Remember they are due by midnight August 31st. Don't buy into the BLM's nonsense about September 1st - you could lose your claim!
A REMINDER THAT CLAIM MAINTENANCE FEES AND SMALL
MINER WAIVER CERTIFICATES ARE DUE ON OR BEFORE
AUGUST 31 OF EACH YEAR RATHER THAN SEPTEMBER 1
In Art Anderson, 181 IBLA 270, GFS(MIN) 14(2011), the
IBLA found that a placer mining claim was forfeited when the
claimant attempted to file a small miner waiver certification on
September 1, rather than on or before August 31. On September 1,
2010, plaintiff tried to file a small miner waiver certification
with BLM for the 2011 assessment year. BLM rejected the waiver
certification because it lacked the signature of one of the claim
owners. Id. at 272-73. Plaintiff appealed and on appeal, the IBLA
stated that had plaintiff submitted a timely certificate, BLM’s
rejection of the waiver certificate would have been in error. BLM
should have accepted the certificate, notified the claimant of the
defect, and given the claimant 60 days’ notice to cure. Id. at 273.
However, the IBLA determined that plaintiff did not timely
submit the certificate. Prior to 2007, the assessment year began
at 12:00 p.m. on September 1 of each year. In 2007, Congress
amended the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 to make
the annual assessment year commence at 12:01 a.m. of each year.
Id. at 274. Claimants are required to submit a claim maintenance
fee or waiver certificate before the commencement of the assess-
ment year. Id.; 30 U.S.C. § 28f(b). BLM has not yet amended its
regulations to reflect the change in the 2007 legislation and 43
C.F.R. § 3834.11(a)(2) still provides that the annual maintenance
fee is due on or before September 1 of each year. Nevertheless,
the IBLA held that the statute is self-operative and that failure to
timely pay the maintenance fee or submit the waiver certificate
causes the claim to forfeit by operation of law. 181 IBLA at 275.
We will be releasing our updated annual claims filings flow chart in the next week or so. It's a free download and for many claim owners it has helped clarify the annual filings requirements for both State and Federal filings.
Heavy Pans