43 C.F.R. Subpart 3863—Placer Mining Claim Patent Applications
Title 43 - Public Lands: Interior
Source: 35 FR 9758, June 13, 1970, unless otherwise noted.
(a) The proceedings to obtain patents for placer claims, including all forms of mineral deposits excepting veins of quartz or other rock in place, are similar to the proceedings prescribed for obtaining patents for vein or lode claims; but where a placer claim shall be upon surveyed lands, and conforms to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat will be required. Where placer claims cannot be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands. (b) The price of placer claims is fixed at $2.50 per acre or fractional part of an acre. (c) An applicant for a placer mining claim patent must pay fees as described in §3860.1. [P>35 FR 9758, June 13, 1970, as amended at 70 FR 58880, Oct. 7, 2005]
Title 43: Public Lands: Interior
PART 3860—MINERAL PATENT APPLICATIONS
Subpart 3863—Placer Mining Claim Patent Applications
§ 3863.1 Placer mining claim patent applications: General.
§ 3863.1-1 Application for patent.
§ 3863.1-2 Proof of improvements for patent.
The proof of improvements must show their value to be not less than $500 and that they were made by the applicant for patent or his grantors. This proof should consist of the statement of two or more disinterested witnesses.
§ 3863.1-3 Data to be filed in support of application.
(a) In placer applications, in addition to the recitals necessary in and to both vein or lode and placer applications, the placer application should contain, in detail, such data as will support the claim that the land applied for is placer ground containing valuable mineral deposits not in vein or lode formation and that title is sought not to control water courses or to obtain valuable timber but in good faith because of the mineral therein. This statement, of course, must depend upon the character of the deposit and the natural features of the ground, but the following details should be covered as fully as possible: If the claim be for a deposit of placer gold, there must be stated the yield per pan, or cubic yard, as shown by prospecting and development work, distance to bedrock, formation and extent of the deposit, and all other facts upon which he bases his allegation that the claim is valuable for its deposits of placer gold. If it be a building stone or other deposit than gold claimed under the placer laws, he must describe fully the kind, nature, and extent of the deposit, stating the reasons why same is by him regarded as a valuable mineral claim. He will also be required to describe fully the natural features of the claim; streams, if any, must be fully described as to their course, amount of water carried, fall within the claim; and he must state kind and amount of timber and other vegetation thereon and adaptability to mining or other uses.
(b) If the claim be all placer ground, that fact must be stated in the application and corroborated by accompanying proofs; if of mixed placers and lodes, it should be so set out, with a description of all known lodes situated within the boundaries of the claim. A specific declaration, such as is required by R.S. 2333 (30 U.S.C. 37) must be furnished as to each lode intended to be claimed. All other known lodes are, by the silence of the applicant, excluded by law from all claim by him, of whatsoever nature, possessory or otherwise.
(c) While these data are required as a part of the mineral surveyor's report in case of placers taken by special survey, it is proper that the application for patent incorporate these facts.
(d) Inasmuch as in case of claims taken by legal subdivisions, no report by a mineral surveyor is required, the claimant, in his application in addition to the data above required, should describe in detail the shafts, cuts, tunnels, or other workings claimed as improvements, giving their dimensions, value, and the course and distance thereof to the nearest corner of the public surveys.
(e) The statement as to the description and value of the improvements must be corroborated by the statements of two disinterested witnesses. The proof showing must be made in duplicate. See 51 L.D. 265 and 52 L.D. 190.
(f) Applications awaiting entry, whether published or not, must be made to conform to this part, with respect to proof as to the character of the land. Entries already made will be suspended for such additional proofs as may be deemed necessary in each case.
§ 3863.1-4 Applications for placers containing known lodes.
Applicants for patent to a placer claim, who are also in possession of a known vein or lode included therein, must state in their application that the placer includes such vein or lode. The published and posted notices must also include such statement. If veins or lodes lying within placer locations are owned by other parties, the fact should be distinctly stated in the application for patent and in all the notices. But in all cases whether the lode is claimed or excluded, it must be surveyed and marked upon the plat, the field notes and plat giving the area of the lode claim or claims and the area of the placer separately. An application which omits to claim such known vein or lode must be construed as a conclusive declaration that the applicant has no right of possession to the vein or lode. Where there is no known lode or vein, the fact must appear by the statement of two or more witnesses.
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