43 CFR Part 3836

Bureau of Land Management, Interior

Pt. 3836

claimants or their agent that states
your intention to hold the mining
claims or sites for the calendar year in
which the assessment year ends, and
that you filed or will file a notice of intent to hold in the county where the
claim is located;
(b) If applicable:
(1) A copy of a BLM decision granting
a deferment of the annual assessment
work;
(2) A copy of a pending petition for
deferment of the annual assessment
work including the date you submitted
the petition; or
(3) Any other documentation in the
notice of intent to hold supporting why
you are filing a notice of intent to hold
instead of an assessment work filing;
(c) The name and, if available, the
BLM serial number of the mining
claim or site;
(d) Any known changes in the mailing addresses of the claimants; and
(e) A processing fee for each mining
claim or site affected. (See the table of
service charges and fees in § 3830.21 of
this chapter.)

§ 3835.93 What happens if BLM finds a
defect in my waiver request?

§ 3835.91 What if I fail to file annual
FLPMA documents?

(a) BLM will send you a notice describing the defect by certified mail-return receipt requested at the most recent address you gave us on—
(1) Your notice or certificate of location;
(2) An address correction you have
filed with BLM;
(3) A valid transfer document filed
with BLM; or
(4) The waiver request form.
(b) If the certified mail is delivered
to your most recent address of record,
this constitutes legal service even if
you do not actually receive the notice
or decision. (See 43 CFR 1810.2.)
(c) You must cure the defective waiver or pay the annual maintenance fees
within 60 days of receiving BLM notification of the defects, or forfeit the
claim or site.

If you fail to file an annual FLPMA
document by December 30, as required
in § 3835.31(d), you forfeit the affected
mining claims or sites.

PART 3836—ANNUAL ASSESSMENT
WORK REQUIREMENTS FOR MINING CLAIMS

§ 3835.92 What if I fail to submit a
timely waiver request?

Subpart A—Performing Assessment Work

[68 FR 61064, Oct. 24, 2003, as amended at 70
FR 58879, Oct. 7, 2005]

Subpart D—Defective Waivers and
FLPMA Filings
§ 3835.90 Failure to comply with this
part.

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(c) If you fail to cure any defects in
your timely waiver request or pay the
maintenance fee within the allowed
time after BLM notifies you of the defects, you forfeit the affected mining
claims or sites.
(d) If you, a co-claimant, or any related parties, submit small miner waiver requests for more than 10 mining
claims or sites and fail to pay the $100
maintenance fee for each claim on or
before the due date, you forfeit the
mining claims and sites and you may
be subject to criminal penalties under
18 U.S.C. 1001.

(a) If you fail to submit a qualified
waiver request (see § 3835.1) and also
fail to pay an annual maintenance fee
by September 1st, you forfeit the affected mining claims or sites.
(b) If you fail to list any mining
claims or sites that you and all related
parties own on your small miner waiver request and fail to pay an annual
maintenance fee by September 1st, you
forfeit the unlisted mining claims or
sites.

Sec.
3836.10 Performing assessment work.
3836.11 What are the general requirements
for performing assessment work?
3836.12 What work qualifies as assessment
work?
3836.13 What are geological, geochemical, or
geophysical surveys?
3836.14 What other requirements must geological, geochemical, or geophysical surveys meet to qualify as assessment
work?
3836.15 What happens if I fail to perform required assessment work?

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§ 3836.10

43 CFR Ch. II (10–1–15 Edition)

Subpart B—Deferring Assessment Work
3836.20 Deferring assessment work.
3836.21 How do I qualify for a deferment of
assessment work on my mining claims?
3836.22 How do I qualify for a deferment of
assessment work on my mining claims
that are on National Park System (NPS)
lands?
3836.23 How do I petition for deferment of
assessment work?
3836.24 If BLM approves my petition, what
else must I do to obtain a deferment of
assessment work?
3836.25 What if BLM denies my petition for
deferment of assessment work?
3836.26 How long may a deferment of assessment work last?
3836.27 When must I complete my deferred
assessment work?
AUTHORITY: 30 U.S.C. 22, 28, 28b–28e; 43
U.S.C. 2, 1201, 1457, 1701 et seq.; 50 U.S.C. App.
501, 565.
SOURCE: 68 FR 61077, Oct. 24, 2003, unless
otherwise noted.

Subpart A—Performing
Assessment Work
§ 3836.10

Performing assessment work.

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§ 3836.11 What are the general requirements for performing assessment
work?
(a) Beginning in the assessment year
that begins after you locate your mining claim, you must expend $100 in
labor or improvements for each claim
for each assessment year preceding the
date on which you file for a small
miner waiver.
(b) You may perform assessment
work on:
(1) Each individual claim;
(2) One or more claims in a group of
contiguous lode or placer claims that
you own or hold an interest in and that
cover the same mineral deposit; or
(3) Adjacent or nearby lands if the
work supports development of the minerals on the claim(s).
(c) Your total expenditure must
equal at least $100 per claim.
§ 3836.12 What work qualifies as assessment work?
Assessment work includes, but is not
limited to—
(a) Drilling, excavations, driving
shafts and tunnels, sampling (geochemical or bulk), road construction

on or for the benefit of the mining
claim; and
(b) Geological, geochemical, and geophysical surveys.
§ 3836.13 What are geological, geochemical, or geophysical surveys?
(a) Geological surveys are surveys of
the geology of mineral deposits. These
are done by, among other things, taking mineral samples, mapping rock
units, mapping structures, and mapping mineralized zones.
(b) Geochemical surveys are surveys
of the chemistry of mineral deposits.
They are done by, among other things,
sampling soils, waters, and bedrock to
identify areas of anomalous mineral
values and quantities that may in turn
identify mineral deposits.
(c) Geophysical surveys are surveys
of the physical characteristics of mineral deposits to measure physical differences between rock types or physical discontinuities in geological formations. These surveys include, among
other things, magnetic and electromagnetic surveys, gravity surveys,
seismic surveys, and multispectral surveys.
§ 3836.14 What
other
requirements
must geological, geochemical, or
geophysical surveys meet to qualify
as assessment work?
(a) Qualified experts must conduct
the surveys and verify the results in a
detailed report filed in the county or
recording district office where the
claim is recorded. A qualified expert is
a geologist or mining engineer qualified by education and experience to
conduct geological, geochemical, or
geophysical surveys.
(b) You must record the report on the
surveys with BLM and the local recording office, as provided in part 3835 of
this chapter. This report must set forth
fully the following:
(1) The location of the work performed in relation to the point of discovery and boundaries of the claim;
(2) The nature, extent, and cost of
the work performed;
(3) The basic findings of the surveys;
and

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Bureau of Land Management, Interior

§ 3836.23

(4) The name, address, and professional background of persons conducting the work and analyzing the
data.
(c) You may not count these surveys
as assessment work for more than 2
consecutive years or for more than a
total of 5 years on any one mining
claim.
(d) No survey may repeat any previous survey of the same claim and
still qualify as assessment work.
§ 3836.15 What happens if I fail to perform required assessment work?
If you are required to perform assessment work and—
(a) You fail to perform the assessment work as required in this part,
your claim is open to relocation by a
rival claimant as if no location had
ever been made; or
(b) You fail substantially to perform
the assessment work as required in this
part and the land is withdrawn from
mineral entry or the mineral for which
the claim was located is no longer subject to the Mining Law, BLM may declare your claim forfeited.

Subpart B—Deferring Assessment
Work

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§ 3836.20 Deferring assessment work.
(a) Under some circumstances, you
may obtain a temporary deferment
that relieves you from performing annual assessment work on your mining
claims. You may include more than
one mining claim in one deferment petition if the claims are contiguous.
(b) If BLM grants you a deferment,
you have merely deferred doing the assessment work. You still must complete that assessment work for that assessment year after the deferment period ends, as provided in § 3836.27.
§ 3836.21 How do I qualify for a
deferment of assessment work on
my mining claims?
You qualify for a deferment of assessment work if—
(a) You have a mining claim or group
of mining claims that you cannot enter
or gain access to because—
(1) The claims are surrounded by
lands owned by others, including BLM,
and the land owner has refused to give

you a right-of-way or you are in litigation regarding the right-of-way or in
the process of acquiring the right-ofway under state law; or
(2) Some other legal impediment prevents your access.
(b) You have received a declaration
of taking or notice of intent by the
Federal Government to take the claim.
§ 3836.22 How do I qualify for a
deferment of assessment work on
my mining claims that are on National Park System (NPS) lands?
Correspondence from NPS merely denying your Plan of Operations for incompleteness or inadequacy will not
suffice for a deferment of assessment
work. To qualify for a deferment of assessment work on claims situated on
NPS lands—
(a) You must obtain a letter from
NPS stating that—
(1) NPS received and found your proposed Plan of Operations to be complete;
(2) NPS cannot act on the plan until
it conducts a validity exam; and
(3) NPS anticipates completing the
validity exam after the assessment
year ends.
(b) You must send NPS’s letter to
BLM, along with other documents and
information that BLM requires (see
§ 3836.23) to support your petition for
deferment of assessment work.
§ 3836.23 How do I petition
deferment of assessment work?

In order to apply for deferment—
(a) You must submit a petition with
the BLM State Office that includes:
(1) The names of the claims;
(2) The BLM serial numbers assigned
to the claims;
(3) The starting date of the one-year
period of the requested deferment; and
(4) A statement that you plan to file
a small miner waiver form by September 1st.
(b) If you are submitting the petition
because BLM or another party has denied you a right-of-way, you must also
describe—
(1) The ownership and nature of the
land, including topography, vegetation,
surface water, and existing roads, over
which you were seeking a right-of-way
to reach your claims;

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§ 3836.24

43 CFR Ch. II (10–1–15 Edition)

(2) The land over which you are seeking a right-of-way by legal subdivision
if the land is surveyed;
(3) Why present use of the right-ofway is denied or prevented;
(4) The steps you have taken to acquire the right to cross the lands; and
(5) Whether any other right-of-way is
available and if so, why it is not feasible to use that right-of-way.
(c) If you are submitting the petition
because of other legal impediments to
your access to the claim, you must describe the legal impediments and submit copies of any documents you have
that evidence the legal impediments.
(d) You must record in the local recording office a notice that you are petitioning BLM for a deferment of assessment work.
(e) You must attach a copy of the notice required by paragraph (d) of this
section to the petition you submit to
BLM.
(f) At least one of the claimants of
each of the mining claims for which
you request a deferment must sign:
(1) The petition you submit to BLM;
and
(2) The original notice you record
with the local recording office.
(g) You must pay a processing fee
with each petition. (See the table of
service charges and fees in § 3830.21 of
this chapter.)
[68 FR 61077, Oct. 24, 2003, as amended at 70
FR 58879, Oct. 7, 2005]

§ 3836.24 If BLM approves my petition,
what else must I do to obtain a
deferment of assessment work?
You must record a copy of BLM’s decision regarding your petition in the
local recording office.

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§ 3836.25 What if BLM denies my petition for deferment of assessment
work?
If BLM denies your petition for
deferment of assessment work, and the
assessment year has ended, BLM will
give you 60 days from the date you receive the BLM decision denying the petition in which to pay the maintenance
fee to maintain your claim.

§ 3836.26 How long may a deferment of
assessment work last?
(a) BLM may grant a deferment for
up to one assessment year. However,
the deferment ends automatically if
the reason for the deferment ends.
(b) The deferment period will begin
on the date you request in the petition
unless BLM’s approval sets a different
date.
(c) You may petition to renew the
deferment for one additional assessment year if a valid reason for a
deferment continues. BLM cannot
renew your deferment of assessment
work more than once.
§ 3836.27 When must I complete my deferred assessment work?
(a) You may begin the deferred assessment work any time after the
deferment ends. However, you must
complete it before the end of the following assessment year. For example,
if your deferment ends on July 15, 2008,
you must complete all the deferred assessment work by September 1, 2009, in
addition to completing the regular assessment work due on that date.
(b) You may also choose to pay the
annual maintenance fees for the years
deferred instead of performing the deferred assessment work.

PART 3837—ACQUIRING A DELINQUENT CO-CLAIMANT’S INTERESTS IN A MINING CLAIM OR
SITE
Subpart A—Conditions for Acquiring a
Delinquest Co-Claimant’s Interests in a
Mining Claim or Site
Sec.
3837.10 Conditions for acquiring a delinquent co-claimant’s interests.
3837.11 When may I acquire a delinquent coclaimant’s interest in a mining claim or
site?

Subpart B—Acquisition Procedures
3837.20 Acquisition.
3837.21 How do I notify the delinquent coclaimant that I want to acquire his or
her interests?
3837.22 How long does a delinquent coclaimant have after notification to contribute a proportionate share of the assessment work, expenditures, or maintenance fees?

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