Can you legally work a past producer claim

[davidhorton001]

I'm kinda a green horn when it comes to this stuff. Is it legal to work a past producer claim? And what about claims owned by the forest service? Any info would be great. I live in Montana if that makes a difference.
Thanks, David

 

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[delnorter]

David, as kindly as I can say, you are indeed a greenhorn. Like all of us at one time. Kinda like this little sprout....

As to your first question; yes and or no. It depends on the current status of the claim / land. Active claim, inactive claim, withdrawn land, wilderness area etc. More information is needed to answer correctly.

The Forest Service does not own claims.

Are there any prospecting clubs in your neck of the woods? If so, join one and learn from the other members. If not keep asking your questions here and start studying the past threads and post on this forum.

Good luck,
Mike

 

[goldenmojo]

delnorter I wish you had posted a clip of The Who. Then it would have been Horton hears the who.......

 

[gollum]

Here is a good "What If" on this subject:

Say you find the famous "Lost Dutchman Mine" in the Superstition Mountains in AZ. Treasure Trove would not apply since it only applies to worked gold/silver. It was a working/producing mine when it was hidden in about 1888. It likely lies in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness Area. Could the finder just reopen the mine and legally start working it?

Mike

 

[davidhorton001]

This claim is an example of what I am talking about. I was driving up an area that has a few producer and past producer claims. One area you could tell it had been worked at one time. On the site there is an old rusted wash plant that I wanted to check out. The problem is nothing is posted, you can see were There was something posted at one time but now it's just a post in the ground. Does past produce mean its a inactive claim. And here it says ownership is national forest.




Geologic Information
Identification information
Deposit ID 10245828
MAS/MILS ID 0300630104
Record type Site
Current site name Unnamed Mine
Geographic coordinates
Point of reference Main Entrance
Geographic coordinates: -114.47517, 47.14818 (WGS84)
Elevation 1170
Location accuracy 10(meters)
Geographic context
Political divisions (FIPS codes)
Missoula(county)
Montana(state)
United States(country)
North America(continent)
Land(continent)
USGS map quadrangles
Mccormick Peak(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)
Plains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)
Wallace(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)
Hydrologic units (watersheds)
Middle Clark Fork(hydrologic unit)
Pend Oreille(hydrologic accounting unit)
Kootenai-Pend Oreille-Spokane(hydrologic subregion)
Pacific Northwest(hydrologic region)
Federal lands
Lolo National Forest(National Forest)
National Forest FS(Type of land area)
FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)
Geographic areas
Country State County
United States Montana Missoula
Public Land Survey System information
Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Montana Principal 016 N 023 W 14 Montana
Commodities
Commodity Importance of the commodity
Gold Primary
Geologic units near the site, calculated from the appropriate geologic map
Main Entrance (1) Tertiary sedimentary rocks, undifferentiated
Economic Information
Economic information about the deposit and operations
Operation type Underground
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Land status
Ownership category National Forest
Reference Information
Links to other databases
Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
U.S. Bureau of Mines Minerals Availability System MAS 0300630104
Bibliographic references
Subject category Reference
Deposit
LOCATED FROM MAP SYMBOL, COMMODITY ASSUMED FROM SURROUNDING
Reporter information
Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 23-NOV-83 Western Field Operations Center (WFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines
Time of information access: 2013-12-04 15:57:40
User Information You must log in to edit this record.
Log in to edit this entry.
AccessibilityFOIAPrivacyPolicies and Notices

 

[goldenmojo]

Maybe ClayDiggins will comment on this one. He is the go to guy.

 

[KevinInColorado]

This is from USGS Web site right? To learn status you need to look at BLM's LR2000 and then any filings at the local county recorders office The usgs site is helpful in identifying major historical and current mines but does NOT show all claims. Even LR2000 is often months behind, a friend filed two claims last fall and they are still not in LR2000...just for example.

 

[johnnysau]

More tidbits -

1.Josephine Trailhead Mine; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4754, 47.1485 at a distance of 41 m
2.Favorite Gulch mouth; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4838, 47.1505 at a distance of 702 m
3.Little McCormick Creek mouth; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4877, 47.1532 at a distance of 1101 m
4.Kennedy Creek Placer I Mine; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4802, 47.1318 at a distance of 1857 m
5.Kennedy Creek Placer II Mine; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4802, 47.1318 at a distance of 1857 m
6.Nugget Mine; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4468, 47.1471 at a distance of 2158 m
7.Favorite Gulch head; -114.4513, 47.1593 at a distance of 2196 m
8.Lost Cabin Mine; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4454, 47.1488 at a distance of 2263 m
9.Kennedy Creek Placer III Mine; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4510, 47.1332 at a distance of 2477 m
10.Hautilla Mine; Montana: Missoula Co. -114.4427, 47.1521 at a distance of 2504 m


LR2000 wouldn't let me in for further checks.
johnnysau

 

[russau]

The American people own the land and our gubermint(and its agencies) just manages /maintains this public land for us!

 

[cjg20232]

i got the program mine cache its far better than any thing in have found for finding claims. It works off of Google maps and is free for 30 days. Even tho there are alot of claims
there a lot of closed ones too.