§ 3832.20 43 CFR Ch. II (10–1–04 Edition)

Subpart B—Types of Mining (ii) Drilling a hole, sinking a shaft, or Claims running a tunnel or drift to a sufficient depth. § 3832.20 Lode and placer mining (b) Placer claims. (1) Your placer claims. claim is not valid until you have made a discovery. § 3832.21 How do I locate a lode or (2) Each 10-acre aliquot part of your placer mining claim? placer claim must be mineral-in-char- (a) Lode claims. (1) Your lode claim is acter. not valid until you have made a dis- (3) You may locate a placer claim for covery. minerals that are— (i) River sands or gravels bearing (2) Locating a lode claim. You may lo- gold or valuable detrital minerals; cate a lode claim for a mineral that: (ii) Hosted in soils, alluvium (depos- (i) Occurs as veins, lodes, ledges, or ited by water), eluvium (deposited by other rock in place; wind), colluvium (deposited by grav- (ii) Contains base and precious met- ity), talus, or other rock not in its als, gems and semi-precious stones, and original place; certain industrial minerals, including (iii) Bedded gypsum, limestone, cin- but not limited to gold, silver, cinna- ders, pumice, and similar mineral de- bar, lead, tin, copper, zinc, fluorite, posits; or barite, or other valuable deposits; and (iv) Mineral-bearing brine (water (iii) Does not occur as bedded rock saturated or strongly impregnated (stratiform deposits such as gypsum or with salts and containing ancillary limestone) or is not a deposit of placer, locatable minerals) not subject to the alluvial (deposited by water), eluvial mineral leasing acts where a mineral (deposited by wind), colluvial (depos- subject to the General Mining Law can ited by gravity), or aqueous origin. be extracted as the primary valuable (3) Establishing extralateral rights. If mineral. the minerals are contained within a (4) Building stone deposits must by vein, lode, or ledge and the vein, lode, law be located as placer mining claims or ledge extends through the endlines (30 U.S.C. 161). If you have located a of your lode claim, you have extra-lat- building stone placer claim, the lands eral rights to pursue the down-dip ex- on which you located the claim must tension of the vein, lode, or ledge to be chiefly valuable for mining building the point where the vein, lode, or ledge stone. intersects a vertical plain projected § 3832.22 How much land may I in- parallel to the end lines and outside clude in my mining claim? the sideline boundaries of your lode claim if— (a) Lode claims. Lode claims must not (i) The top or apex of the vein, lode, exceed 1,500 by 600 feet. If there is a vein, lode, or ledge, each lode claim is or ledge lies on or under the surface limited to a maximum of 1,500 feet within the interior boundaries of the along the course of the vein, lode, or lode claim; and ledge and a maximum of 300 feet in (ii) The long axis, and therefore the width on each side of the middle of the side lines, of the lode claim are sub- vein, lode, or ledge. stantially parallel to the course of the (b) Placer claims. (1) An individual vein, lode, or ledge. placer claim may not exceed 20 acres in (4) Preserving extralateral rights. In size. order to preserve your extralateral (2) An association placer claim may rights, you should determine, if pos- not exceed 160 acres. Within the asso- sible, the general course of the vein in ciation, each person or business entity either direction from the point of dis- may locate up to 20 acres. To obtain covery in order to mark the correct the full 160 acres, the association must boundaries of the claim. You should ex- consist of at least eight co-locators. pose the vein, lode, or ledge by— You may locate smaller association (i) Tracing the vein or lode on the claims. Thus, three co-locators may surface; or jointly locate an association placer

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claim no larger than 60 acres. You may (2) You must use or occupy each two not use the names of other persons as and a half acre portion of a mill site in dummy locators (fictitious locators) to order for that portion of the mill site locate an association placer claim for to be valid. your own benefit. (b) If the United States does not own the surface estate of a particular parcel Subpart C—Mill Sites of land, you may not locate a mill site on that land under the General Mining § 3832.30 Mill sites. Law or the Stockraising Homestead Act (see part 3838 of this chapter). § 3832.31 What is a mill site? A mill site is a location of nonmin- § 3832.34 How may I use my mill site? eral land not contiguous to a vein or (a) Upon obtaining authorization lode that you can use for activities rea- under the surface management regula- sonably incident to mineral develop- tions of the surface managing agency, ment on, or production from, the you may use and occupy dependent unpatented or patented lode or placer claim with which it is associated. mill sites for: (a) A dependent mill site is used for (1) Placement of grinding, crushing, activities that support a particular or milling facilities (such as rod and patented or unpatented lode or placer ball mills, cone crushers, and floata- mining claim or group of mining tion cells) and reduction facilities claims. (such as smelting, electro-winning, (b) An independent or custom mill roasters, autoclaves, and leachate re- site— covery); (1) Is not dependent on a particular (2) Mine administrative and support mining claim but provides milling or buildings, warehouses and maintenance reduction processing for nearby lode buildings, electrical plants and sub- mines or a lode mining district; stations; (2) Is used to mill, process, and re- (3) Tailings ponds and leach pads; duce either— (4) Rock and soil dumps; (i) Ores for other miners on a con- (5) Water and process treatment tractual basis; or plants; and (ii) Ores that are purchased by the (6) Any other use that is reasonably independent or custom mill site owner. incident to mine development and op- (3) You may not have a custom or eration, except for uses exclusively independent mill site for processing supporting reclamation or mine clo- materials from placer mining claims. sure. § 3832.32 How much land may I in- (b) Upon obtaining authorization clude in my mill site? under the surface management regula- tions of the surface managing agency, The maximum size of an individual you may use and occupy independent mill site is 5 acres. You may locate more than one mill site per mining mill sites for processing metallic min- claim if you use each site for at least erals from lode claims using: one of the purposes described in (1) Quartz or stamp mills; or § 3832.34 of this part. You may locate (2) Reduction works, including place- only that amount of mill site acreage ment of grinding, crushing, or milling that is reasonably necessary to be used facilities (such as rod and ball mills, or occupied for efficient and reasonably cone crushers, and floatation cells), re- compact mining or milling operations. duction facilities (such as smelting, electro-winning, roasters, autoclaves, § 3832.33 How do I locate a mill site? and leachate recovery), tailings ponds, (a) You may locate a mill site in the and leach pads. same manner as a lode or placer min- ing claim, except that— (1) It must be on land that is not mineral-in-character; and

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