Update on Mechanized Mining Regulation by the States

Dave McCracken, President of The New 49er's prospecting organization of California, recently sent out an update on the matter of the legality of the states regulating mechanized mining operations on federal lands.  The gist of the matter is that the states do not have the lawful authority to do so and that the apparent authority under which they purport to do so was unlawfully granted by the U. S. Forest Service and the BLM.  Here is the text of the email from Dave:

After careful review of the court documents from the Rinehart and Bohmker cases, we realized that the BLM and USFS (Forest Service) mining regulations had been amended in the early 2000’s, basically allowing the States authority over mining on federal lands in excess of authority which the BLM or USFS is allowed by law!

On June 18, 2019, we sent a formal Petition to the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, asking for the federal regulations to be changed.

About the time we recognized the problem in the federal mining regulations, we were contacted by a fairly high official within the Department of Interior (DOI) who had seen all the letters we sent in from our previous Action Alert. They wanted more information. After reviewing the materials, they wanted to help! We were told that they (DOI) wished they had known about the Bohmker case six months ago. We believe they would have submitted an amicus brief on our behalf defending mining to the Supreme Court. This would have greatly increased our chances of a hearing… and winning.

This raises an important Question: If the BLM & USFS are prohibited from endangering or materially interfering with mining, how can those very same agencies provide the States with authority to do what the federal agencies are barred from doing in the first place?

The good news is that we finally have gotten the attention of top officials in the Trump Administration!

We do not need the courts or congress at this time. We need the Trump administration to develop a federal Rule making to enforce federal law which is already on the books.

The Petition was submitted two weeks ago along with the support of eleven major mining associations including The New 49ers.  In addition, there are letters of support from several county governments that have sustained serious economic harm because of the misguided policies against mining by some State agencies.

The Petition has landed home where it needs to be. It is being taken seriously. Now, if we can please just take it to the next step: We need to encourage supportive messages from as many people as possible. This is the moment of truth! Notwithstanding any other opportunities that could arise in the future, this is, to a large extent, our last opportunity in the foreseeable future to regain the use of our mechanized equipment and gold dredges.

You can find everything you need to work with in our July newsletter right here:

http://www.goldgold.com/newsletter-july-2019.html

After 10+ years of battling with State agencies over exploring the federal lands for highly valuable mineral deposits on the public lands, we have finally arrived at the place where we may turn the whole problem around. This might be the closest we have ever been! Now we need you guys and gals to please step up and send in messages in support of our side.

Thank you for whatever you can do!

Fingers crossed,

Dave McCracken, President

The New 49er's, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, California 96039, USA

"Land Matters" - A Website With Tons of Interactive Maps

It's almost time to head for the hills in search of gold and other minerals and a new website called Land Matters is in the process of assembling links to a large and comprehensive collection of map resources.  Many of these will be of interest to prospectors and small-scale miners as they plan their outdoor adventures.

Among the currently available interactive maps on the site are the following:

Land Status Maps:

Users may choose a base map to add to the plain United States Map (World Street Map, Topo, or Aerial Photos) and then display land ownership and status by BLM, National Forest, National Parks, Wilderness, State, Master Title Plats and Supplements, the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), and Special Surveys.  Zooming in to a local area of interest works best before displaying the land status and other features.

Topo Map Downloads:

This section of the website shows all the available USGS topo maps in the selected area.  The current digital maps are available as are older historical scanned maps.  Clicking on a map of interest on the base map opens a window with links to download the map.  In the case of historical maps, the download link will bring up a list of available maps.  On working with this feature I noticed that not as many old maps are available as on the USGS topoView site but I expect the selection to improve as work on this resource continues.  Also available for download in this section are Forest Service Topo Maps and Coastal Survey Topo Maps.

Mining Claims Maps:

One section of particular interest to miners is the one showing mining claim locations.  Here users may display the locations of current mining claims drawn from the BLM's LR2000 system and download the BLM Serial Register Reports for any they choose.  They can also display the locations of old mines on the base map.  Also available here are the USGS Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS) reports on individual mines and claims as well as historical activity reports on individual mines.

Geology Maps:

Another section of special interest to miners is the one containing state geology maps.  These maps show the various rock types by different colors and symbols and detailed information on each is available by clicking on the particular area of the map you are interested in.

New Projects:

As mentioned earlier, this website is a work-in-progress and many exciting features are in the process of being created.  A few of these are maps showing meteorite falls, minerals, agriculture, recreation, and real-time conditions such as weather radar and infrared satellite data.  The developers of this service are also interested in hearing from users about additional types of maps that they would like to see.

So, head on over to the website, check it out (there are detailed instructions for getting the most use out of it), and sign up for their email newsletter to keep informed of the latest features being added.

Happy prospecting!

An Interactive Site for Finding Mines and Claims in the United States

I have recently come across a website that contains a vast amount of information on the locations of mining claims and mines in the United States.  The website is called The Diggings and a link to it is also in the "Prospecting Aids" section of the right-hand sidebar of this blog.

The site provides a number of ways to locate mining properties, including by name of the property, owner, or geographic location.  There is also an interactive map that allows the user a birds-eye view of the mines and claims in any region in the U. S. as well as of properties in some other countries.  Both current and historical mining claims are included and one may sign up for notifications of updates to the database.  How to use all of these features is fully described on the site.

I encourage everyone to check it out and hope you will find it a useful aid in your prospecting research.

Bohmker vs Oregon Case Going to Supreme Court? How you can help.

In the latest newsletter from the New 49'ers Prospecting Club is an appeal from Dave McCracken for miners all over the West to send a letter to President Trump urging him to use his influence to have the U. S. Supreme Court hear an appeal of the Bohmker vs Oregon case. This is the case in which the courts of the State of Oregon ruled to prohibit all motorized mining on federal lands within the state.

The New 49'ers have posted a draft copy of a letter which you can download and modify if you wish, and print and mail to President Trump with copies to selected administration officials listed at the bottom of the draft document.

As McCracken points out, this may be the last opportunity for the small-scale mining community to stop state officials from prohibiting certain mining activities on federal lands within their states and thereby win back the rights that we miners have lost.