43 CFR Part 3832

Bureau of Land Management, Interior

§ 3832.11

pay the outstanding service charges as
described in § 3830.94.
§ 3830.97 What if I pay only part of the
service charges for a notice of intent to locate mining claims on
SRHA lands?
For notices of intent to locate mining
claims
(NOITL)
under
the
Stockraising Homestead Act (see part
3838 of this chapter for information regarding the Stockraising Homestead
Act and NOITLs), BLM will not accept
a NOITL unless we receive your payment of the required service charges.
BLM will return the NOITL to you
without taking any further action. See
§ 3830.21 of this part for the amount of
the service charge for a NOITL.

Subpart F—Appeals
§ 3830.100 How do I appeal a final decision by BLM?
If you are adversely affected by a
BLM decision under parts 3830–3839,
you may appeal the decision in accordance with parts 4 and 1840 of this title.

PART
3831—MINERAL
LANDS
AVAILABLE FOR LOCATING MINING CLAIMS OR SITES [RESERVED]
PART 3832—LOCATING MINING
CLAIMS OR SITES
Subpart A—Locating Mining Claims or Sites
Sec.
3832.1 What does it mean to locate mining
claims or sites?
3832.10 Procedures for locating mining
claims or sites.
3832.11 How do I locate mining claims or
sites?
3832.12 When I record a mining claim or
site, how do I describe the lands I have
claimed?

Subpart B—Types of Mining Claims

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3832.20 Lode and placer mining claims.
3832.21 How do I locate a lode or placer mining claim?
3832.22 How much land may I include in my
mining claim?

Subpart D—Tunnel Sites
3832.40 Tunnel sites.
3832.41 What is a tunnel site?
3832.42 How do I locate a tunnel site?
3832.43 How may I use a tunnel site?
3832.44 What rights do I have to minerals
within my tunnel site?
3832.45 How do I obtain any minerals that I
discover within my tunnel site?

Subpart E—Defective Locations
3832.90 Defects in the location of mining
claims and sites.
3832.91 How do I amend a mining claim or
site location if it exceeds the size limitations?
AUTHORITY: 30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.; 43 U.S.C. 2,
1201, 1457, 1740, 1744.
SOURCE: 68 FR 61069, Oct. 24, 2003, unless
otherwise noted.

Subpart A—Locating Mining
Claims or Sites
§ 3832.1 What does it mean to locate
mining claims or sites?
(a) Locating a mining claim or site
means:
(1) Establishing the exterior lines of
a mining claim or site on lands open to
mineral entry to identify the exact
land claimed; and
(2) Recording a notice or certificate
of location as required by state and
Federal law and by this part.
(b) You will find—
(1) Location requirements in this
part;
(2) Recording requirements in part
3833 of this chapter;
(3) Requirements for transferring an
interest in a mining claim or site in
§ 3833.30 of this chapter; and
(4) Annual fee requirements for mining claims and sites in parts 3834, 3835,
and 3836 of this chapter.
§ 3832.10 Procedures for locating mining claims or sites.
§ 3832.11 How do
claims or sites?

Subpart C—Mill Sites
3832.30
3832.31

3832.32 How much land may I include in my
mill site?
3832.33 How do I locate a mill site?
3832.34 How may I use my mill site?

I

locate

(a) You must follow both state and
Federal law.

Mill sites.
What is a mill site?

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§ 3832.12

43 CFR Ch. II (10–1–15 Edition)

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(b) Your lode or placer claim is not
valid until you make a discovery within the boundaries of the claim.
(c) To locate a claim or site, you
must—
(1) Make certain that the land on
which you are locating the claim or
site is Federal land that is open to
mineral entry
(2) Stake and monument the corners
of a mining claim or site which meets
applicable state monumenting requirements and the size limitations described in § 3832.22 for lode and placer
claims, § 3832.32 for mill sites, and
§ 3832.42 for tunnel sites;
(3) Post the notice of location in a
conspicuous place on the claim or site.
The notice must include:
(i) The name or names of the locators;
(ii) The date of the location; and
(iii) A description of the claim or
site;
(iv) The name or number of the claim
or site, or both, if the claim or site has
both;
(4) Record the notice or certificate of
location in the local recording office
and the BLM State Office with jurisdiction according to the procedures in
part 3833;
(5) Follow all other relevant state
law requirements; and
(6) Comply with the specific requirements for lode claims, placer claims,
mill sites, or tunnel sites in this part.
§ 3832.12 When I record a mining claim
or site, how do I describe the lands
I have claimed?
(a) General requirements. (1) All claims
and sites. You must describe the land
by state, meridian, township, range,
section and by aliquot part to the quarter section. To obtain the land description, you must use an official survey
plat or other U.S. Government map
that is based on the surveyed or protracted U.S. Public Land Survey System. If you cannot describe the land by
aliquot
part
(e.g.,
the
land
is
unsurveyed), you must provide a metes
and bounds description that fixes the
position of the claim corners with respect to a specified claim corner, discovery monument, or official survey
monument. In all cases, your description of the land must be as compact

and regular in form as reasonably possible and should conform to the U.S.
Public Land Survey System and its
rectangular subdivisions as much as
possible; and
(2)(i) You must file either—
(A) A topographical map published by
the U.S. Geological Survey with a depiction of the claim or site; or
(B) A narrative or sketch describing
the claim or site and tying the description to a natural object, permanent
monument or topographic, hydrographic, or man-made feature.
(ii) You must show on a map or
sketch the boundaries and position of
the individual claim or site by aliquot
part within the quarter section accurately enough for BLM to identify the
mining claims or sites on the ground.
(iii) You may show more than one
claim or site on a single map or describe more than one claim or site in a
single sketch—
(A) If they are located in the same
general area; and
(B) If the individual mining claims or
sites are clearly identified.
(iv) You are not required to employ a
professional surveyor or engineer to establish the location’s position on the
ground.
(b) Lode claims. You must describe
lode claims by metes and bounds beginning at the discovery point on the
claim and include a tie to natural objects or permanent monuments including:
(1) Township and section survey
monuments;
(2) Official U.S. mineral survey
monuments;
(3) Monuments of the National Geodetic Reference System;
(4) The confluence of streams or
point of intersection of well-known
gulches, ravines, or roads, prominent
buttes, and hills; or
(5) Adjoining claims or sites.
(c) Placer claims. (1) You must describe placer claims by aliquot part
and complete lots using the U.S. Public
Land Survey System and its rectangular subdivisions except when placer
claims are—
(i) On unsurveyed Federal lands;
(ii) Gulch or bench placer claims; or
(iii) Bounded by other mining claims
or nonmineral lands.

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Bureau of Land Management, Interior

§ 3832.21

(2) For placer mining claims that are
on unsurveyed Federal lands or are
gulch or bench placer claims:
(i) You must describe the lands by
protracted survey if the BLM has a
protracted survey of record; or
(ii) You may describe the lands by
metes and bounds, if a protracted survey is not available or if the land is not
amenable to protraction.
(3) If you are describing an association placer claim by metes and bounds,
you must meet the following requirements, according to the number of persons in your association, as described
in Snow Flake Fraction Placer, 37 Pub.
Lands Dec. 250 (1908), in order to keep
your claim in compact form and not
split Federal lands into narrow, long or
irregular shapes:
(i) A location by 1 or 2 persons must
fit within the exterior boundaries of a
square 40-acre parcel;
(ii) A location by 3 or 4 persons must
fit within the exterior boundaries of 2
square 40-acre contiguous parcels;
(iii) A location by 5 or 6 persons must
fit within the exterior boundaries of 3
square contiguous 40-acre parcels; and
(iv) A location by 7 or 8 persons must
fit within the exterior boundaries of 4
square contiguous 40-acre parcels.

Subpart B—Types of Mining
Claims
§ 3832.20 Lode
claims.

and

placer

mining

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§ 3832.21 How do I locate a lode or
placer mining claim?
(a) Lode claims. (1) Your lode claim is
not valid until you have made a discovery.
(2) Locating a lode claim. You may locate a lode claim for a mineral that:
(i) Occurs as veins, lodes, ledges, or
other rock in place;
(ii) Contains base and precious metals, gems and semi-precious stones, and
certain industrial minerals, including
but not limited to gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, zinc, fluorite,
barite, or other valuable deposits; and
(iii) Does not occur as bedded rock
(stratiform deposits such as gypsum or
limestone) or is not a deposit of placer,
alluvial (deposited by water), eluvial

(deposited by wind), colluvial (deposited by gravity), or aqueous origin.
(3) Establishing extralateral rights. If
the minerals are contained within a
vein, lode, or ledge and the vein, lode,
or ledge extends through the endlines
of your lode claim, you have extra-lateral rights to pursue the down-dip extension of the vein, lode, or ledge to
the point where the vein, lode, or ledge
intersects a vertical plain projected
parallel to the end lines and outside
the sideline boundaries of your lode
claim if—
(i) The top or apex of the vein, lode,
or ledge lies on or under the surface
within the interior boundaries of the
lode claim; and
(ii) The long axis, and therefore the
side lines, of the lode claim are substantially parallel to the course of the
vein, lode, or ledge.
(4) Preserving extralateral rights. In
order to preserve your extralateral
rights, you should determine, if possible, the general course of the vein in
either direction from the point of discovery in order to mark the correct
boundaries of the claim. You should expose the vein, lode, or ledge by—
(i) Tracing the vein or lode on the
surface; or
(ii) Drilling a hole, sinking a shaft, or
running a tunnel or drift to a sufficient
depth.
(b) Placer claims. (1) Your placer
claim is not valid until you have made
a discovery.
(2) Each 10-acre aliquot part of your
placer claim must be mineral-in-character.
(3) You may locate a placer claim for
minerals that are—
(i) River sands or gravels bearing
gold or valuable detrital minerals;
(ii) Hosted in soils, alluvium (deposited by water), eluvium (deposited by
wind), colluvium (deposited by gravity), talus, or other rock not in its
original place;
(iii) Bedded gypsum, limestone, cinders, pumice, and similar mineral deposits; or
(iv) Mineral-bearing brine (water
saturated or strongly impregnated
with salts and containing ancillary
locatable minerals) not subject to the
mineral leasing acts where a mineral
subject to the General Mining Law can

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§ 3832.22

43 CFR Ch. II (10–1–15 Edition)

be extracted as the primary valuable
mineral.
(4) Building stone deposits must by
law be located as placer mining claims
(30 U.S.C. 161). If you have located a
building stone placer claim, the lands
on which you located the claim must
be chiefly valuable for mining building
stone.
§ 3832.22 How much land may I include in my mining claim?
(a) Lode claims. Lode claims must not
exceed 1,500 by 600 feet. If there is a
vein, lode, or ledge, each lode claim is
limited to a maximum of 1,500 feet
along the course of the vein, lode, or
ledge and a maximum of 300 feet in
width on each side of the middle of the
vein, lode, or ledge.
(b) Placer claims. (1) An individual
placer claim may not exceed 20 acres in
size.
(2) An association placer claim may
not exceed 160 acres. Within the association, each person or business entity
may locate up to 20 acres. To obtain
the full 160 acres, the association must
consist of at least eight co-locators.
You may locate smaller association
claims. Thus, three co-locators may
jointly locate an association placer
claim no larger than 60 acres. You may
not use the names of other persons as
dummy locators (fictitious locators) to
locate an association placer claim for
your own benefit.

Subpart C—Mill Sites

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§ 3832.30

Mill sites.

§ 3832.31 What is a mill site?
A mill site is a location of nonmineral land not contiguous to a vein or
lode that you can use for activities reasonably incident to mineral development on, or production from, the
unpatented or patented lode or placer
claim with which it is associated.
(a) A dependent mill site is used for
activities that support a particular
patented or unpatented lode or placer
mining claim or group of mining
claims.
(b) An independent or custom mill
site—
(1) Is not dependent on a particular
mining claim but provides milling or

reduction processing for nearby lode
mines or a lode mining district;
(2) Is used to mill, process, and reduce either—
(i) Ores for other miners on a contractual basis; or
(ii) Ores that are purchased by the
independent or custom mill site owner.
(3) You may not have a custom or
independent mill site for processing
materials from placer mining claims.
§ 3832.32 How much land may I include in my mill site?
The maximum size of an individual
mill site is 5 acres. You may locate
more than one mill site per mining
claim if you use each site for at least
one of the purposes described in
§ 3832.34 of this part. You may locate
only that amount of mill site acreage
that is reasonably necessary to be used
or occupied for efficient and reasonably
compact mining or milling operations.
§ 3832.33 How do I locate a mill site?
(a) You may locate a mill site in the
same manner as a lode or placer mining claim, except that—
(1) It must be on land that is not
mineral-in-character; and
(2) You must use or occupy each two
and a half acre portion of a mill site in
order for that portion of the mill site
to be valid.
(b) If the United States does not own
the surface estate of a particular parcel
of land, you may not locate a mill site
on that land under the General Mining
Law or the Stockraising Homestead
Act (see part 3838 of this chapter).
§ 3832.34 How may I use my mill site?
(a) Upon obtaining authorization
under the surface management regulations of the surface managing agency,
you may use and occupy dependent
mill sites for:
(1) Placement of grinding, crushing,
or milling facilities (such as rod and
ball mills, cone crushers, and floatation cells) and reduction facilities
(such as smelting, electro-winning,
roasters, autoclaves, and leachate recovery);
(2) Mine administrative and support
buildings, warehouses and maintenance
buildings, electrical plants and substations;

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Bureau of Land Management, Interior

§ 3832.45

(3) Tailings ponds and leach pads;
(4) Rock and soil dumps;
(5) Water and process treatment
plants; and
(6) Any other use that is reasonably
incident to mine development and operation, except for uses exclusively
supporting reclamation or mine closure.
(b) Upon obtaining authorization
under the surface management regulations of the surface managing agency,
you may use and occupy independent
mill sites for processing metallic minerals from lode claims using:
(1) Quartz or stamp mills; or
(2) Reduction works, including placement of grinding, crushing, or milling
facilities (such as rod and ball mills,
cone crushers, and floatation cells), reduction facilities (such as smelting,
electro-winning, roasters, autoclaves,
and leachate recovery), tailings ponds,
and leach pads.

Subpart D—Tunnel Sites
§ 3832.40

Tunnel sites.

§ 3832.41

What is a tunnel site?

A tunnel site is a subsurface right-ofway under Federal land open to mineral entry. It is used for access to lode
mining claims or to explore for blind or
undiscovered veins, lodes, or ledges not
currently claimed or known to exist on
the surface.

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§ 3832.42

How do I locate a tunnel site?

You may locate a tunnel site by:
(a) Erecting a substantial post,
board, or monument at the face of the
tunnel, which is the point where the
tunnel enters cover;
(b) Placing a location notice or certificate on the post, board, or monument that includes:
(1) The names of the claimants;
(2) The actual or proposed course or
direction of the tunnel;
(3) The height and width of the tunnel; and
(4) The course and distance from the
face or starting point to some permanent well-known natural objects or
permanent monuments, in the same
manner as required to describe a lode
claim (see § 3832.12(a) and (b)); and

(c) Placing stakes or monuments on
the surface along the boundary lines of
the tunnel at proper intervals as required under state law from the face of
the tunnel for 3,000 feet or to the end of
the tunnel, whichever is shorter.
[68 FR 61064, Oct. 24, 2003; 68 FR 74197, Dec.
23, 2003]

§ 3832.43

How may I use a tunnel site?

You may use the tunnel site for subsurface access to a lode claim or to explore for and acquire previously unknown lodes, veins, or ledges within
the confines of the tunnel site.
§ 3832.44 What rights do I have to minerals within my tunnel site?
(a) If you located your tunnel site in
good faith, you may acquire the right
to any blind veins, ledges, or lodes cut,
discovered, or intersected by your tunnel, by locating a lode claim, if they—
(1) Are located within a radius of
1,500 feet from the tunnel axis; and
(2) Were not previously known to
exist on the surface and within the limits of your tunnel.
(b) Your site is protected from other
parties making locations of lodes within the sidelines of the tunnel and within the 3,000-foot length of the tunnel,
unless such lodes appear upon the surface or were previously known to exist.
(c) You must diligently work on the
tunnel site. If you cease working on it
for more than 6 consecutive months,
you will lose your right to possess all
unknown, undiscovered veins, lodes, or
ledges that your tunnel may intersect.
§ 3832.45 How do I obtain any minerals
that I discover within my tunnel
site?
(a) Even if you have located the tunnel site, you must separately locate a
lode claim to acquire the possessory
right to a blind vein, lode, or ledge you
have discovered within the boundaries
of the tunnel site sidelines.
(b) The date of location of your lode
claim is retroactive to the date of location of your tunnel site.

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§ 3832.90

43 CFR Ch. II (10–1–15 Edition)

Subpart E—Defective Locations

Subpart D—Defective Filings

§ 3832.90 Defects in the location of
mining claims and sites.

3833.90 Defects in recordings or filings for
mining claims and sites.
3833.91 What defects cannot be cured under
this part?
3833.92 What happens if I do not file a transfer of interest?

§ 3832.91 How do I amend a mining
claim or site location if it exceeds
the size limitations?
(a) You may correct defects in your
location of a mining claim, mill site, or
tunnel site by filing an amended notice
of location (see § 3833.20 of this chapter
on conditions allowing amendments
and how to record them.)
(b) For placer claims or mill sites
that you located using an irregular
survey or lotting of irregular sections,
you may use the ‘‘Rule of Approximation’’ to determine allowable acreage.
The Rule of Approximation applies
only to surveyed public lands. It was
developed to determine maximum allowable acreage for land entries (placer
claims in this part) where the excess
acreage is less than the difference
would be if the smallest legal subdivision is excluded from the location or
entry. In no case may you use the rule
to obtain more acreage than allowed
under the applicable law. (See Henry C.
Tingley, 8 Pub. Lands Dec. 205 (1889)).

PART 3833—RECORDING MINING
CLAIMS AND SITES
Subpart A—Recording Process
Sec.
3833.1 Why must I record mining claims and
sites?
3833.10 Procedures for recording mining
claims and sites.
3833.11 How do I record mining claims and
sites?

Subpart B—Amending Mining Claims and
Sites
3833.20 Amending mining claims and sites.
3833.21 When may I amend a notice or certificate of location?
3833.22 How do I amend my location?

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Subpart C—Filing Transfers of Interest
3833.30 Filing transfers of interest in mining
claims or sites.
3833.31 What is a transfer of interest?
3833.32 How do I transfer a mining claim or
site?
3833.33 How may I transfer, sell, or otherwise convey an association placer mining
claim?

AUTHORITY: 30 U.S.C. 22 et seq., 621–625; 43
U.S.C. 2, 1201, 1457, 1701 et seq.; 62 Stat. 162;
115 Stat. 414.
SOURCE: 68 FR 61071, Oct. 24, 2003, unless
otherwise noted.

Subpart A—Recording Process
§ 3833.1 Why must I record mining
claims and sites?
FLPMA requires you to record all
mining claims and sites with BLM and
the local recording office in order to
maintain a mining claim or site under
the General Mining Law.
(a) If you fail to record a mining
claim or site with the BLM and the
local recording office by the 90th day
after the date of location, it is abandoned and void by operation of law.
(b) Recording a mining claim or site,
filing any other documents with BLM,
or paying fees or service charges, as
this part requires, does not make a
claim or site valid if it not otherwise
valid under applicable law.
§ 3833.10 Procedures
for
mining claims and sites.
§ 3833.11 How do I
claims and sites?

recording

record

(a) You must record in the proper
BLM State Office a copy of the notice
of certificate of location that you
recordedor will record in the local recording office by the 90th day after the
date of location. If there is no recording requirement under state law (as in
Arkansas), you still must record a document with BLM and the local recording office that contains the information required by this part.
(b) Your notice or certificate of location must include:
(1) The name or number, or both, of
the claim or site;
(2) The names and current mailing
addresses of the locators of the claim;
(3) The type of claim or site;
(4) The date of location; and

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