Active Claim

An active claim is a mining claim that BLM's Mineral & Land Records System (MLRS) shows with the case disposition "Active." The MLRS help center defines it in one line: "A mining claim has been adjudicated and accepted." For the other dispositions, see Disposition Code.

What "adjudicated and accepted" includes

One step is a land status check. An MLRS help article explains that "A 'land status checked' entry on a claim/site indicates that an adjudicator has verified that the land where the claim or site is located was open to mineral location and entry at the time of location." When mining claims moved from LR2000 to MLRS, active mining claims "not yet showing that the land status had been checked were set to a 'Filed' status." After adjudication, a mining claim "may be set to 'Active', OR it may be set to 'Closed' if your claim/site is on lands not open to mineral location."

A recorded, paid mining claim can therefore show Filed, Submitted, or Under Review while BLM finishes.

What keeps a mining claim active

• The annual maintenance fee, $200 per lode claim or site or $200 for each 20 acres of a placer claim, paid on or before September 1 (43 CFR 3830.21(d)), or a timely small miner waiver with its work and filings. See Small Miner Exemption.
• A usable address. BLM's notice of a defect "constitutes legal service even if you do not actually receive the notice or decision" (43 CFR 3830.94(a)(2)).
• A transfer filed with BLM. Otherwise BLM treats "the last owner of record as the responsible party for maintaining the mining claim or site" (43 CFR 3833.92).

A defect in a statutory requirement cannot be cured, and the mining claims are "statutorily forfeited" (43 CFR 3830.93(a)). See Forfeiture.

What Active does not mean

• Not valid. Recording and paying fees "does not make a claim or site valid if it not otherwise valid under applicable law" (43 CFR 3833.1(b)). CRS Report R48166 (2024) quotes the Ninth Circuit in the Rosemont case: "having a piece of paper reflecting that one has unpatented mining claims does not show that one actually has valid unpatented mining claims."
• Not first in line. BLM "does not intervene in disputes between rival locators over possessory rights" (43 CFR 2091.1(b)), so an Active mining claim can overlap an earlier one. See Seniority.

Finding them

The MLRS help center says users can search for active and closed mining claims "by typing in the claim name or serial number in the MLRS global box search," and "on the research map."

Why it matters in mining claim research

Active is BLM's administrative status. It is the starting point for a title question, not the answer. Research confirms each year's fee or waiver in the case record, checks that the owner of record matches the chain of title, and treats a mining claim shown as Filed or Under Review as unresolved rather than as invalid.