mineral trespass)
Kudos to the BLM for nailing his ass too! He wasn't found guilty either, he plead guilty.....big difference!
As Paul used to say...."the rest of the story" also included was, the accused was previously convicted in 2009 for theft of money from the U.S. Postal service (stamp sales pocketed), as well as previous mining violations convictions with the BLM unspecified in the article. So the person has a history of being a thief and has been caught red handed. He also admitted (physically showed the BLM) more than 250 lbs of material taken off public lands without a claim......Not only did he get caught lying about the claim jumper part with intent to sell all found minerals (BLM purchased one of his finds), he also crossed a legal threshold of 250 lbs collected for personal study...that is a real legal threshold for rock/mineral sampling on open (unclaimed lands).
Great discussion topics and opportunity for others to learn WHAT NOT TO DO when prospecting in the field and after with ones finds!
This guys screwed up all the way around period!
Short track answers toward greed ain't the right way to go......Live to learn and love it!
You'll be the one who gets a "pay out" when done properly! And yes "pay out" can mean many things to folks rather than only $ signs!
My
and here's the change...... the accused in the article has never been a club member of this club! Who'd have guessed.