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Letter To The Editor Mining Claims and the AIPG


Beginning in 1849 the California gold rush accelerated the settlement of the western United States. The staking of mining claims continues to this day. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management handles mining claims on U.S. public lands.


In the Black Hills National Forest, for example, there are over two thousand active mining claims. Most of these claims are about 20 acres in size, typically situated along a creek where there is enough water for gold panning. These claims are rarely used for prospecting for a mineral deposit. Most are simply used as a vacation place, a recreational site for parking a RV. Some claims are staked with the idea that they will be sold to an unwary investor. Some are used for a tourist business.


The General Mining Law of May 10, 1872, is still on the books. The Bureau of Land Management gives the regulations for establishing a mining claim (US BLM, 2011). Any U.S. citizen can make a mining claim on federal public lands as long as the land does not have a special designation such as a wilderness area. All that is needed to make a claim is to fill out some paperwork and send the BLM an annual payment of approximately one hundred dollars. No mineral study is required to ensure that a mineral resource may exist at the site.


The original 1872 mining law was set up to encourage pros- pectors to explore public lands in the hope they would find a mineral deposit. There is no regulation about the degree of mineralization at a mining claim. The Black Hills has a long history of gold mining, and has been prospected over and over again. Today’s prospectors have almost no probability of discovering a new economic mineral resource.


The 1872 mining law should be modified so that an evalu- ation of the mineral resource is required before a mineral claim can be established. Organizations such as the National Society of Professional Engineers or the American Institute of Professional Geologists could provide the names of qualified


Geology Curriculum, continued from page 25 45. Who was William (“Strata”) Smith? What did he do?


46. What do you know of the appearance of a new geo- syncline in the Rocky Mountain region during Jurassic time? 47. What was the Nevadan disturbance?


48. What was the nature of the climate of the Jurassic? Of the economic products? 49. Tell of the Laramide Revolution and the birth of the


Rockies.


50. What member of the Cretaceous is exposed in the vicinity of Lincoln, Nebraska? 51. What are the mineral resources of the Cretaceous? 52. Tell of the Culmination of the Reptilian Evolution. 53. Tell of the Cascadian Revolution.


54. What was the distribution of the glacier ice during the Pleistocene? 55. Give the trends of Mammalian Evolution. 56. What was the most common life of the Oligocene? 57. Trace the evolution of the Primates.


58. When did cephalopods reach their climax of types and numbers? When were they monarchs of the sea? 59. When did the vertebrates appear? What one?


26 TPG • Oct.Nov.Dec 2017


engineers or geologists to evaluate mining claims. This evalu- ation could include an estimate of the size and concentration of a mineral resource in a lode or placer deposit.


It would not be easy to modify the 1872 mining law because western congressional-members seem reluctant to make


Figure - Typical mining claim sign.


changes. But a modification of this law is long overdue. Reference


US BLM, 2011, Mining Claims and Sites on Federal Lands: U.S. Bureau of Land Management, P-048, Online version revised 05/11, Accessed 6/15/17.


Perry H. Rahn, CPG – 03724


Department of Geology & Geological Engineering South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Rapid City, SD 57701


60. When did amphibians appear?


61. What distinguishes an ammonoid from a nautiloid? When did each become prominent?


62. When did trilobites reach their climax and why did they have a sudden decline?


63. What were the first air-breathers? What was their ancestry? 64. When did scorpions appear? Give their ancestors.


65. What marked change is shown by tails of earliest and latest fish?


66. When did gastropods seem to begin? What are the characteristics of gastropods? 67. What proportion of time is Pre-Cambrian? 68. Do contours turn upstream or downstream? 69. How are depressions shown on a contour map? 70. What is an index contour? A contour interval? 71. Give a complete erosion cycle. 72. Tell what you know of the various types of drainages. 73. Sketch and number a township properly. 74. Show how township and range are determined. 75. Illustrate how the scale on a map is determined.


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