Kinds of Mining Claims

There are four different types of mining claims, these include:

• Lode claims: These consist of deposits that are subject to lode claims that have the standard lodes or veins and have well defined borders. Besides other rock in area bearing valuable minerals, they can in addition be big areas that have mineralized rock on it such as in the case of quartz and other veins that have gold in them.
• Placer claims: These deposits are subject to placer claims and include all of the ones that do not come under lode claims. These are the placer deposits that have sand and gravel that has free gold in it. 
• Mill site: A mill site consists of a plot of unsuitable public domain land that does not have a mineral quality, and which can be used for the lifting up of a mill or for reduction works. Mill sites can be located under two different circumstances such as when utilized or occupied noticeably for mining and drilling purposes in connection with a lode or placer location that it is associated with. Or for quartz mill or reduction works that is not connected with the location of the mineral. 
• Tunnel site: A tunnel site can be found located on the plot of a land in an area where a tunnel is going to run in order to develop, a vein, or lode, or to find a vein or lode. Tunnel sites, however, cannot be patented.

Shapes and sizes of claims
In most cases lode claims have longer side lines equivalent to the lode or the vein. These can be found by meters and bounds, providing the length and direction of each limit line. These are also limited by the law to a maximum amount of five thousand feet in length, along the lode or vein, and three hundred feet on both sides. Whenever feasible, placer claims, are located by a legal subdivision; a legal subdivision is a part of a section and they are limited by twenty acres for every claim per locator. Nonetheless, if there is a group of two locators they can stake forty acres, three groups are able to stake sixty acres and so forth, there is a limit to this though, which is of one hundred and sixty acres which would include eight people in one group. All of the locators are required to have a legitimate interest in the claim unless he turns out to be a dummy locator in which case he losses his rights. If the group consists of a corporation they have a right of up to 20 acre claims. In lands that are not surveyed and in other circumstances, in the case of placer claims they can be located by meters and bounds. In the case of mill sites they are located by meters and bounds. They have a much more limited size though which is of five acres per claim. Tunnel sites can be located by driving a couple stakes which can be three thousand feet separate and they need to be right on the line of the projected tunnel. This means in other words that you have the right to prospect in an area of three thousand by three thousand feet.