Mining Claims are made by discovering a locatable mineral on public lands, staking a claim and filing a notice with the local county recorder. If done in accordance with federal and state regulations, practically anyone may stake a claim on public lands in the United States.

Identifying where the Active Mining Claims lie is one of the greatest challenges facing the prospector. A FootPrints Map puts you miles ahead in researching the claims status of any area on the map.

We obtain copies of Claimants filings from the County Recorder for all claims listed as Active by the BLM. We then map each claim to the ACTUAL boundaries as defined in the filing.

You will not find this map layer elsewhere. The BLM records claims only to the Quarter Section and can be misleading in its presentation.

Consider the Following Example:

The image on the left was obtained from the Location Notice filed with the County Recorder for the Claim named; "GORY GEORGE I" This is a portion of the Claimant's map locating the boundaries of his claim.

This image shows the claim mapped to its ACTUAL boundaries by FootPrints in Yellow. The BLM maps the claim with slanted lines and shows the "GORY GEORGE I" claim covering the entire Quarter Section. This is misleading. Most of the Quarter Section is actually unclaimed.

How many times have you heard that an area you want to prospect is "All Claimed Up"?

A FootPrints Map will help you decide for yourself.