Mining Claim Continued...The Paperwork!

April 03, 2020

Now that you have staked a claim and marked out your boundaries, it's time to do some paperwork.

Your notice of location should contain specific information. Your goal is for others to be able to identify your claim and avoid it. Your paperwork must include:

Name of locator
Address of locator
Name of claim
Date of location
Amount of acreage claimed
Meridian and township where claim is located
Location within the section, county, mining district, and state
Any other information your local area requires (check with BLM)

The offices where you file your paperwork are at the County Recorder’s office in the county where your claim is located and the state office of the Bureau of Land Management. For Alaska you can obtain the State Mining Location Notice and relevant information here:

http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/forms/19apma/

You are allowed between 30-90 days to process your claim with the County recorder and the BLM offices depending on what state your mining claim is in. Fees will be associated with staking this claim for the first time and can be as little as $5. Check with your local office for the fee information.

As of September 2019 the BLM fees for maintaining a placer mining claim were $165 per 20 acres. For more specific information you can visit the BLM website here:

https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/mining-and-minerals/locatable-minerals/mining-claims/fees