Your Annual 2012 Mining Claims Filings

[clay]

With the new fees on mining claims there has been some confusion about just how this will affect claimholders. Ruby put together this explanation and chart to help our fellow prospectors understand their options.

This doesn't cover every situation but if you have a specific question not covered here feel free to ask.

You can download a printable .PDF file with this information at THIS LINK.

General Guidelines

for Your Annual 2012 Mining Claims Filings

by Ruby Miner

WHO

Anyone who has any ACTIVE lode claims, placer claims, mill sites or tunnel sites on file with

the BLM who wants to keep those claims after September 1, 2012.

WHAT and WHEN

You may be required to file one or more of these documents.

Small Miners Waiver

Annual Maintenance Fee

Affidavit of Assessment Work

Intention to Hold

Small Miners

If you and ALL persons on ALL of your association claims hold 10 or fewer mining claims, you

may file a Small Miners Waiver and waive the 2013 Annual Maintenance Fee. This must be

done on or before September 1st. You must also record an Affidavit of Assessment Work

into the County Recorder's office in the county where the claim is located AND file a copy with

the BLM on or before December 30, 2012

If you have Mill Sites and/or Tunnel Sites they do not require assessment work. You will need

to record an Intention to Hold with the appropriate County Recorder AND file a copy with

the BLM on or before December 30, 2012.

Other Miners

All other claim holders must pay an Annual Maintenance Fee with the BLM of $140 for each

Lode Claim, Mill Site and Tunnel Site. For each Placer Claim you must pay $140 for each 20

acres and portion thereof. For example; a placer claim that is the size of a standard lode claim

(600 ft x 1500 ft) is 20.66 acres and will require a payment of $280.

If you are paying an Annual Maintenance Fee you are required by law to record an Intention

to Hold at the County Recorder's office on your existing claims each year. The BLM can not

declare your claims as "abandoned" for failure to make this public filing but it is a good idea to

do so.

Follow the attached chart to determine what you need to file and to determine how much it will

cost you.

WHERE

BLM

Documents that are required to be filed with the BLM need to be filed at the appropriate State

BLM office not your BLM Field Office.

Alaska BLM Office

Arizona BLM Office

California BLM Office

Colorado BLM Office

Idaho BLM Office

Montana BLM Office – Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota

Nevada BLM Office

New Mexico BLM Office – New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas & Kansas

Utah BLM Office

Wyoming BLM Office

Eastern States BLM Office

County Recorder

Documents that are required to be recorded with the county need to be recorded at the

County Recorder's office(s) in the county where your claim(s) is located.

Links to County Recorders

Please remember that these are General Guidelines only. I encourage all miners to study the

appropriate mining laws for a full understanding of the filing requirements.

Another MinerDiggins Adventure

All Rights Reserved

Right to reproduce granted provided text is unmodified and attribution is included.

[AZNuggetBob]

Clay

Very Nice. clean, clear and concise.

Best regards to Ruby.

AzNuggetBob

[Uncle Ron]

Thanks Clay & Ruby ... That's a great and useful tool ... Cheers, Unc

[clay]

We have had several questions come up about the Small Miners Exemption process and filing.

The most common questions relate to the time frame for filing and the end of year filing deadline.

First of all please keep in mind that the flow chart that is at the beginning of this thread is simplified and does not cover every persons situation. You can consider this post in addition to and a further explanation to that chart.

The BLM sites can be misleading about how to make your first SME filing. All but the Nevada BLM site do not correctly address your first year of transitioning from the Fee Waiver to the SME. The California BLM site is not only misleading in this regard but they apply the process of subsequent years to your first year filing - dangerously wrong.

To put this as simply as I know how:

___________________________________________________________________________

Your 2012 $140 Maintenance Fee filing was made by September 1, 2011 and expires on September 1, 2012.

___________________________________________________________________________

To waive your Maintenance Fees for 2013 you must file a Small Miners Waiver before September 1, 2012.

Then...

___________________________________________________________________________

By December 30 2012:

(1) Record an Notice of intent to Hold with the County Recorder in which your claims are located.

(2) File a Notice of Intent to Hold with the BLM State Office - BLM processing fee is $10 per claim/site.

In addition to the standard NOI you need to include in the record and filing the fact that you will be working under the Small Miners Exemption during the 2013 assessment year.

Then...

___________________________________________________________________________

By September 1 2013:

(1) Complete your assessment work for the 2013 assessment year.

(2) File a small miners waiver or pay your 2014 Maintenance fees.

Then...

___________________________________________________________________________

By December 30 2013:

(1) Record an Affidavit of Assessment Work with the County Recorder in which your claims are located.

(2) File a Proof of Labor/Affidavit of Assessment Work with the BLM State Office - BLM processing fee is $10 per claim/site.

__________________________________________________________________

This still doesn't cover every situation but it should clear up some common misunderstandings about converting to a Small Miners Waiver.