Prospectors Research Tools

[Clay Diggins]

Prospector's Research Tools

I haven't been around much this summer and with the desert prospecting season just starting it's a good time to show off what I did this long hot summer. I have been working with a few friends on a new non-profit organization to give you a single place for all your land research.

The result is MyLandMatters.Org. This is the gateway to your land information repository. Maps, books, tutorials, community resources and quality, easy-to-access information about the land around you.

No ads, No memberships, No log-in required.

This past spring while sitting around with some friends we came to the conclusion that most of the important and useful things that we want to know about the land around us was difficult to locate and tough to understand. Despite the many sources of information there was no single place to find the information available.

We decided we could do something about that. We agreed to put our time and energy into creating a single place that anyone could find the answers to questions about the land.

It's a big project. It has taken a lot of work, learning and resources to get things started. But after six months of long days, and more than a few nights, the Land Matters repository is ready for you to use.

Land Matters is all about the land. You can find Land Status Maps, Active Mining Claims Maps (with live direct links into the current LR2000 claims database), A great collection of mining books, Land Laws, Geology books and maps, Forest Travel Plans and a whole lot more.

Land Matters is for land users. Our collections are guided by community input. That's you. Let us know what kind of material you would like to find in our Library or a particular map you would like to see. Help us build Land Matters to best serve the community.

We've already got a lot of things that prospectors have been asking for - the claims maps alone were almost universally requested. Land Matters isn't just for prospectors and miners. But you can help prioritize our efforts and drive the content of Land Matters. Prospectors now have a unique opportunity to help guide and build an information resource designed by prospectors and for prospectors.

We are just getting started filling the Library but there will be hundreds of books, maps and items added in the next few weeks. We've even got a Newsletter so you can get regular updates about new additions to the Land Matters repository.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Here are a few good places to start:

Tutorials - the current focus is on understanding Land Status.
Maps - We all like maps and we've got some you will love.
Library - search for something.

Heavy Pans
Barry & Leigh

 

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[Maitland]

I'm definitely surprised that South Dakota ranks last, especially with the extensive mining history here, including the great Homestake Mine. 94% of the land in the Black Hills is public land, but since a lot of the gold-rich areas were once patented claims and are now private land, it's easy to see why the numbers aren't as high as they could be.

 

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[Clay Diggins]

Members here are more interested in gold claims Maitland but most mining claims are not made for gold deposits.

There is a lot of money in mining copper, molybdenum, lithium, lead, PG metals, zeolites, gypsum, asbestos, nickel, silver, zinc and even mud (lots of mud money in Tennessee). Gold is pretty rare stuff compared to just about any other metal so gold mines are pretty rare too.

South Dakota has a great mining history that isn't even close to over yet but with much of the mining activity based on gold discoveries there just isn't ever going to be the volume of claims found in other states with many different types of mineral deposits. Nevada wouldn't be the leading mining state if all there were only gold mines there.

In dollar terms copper came in second to gold in Nevada mining last year.

Summary of 2013 production

• Gold 5,436,430 ounces
• Copper 137,714,765 pounds
• Silver 8,668,596 ounces
• Barite (shipped) 811,334 tons
• Diatomite (shipped) 262,551 tons
• Dolomite 44,445 tons
• Gypsum 1,834,297 tons
• Limestone 4,105,921 tons
• Lithium compounds N/A
• Magnesium compounds N/A
• Molybdenite 1,384,649 pounds
• Perlite N/A
• Salt 19,564 tons
• Silica sand 639,457 tons
• Specialty clay 47,967 tons

North Dakota has very little mineralized public lands compared to Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona or even California. Even though those Black Hills have been very rich producers most of the land in South Dakota is more suited to agriculture. Nevada, Arizona and Wyoming not so much.

Heavy Pans

 

[goldenIrishman]

Great graphs Clay!

I'm surprised at the low number of placer claims in Arizona. I feel that there are a LOT more untapped placer deposits hiding in the state. I know it's not the easiest state to hunt gold in at times. Between the summer heat, the monsoons, rough terrain, lack of water, critters that want to chomp on you and remoteness of many areas it can be a trial just to be able to get to many parts of the state let alone get gear and grub into them.

 

[Clay Diggins]

You are right about many great placers in Arizona Jeff.

I think when you consider the size of those placers you will see that while they are a great resource for the small miner they aren't worth the trouble for the larger mining groups. The big mining interests, and the big claim holders, in Arizona are the mining companies and they see their money coming from mining copper, tungsten, uranium and coal.

As with most states the number of claims for gold deposits is relatively small. When compared to the large disseminated copper deposits that account for most of the claims here they are barely noticeable. Mining is all about paying deposits. Copper is king in Arizona. So much so that the vast majority of gold mined in Arizona is a byproduct of mining copper.

It's interesting to note that Arizona is the nations leading producer of mined gemstones. Even so Copper production is more than 5 Billion dollars a year and gemstones are less than 1 1/2 million dollars.

Heavy Pans

 

[azblackbird]

I know it's not the easiest state to hunt gold in at times. Between the summer heat, the monsoons, rough terrain, lack of water, critters that want to chomp on you and remoteness of many areas it can be a trial just to be able to get to many parts of the state let alone get gear and grub into them.

That's the beauty of AZ. Keeps the tenderfoots out.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well I'm pretty much heat proof, don't mind getting rained on (have to bathe sometime ya know) and enjoy extreme hiking. Most critters that try to bite me can end up as dinner or poisoning themselves when they bite me. (remember the old Ford Truck ad with the rattler biting the guy working on the fence?) And last but not least, the further I am from the general public the better off they are. (I don't do "Sheeple" well) So along with my trusty mule named Toyota, I'll be more than happy to hunt down Arizonas' placer deposits that the big boys don't feel are worth working for what ever reason and extract as much of that nice buttery yellow gold that I can find....

 

[Lanny in AB]

Thanks Clay! What a clearly unselfish thing to do.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Clay Diggins]

Master Title Plats!

We were pretty well stumped as to how we were going to bring you more maps and reference materials on Land Matters. The donation campaign has been stuck in first gear and we were pretty much out of disk space on the server. No disk space = no way to upload all the maps and documents we have for you.

Luckily our server owners took pity on us and gave us a smidgen more space to keep us going until we can afford to upgrade. There are advantages to being a non-profit!

We've been planning on upgrading the Land Status maps on the site. The BIG issue has been how to get you to the Master Title Plats easily. These plats (maps) and their supplements keep track of the status of all the public lands. Each Plat covers a Township (approx 36 sq. miles).

These maps are difficult to find and often unavailable from the usual sources. We've managed to crack the codes to bring these maps to you with a click of your mouse on a search map! No more searching for hours through government sites for the right map.

Without these maps you are pretty much guessing what areas are closed (or potentially open) to claims. These maps complete the research tools needed to determine where you can prospect or make a claim. Combined with the LR2000 and the County Recorder Location Records these Master Title Plats will give you the last steps before you put boots on the ground. You can now study the BLM LR2000 Claims, access the County Recorder and download the Master Title Plats all from Land Matters Maps.

We've started with the Arizona Land Status Map by popular request. Through the next few weeks we will be adding states as we are able. These State based Land Status maps are a major part of our plan to bring you accurate land information that is easily accessed.

More coming soon!

Heavy Pans

 

[Clay Diggins]

More Land Status Maps!

It's been a very busy week for me at Land Matters and at my MinerDiggins office. It's the time of year when the desert mining season is in full bore and those mining in the cooler climates are getting ready for spring start up.

We've added 7 more State Land Status Maps to the Land Matters map collection. You can now access Master Title Plats and Supplements for:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Idaho
• Montana
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• South Dakota

We will continue working on bringing you more state's land status information including survey notes and patents.

These records are scattered over many state, administrative and federal offices and some of them aren't very responsive to requests for those documents so some of these maps will take some time. Land Status is so critical to understanding how you can access and use the land that we at Land Matters are making easy public access to these documents a very high priority.

If any of you will be at the Mesa GPAA show Sunday afternoon Ruby and I plan to visit. If you would like to meet us send me a PM or ask for us at one of the booths and we would be pleased to speak with you.

Lot's more coming soon!

Heavy Pans

 

[Clay Diggins]

Fixed a problem where some of the MTP supplements were not being downloaded correctly. Thanks to Gilded Lens for that heads up!

If you see something that doesn't seem to work right PM me here or better yet Contact Land Matters so we can fix it. You will be doing your fellow prospectors a favor.

Heavy Pans

 

[Clay Diggins]

More Land Status Maps!

Just added Kansas to the Land Status Maps.

Curiously Kansas has only Status Plats - there are no Master Title Plats. This is probably because Kansas was a Land Rush State. Only the reserved lands appear to be included on the Kansas Status Plats.

More coming soon!

Heavy Pans

 

[BurntBear]

The "Arizona Mineral Potential" layer is quite interesting!

 

[goldenIrishman]

That map played a big part in my choice of where to start my hunt in the Kingman area Burnt. If someone is willing to take the time to learn how to really use the information on the LandMatters site,there is no excuse for not finding gold!!! Clay and the rest of the team keep coming up with great tools for us. Like any tool you have to learn how to use it correctly for it to be effective.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Land Management Map Updates!

We've just updated the Land Management Map to the newest available version.

This information was just released by the government. This is a big dataset to maintain but it's one of the most important map features we host at Land Matters. Unlike the government site supplied maps that are unavailable most days, nights and weekends this one can always be found up and working at Land Matters.

Land management boundaries don't change much through time but much like the small changes on the claims maps these changes are important to know when you are studying an area. This updated map displays all the government managed lands in the United States displayed by the managing agency.

Land Management is so important to the Land Status maps we provide at Land Matters that you will find this information available on most of our United States maps including State Land Status Maps, Mining Claims Maps and the State Geology Maps.

We've got several interesting new maps coming up very soon. Watch this space!

Heavy Pans

 

[Clay Diggins]

The "Arizona Mineral Potential" layer is quite interesting!

We will be adding more features like this to all the State Geology maps as we are able Luke. I've been working on some big upgrades to the Oregon, California and North Carolina Geology maps as well as working on finishing the 25 States that don't have even a basic geology map yet.

The geology maps will always be a continuing project. Each State (and each country) will be mapped with all the information we can discover for that area. Eventually we hope to present the best geology available for anywhere in the world a user might be interested in researching.

Another area we are developing is gem and mineral locations mapped by State and country. That project is growing behind the scenes daily. I'm a gem and mineral nut and we get a lot of gem and mineral requests at Land Matters. I looking forward to the day when we can bring those resources online for the Land Matters users. I guarantee some good surprises then.

Heavy Pans

 

[Clay Diggins]

Texas Geology!

The Land Matters Texas Geology base maps are ready to use.

You can query the Geology layer with the " i " tool to get pages of geology information about where you clicked. I've included a separate Faults layer too.

Texas has some cool geology to check out. Not so big on the mountains there but there are some interesting rock and fault formations.

This is the first big map in my current efforts to make a higher level geology map for every state.

Many more states coming very soon!

Heavy Pans

 

[Clay Diggins]

New York State Geology!

I told you there would be more soon.

The Land Matters New York State Geology Map is now available.

And many more to come soon!

Heavy Pans

 

[Clay Diggins]

Forest Service Topo Maps!

A lot of people don't know about it but the Forest Service makes their own Topo maps that cover the National Forests and Purchase Units. There are 10,379 of these Forest Service Topo maps that cover virtually all the Forest Service managed lands.

We've now managed to put them on the Land Matters Topo Search Map along with all the USGS Current and Historical Topo Maps.

These Forest Service Topo maps are available for full resolution download as either a Geo PDF, like the USGS topos, or as a GEOTiff with a world file for all those technical mappers out there.

Forest Service Topos don't have near the features or details that the better USGS topos have but they do have different features related to each Forest. It's a good idea to download these along with the USGS topos for any area you are researching. When you are studying an area you want all the information you can get before you put boots on the ground.

This brings our downloadable Topo map collection count to more than 275,000 topo maps. Each and every one of these maps can be downloaded with just two clicks on the Topo Search Map!

At this point we believe we have more Topo maps available for download than any other site on the web but we aren't done yet - we've got thousands more to add soon.

Keep an eye on this thread, I have a bunch more State Geology maps coming very soon too.

Heavy Pans

 

[delnorter]

Fantastic Barry. I'm familiar with these maps. I believe they are the same foundation upon which they produce their in house road maps. These road maps show all roads on the forest, closed and open. The ones I have are broken down into the various districts of particular National Forests.

All the best,
Mike

 

[Clay Diggins]

Tennessee Waterfalls!

This is a fun map I've been working on. It's just in it's "what if?" phase but I think you'll like it.

The blue dots represent Tennessee Waterfalls. If you click on a dot while in the information " i " mode you will get a window that names the waterfall and gives the height. There is a LINK included that takes you to more information about that waterfall including a picture, coordinates and a link to download a waypoint for your GPS unit.

Tennessee is famous for their beautiful eastern mountain country and waterfalls are a nice part of that beauty. Now you can navigate to each waterfall and see a picture before you visit.

This is just a sample map. We can add more for other States if you think it's a good idea so your feedback would be appreciated. I'd love to make more of these kinds of maps.

You can try out the new Waterfall mapping on the Tennessee Geology Map.

That links right to the Tennessee map thanks to the generous support of our own BurntBear. Click the link at the top of the map, while you are there, and send a thank you to BurntBear for supporting Land Matters.

I've got several new geology maps just about ready. If your State is missing from the Geology Map list there's a good chance you will see it very soon.

Heavy Pans