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United States Bureau of Land Management
U. S. Bureau of Land Management Arizona State Office One North Central Avenue Suite 800 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4427 Phone: 1- 602)-417-9200 California Colorado Nevada New Mexico and Texas Utah Usually, rights to a mineral deposit in the public lands can be established by prospecting and “locating” a spot. There are a lot of cases in which land can become the property of the person that finds it, but only for the purpose of mining. Whatever the case, this person would then have the exclusive rights to the mineral deposits on the findings. When we talk about locating we mean staking the corners of the claim area and posting a notice as well as complying with the laws about recording the location with the country recorder’s office. The prospector in many cases has the right to claim a certain number of acres that have been laid out by the public survey if there is a claim on a placer deposit. In cases where there is a claim for a vein the rules are different. In this case the corners of the claim need to be staked with little monuments of stones and the notice will need to be fastened to a post with a wooden box over it in order to protect it from the natural elements. The notice will need to at least have the county, the date, the township and the section where the claim is located and obviously the name of the claimer. It is very important though for anyone that is claiming to study up on the documents issued by the Bureau of Land Management in the state they are planning to claim in and additionally check with the county recorder before posting a notice up. If you do happen to find a good and rich deposit you should make sure you are able to locate it exactly on an official map. There are good and very detailed maps that can be found at ranger station in the National Forests, or you can get them from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, or from private concerns. After you have a map of your area, to be able to locate the exact location you are in will require you use a compass, mileage indicator etc. Study the map you have and try to locate the nearest identification area or spot, for example perhaps this location is in between two roads, on a couple streams etc. You can then use your compass and mileage indicator in your vehicle. If you are in your vehicle you can see how far the location is and in what direction it is in from the identification point. If you are walking though, then you will need to estimate the distance. In most cases, maps are separated into squares of one half or a mile on a side, and this should help you be able to find the location to a fraction of a mile. |
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