Please go to the Politcal Forum on Tom Ashworths Prospectors Cache (www.tomashworth.com) and read the post regarding the recent U. S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding the 1872 Mining Law. It may be the most important ruling concerning mining on public lands in recent history, and spells out the rights of prospectors and claim owners, as well as the limitations on Administrative Agencies such as BLM, USFS and others. The court found these agencies "lack authority" to attempt to repeal the 1872 law by the regulatory process and restates the position that mining claims are private property and that mining activity is treated with special emphasis in the Multiple Use Act of 1955.