Locatable Minerals
Minerals on federal land that are acquired by locating a mining claim under the Mining Law, as opposed to leasable minerals and salable mineral materials.
Detailed Definition
Locatable minerals are minerals on federal land that are acquired by locating a mining claim under the Mining Law. BLM states that there are three basic types of minerals on federally administered lands: locatable, leasable, and salable. Mining claims are staked only for the first.
Examples BLM gives
- Metallic minerals: gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, and others
- Nonmetallic minerals: fluorspar, mica, certain limestones and gypsum, tantalum, heavy minerals in placer form, and gemstones
The test for locatability
BLM describes the test the Interior Department has applied since 1873. A mineral is locatable if it is recognized as a mineral by the standard experts, is not subject to disposal under some other law, and makes the land more valuable for mining than for farming.
What is not locatable
- Leasable minerals. Since 1920 the federal government has leased fuels and certain other minerals. BLM lists oil and gas, oil shale, geothermal resources, potash, sodium, native asphalt, solid and semisolid bitumen, bituminous rock, phosphate, and coal. In some states sulphur is also leasable.
- Salable minerals. Since 1955, common varieties of sand, gravel, stone, pumice, pumicite, and cinders are sold under the Materials Act of 1947 by sales contract or free-use permit.
Lode or placer
A locatable mineral is claimed as a lode or a placer depending on how it occurs. Minerals in veins or rock in place, such as gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, zinc, fluorite, and barite, are located as lode claims. Minerals not in their original place, such as gold in stream gravel, are located as placer claims (43 CFR 3832.21).
Where they can be claimed
BLM lists 19 states with federally administered lands where a mining claim may be located. It also states that mining claims cannot be staked on acquired minerals, and that minerals reserved to the United States under the Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 can be claimed.
Why the category matters
The category decides the whole path to the mineral. A locatable mineral is claimed by staking and recording, and held by paying an annual fee. A leasable mineral is obtained by lease from the government, and a salable one by contract or permit. Staking a mining claim for a leasable or salable mineral creates no right to it.
Related Terms
Mining Claim
A parcel of federal land on which a claimant asserts the right to possess and develop a valuable mineral deposit under the Mining Law of 1872.
Mining Law of 1872
The act of May 10, 1872, that opens valuable mineral deposits on federal land to exploration and location, and still governs mining claims for locatable minerals.
Discovery
The finding of a valuable mineral deposit within the boundaries of a mining claim. A lode or placer claim is not valid until a discovery is made.
Mineral Entry
The appropriation of federal land under the mining laws, by locating mining claims on land open to mineral entry and, historically, by entry for a mineral patent.