Mining Claim Resources | How to Stake, Research & Maintain Claims

Most National Forest and BLM-managed public land is open for mineral entry. Check land status using the Nevada Division of Minerals open map or BLM LR2000. Free — no cost to research.

02

Check Existing Claims

Search LR2000 for your target Township/Range/Section. Cross-reference with The Diggings for GPS locations. County recorder records are public and free.

03

Mark the Claim

Physically visit the location. Erect a state-approved discovery monument and mark all four corners. Attach your Notice of Location. Cost: stakes & materials only.

04

File Your COL

Prepare your Certificate of Location and accurate location map. File with both the BLM and county recorder. Pay first-year assessment fees.

Quick Reference — Filing Costs & Deadlines

Fee Type	Amount	Notes
BLM Filing Fee	$225	Per claim, paid to Bureau of Land Management
County Filing Fee	$60–75	Varies by county and state
Annual Assessment	$200	Per claim for lode; per 20 acres for placer — paid annually
Small Miner’s Waiver	Free	If you hold fewer than 10 claims total

Researching Mining Claims & Gold Mines

The best gold mines are found with good research. These are the databases and tools actively used to find, evaluate, and stake productive mining claims.

🔗 BLM LR2000

The official federal mining claim database. Search by Township/Range/Section to find existing claims and verify land status.

🔗 The Diggings™

Cross-reference tool with approximate GPS locations, claimant names, and claim history. Excellent for initial research.

🔗 Nevada Division of Minerals

Open data map overlaying existing claims on Township/Range/Section maps. Updated several times per year.

🔗 County Recorder Offices

Pull location maps and claim documents from the county where the claim is located. All records are public.

🔗 USGS Mineral Resources

Geological surveys, mineral deposit databases, and historic production records for districts across the American West.

🔗 Google Earth / Maps

Visual terrain analysis, road access verification, and GPS coordinate plotting for claim boundaries.

Maintaining Your Mining Claims

Keep your mining claim active and in good standing with these annual filing requirements. Missing the September 1st BLM deadline can result in automatic forfeiture.

⚠️ Critical Annual Deadline — September 1st
All BLM assessment fees must be paid before September 1st each year to keep your mining claim active. Missing this deadline forfeits the claim. Mark it in your calendar — it cannot be extended or waived after the fact.

First-Year Requirements

In the first year of a new mining claim, you must complete both of the following:

Pay the $200 annual maintenance fee to the BLM before September 1st — OR file a small miners exemption if you hold fewer than 10 claims total ($10 per claim)
File a Notice of Intent to Hold with the county the claim is located in — this is a notarized document required in some counties before the end of the calendar year

Ongoing Annual Requirements

After the first year, annual maintenance is straightforward: pay the BLM assessment fees before September 1st and you can hold the claim indefinitely. Some claimants have held the same mining claims for 80+ years and passed them on to heirs. Since a mining claim is a tradable asset — like a deed to property — its value can appreciate significantly with changes in precious metal prices.

Annual Maintenance Calendar

Sept. 1

BLM Assessment Due
$200 per claim

Sept. 1

Small Miners Exemption
Only if holding < 10 claims

Dec. 31

Notice of Intent to Hold
First year only, some counties

Forever

Claim Duration
As long as fees are paid on time

Fire Assay & Mining Equipment

Knowing exactly how much gold and silver is in your ore — in real time — is the difference between a profitable operation and a costly guess. Here's how to do it right.

💡 Pro Tip — Run Your Own Fire Assays
Commercial labs charge $30–$50 per sample with 10-sample minimums and weeks of turnaround. For ~$2,000 in equipment (oven, crucibles, cupels, litharge), you can do your own. After just 40–50 samples the setup pays for itself, and subsequent assays cost approximately $3 each. Over a few seasons, this saves thousands.

Recommended Assay Resources

🧪 American Assay Labs (AAL)

aallabs.com — Reno, Nevada. Professional fire and geochemical assay lab. Minimum order 10 samples. Pricing $30–$50 per sample. Gold, silver, copper, platinum group elements.

⚙️ Lmine.com

lmine.com — Full assortment of lode and placer mining equipment, crushers, tables, geological tools, sample bags, screens, and fire assay supplies. Also stocks the classic Bugbee fire assay textbook.

Floatation & Milling

Extracting gold, silver, copper, and zinc from lode deposits requires crushing, gravity concentration, and chemical processing. Here's how to think about small-scale milling.

Extracting precious metals from lode deposits often involves a combination of crushing, gravity concentration, and flotation chemistry. Lead, zinc, silver, gold, and copper can all be extracted from sulfide and oxide ores using the flotation method — the same process used by industrial mines, scaled down for small operations.

Mountain Man Mining Pilot Mill

Mountain Man Mining™ operates a pilot mill site in Gold Point, Nevada, capable of milling up to 20 tons per day. Our pilot mill is capable of extracting gold from lode and placer deposits using a variety of methods:

Gravity concentration — shaker tables and sluices for free-milling gold
Heap leach — cyanide-free and cyanide-based options
Mercury amalgamation — traditional method for fine gold
Flotation — for sulfide ores containing copper, lead, and zinc
Direct smelt — for high-grade ore with low iron content

Mining Claim Glossary

Essential terminology for anyone buying, selling, or working a mining claim in the American West.

Lode Claim

A mining claim on a hard-rock mineral deposit — ore embedded in solid rock, typically gold, silver, or copper in quartz veins or fault zones. Requires underground or open-pit extraction.

Placer Claim

A mining claim on alluvial or unconsolidated deposits — gold or other minerals that have been eroded from their host rock and concentrated in stream gravels, bench gravels, or ancient streambeds.

Unpatented Mining Claim

The most common form of mining claim. The US government retains surface title, but the claimant holds exclusive mineral rights and the right to mine commercially. Must be maintained with annual BLM assessment fees.

Patented Mining Claim

A historical claim where the claimant holds full fee-simple title to both surface and mineral rights — essentially private property on what was once federal land. No new patents have been issued since 1994.

Certificate of Location (COL)

The legal document that establishes a mining claim. Contains the claim name, claimant name, legal description, Township/Range/Section, and location map. Must be filed with both the BLM and the county recorder.

BLM (Bureau of Land Management)

The federal agency that administers most public land in the American West and maintains the national mining claim registry. Annual assessment fees are paid to the BLM to keep claims active.

Small Miners Exemption

An alternative to paying the full BLM maintenance fee, available to claimants holding 10 or fewer claims nationwide. Free to file, but requires $100 of assessment work per claim each year. Must be filed by September 1st.

Discovery Monument

A physical marker erected at the point of mineral discovery when a new mining claim is staked. State-specific requirements govern its construction. Your Notice of Location is attached to the monument.

Millsite

A 5-acre non-mineral parcel associated with a mining claim, used for processing facilities, equipment storage, and support infrastructure. Held separately from the lode or placer claim but filed simultaneously.

Quitclaim Deed

The legal instrument used to transfer mining claim ownership from seller to buyer. Recorded with both the county recorder and the BLM. Mountain Man Mining handles this process on behalf of all buyers.

Township / Range / Section

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) coordinates used to identify land parcels on BLM records. A Township is 6 miles square; each Township contains 36 Sections of 640 acres. Essential for LR2000 research.

Mineral Rights

The legal right to extract minerals from a piece of land. Can be held separately from surface rights. On unpatented mining claims, the claimant holds mineral rights while the federal government retains surface title.

State-by-State Mining Claim Resources

Direct links to county recorders, BLM field offices, and state mineral divisions for each state where active gold and silver mining claims are available.

🏔 Colorado

Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety. Denver County Recorder for claim filings. BLM Colorado State Office in Lakewood.

🌵 Nevada

Nevada Division of Minerals. BLM Nevada State Office in Reno. County recorders in each claim county (Clark, Douglas, Humboldt, etc.).

☀️ Arizona

Arizona State Mine Inspector. BLM Arizona State Office in Phoenix. County recorders in La Paz, Yavapai, and other claim counties.

🦌 Montana

Montana Bureau of Mines & Geology. BLM Montana State Office in Billings. Madison County Recorder for local claim filings.

🥔 Idaho

Idaho Department of Lands. BLM Idaho State Office in Boise. Boise County Recorder for claim documentation.

🌉 California

California Department of Conservation — Division of Mine Reclamation. BLM California State Office in Sacramento. County recorders in Sierra, Plumas, and other claim counties.

Free Guides & Downloads

Two free PDFs you can download right now — no signup required.

📘

Paydirt — Mountain Man Mining Edition

A practical field guide to the economics of small-scale gold mining: what a claim really produces and how to buy smart.

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📗

Gold Rush — Modern Prospecting

An introduction to modern prospecting methods and where to find gold on public land across the American West.

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