AS Title 27, Chapter 10: Location and Development of Mining Claims on Federal Public Domain

Article 1. Mining Claims on Federal Public Domain Generally. Chapter 10. Location and Development of Mining Claims on Federal Public Domain. Sec. 27.10.010. Claims to be located as prescribed by law. A person who discovers upon the public domain in the state a lode or vein of rock in place, or a placer deposit that is open to location under the mining laws of the United States, may locate a lode mining claim or placer mining claim by posting a notice of location and by marking the boundaries as provided in AS 27.10.030 — 27.10.070. An attempted location of a mining claim that does not comply with AS 27.10.030 — 27.10.070 and AS 27.10.150 — 27.10.190 is void. Sec. 27.10.020. Grubstake contracts to be in writing and recorded. All contracts commonly known as “grubstaking,” except as between the parties making them, are void unless in writing, subscribed by the parties, and recorded with the recorder of the recording district in which the location is made. The contract must contain the names of the parties and the duration of the contract. Sec. 27.10.030. Manner of designating a lode claim location. The discoverer of a lode claim shall designate the location as follows: (1) by posting at the northeast corner of the claim a plain sign or notice containing (A) the name of the lode claim; (B) the name of the locator or locators; (C) the date of the location; (D) the approximate bearings of corners and angle posts of the claim and the distances between them; and (2) by erecting at each corner or angle of the claim substantial monuments of stone or setting posts, not less than three feet in height nor less than three inches in diameter hewn, and marked with the name of the claim, the position or number of the monument, and the direction of the boundary lines and by cutting out, blazing, or marking the boundary lines so that they can be readily traced; where it is impracticable to place a monument in its true position, a witness monument shall be erected and marked to indicate the true position of the corner or angle. Sec. 27.10.040. Manner of designating a placer claim location. The discoverer of a placer claim shall designate the location as follows: (1) by posting on one of the posts or monuments marking the boundaries of the claim a plain sign or notice containing (A) the name or number of the claim; (B) the name of the locator or locators; (C) the date of the location; (D) the number in feet in length and width claimed; and (2) by erecting at each corner or angle of the claim substantial monuments or posts not less than three feet in height nor less than three inches in diameter, hewn and marked with the name of the claim, the position or number of the monument, and the direction of the boundary lines and by cutting out, blazing, or marking the boundary lines so that they can be readily traced. Sec. 27.10.050. Certificate of location to be recorded. The locator of a lode claim or placer claim shall within 90 days after the date of posting the notice of location on the claim have the claim recorded by recording a certificate of location with the recorder of the recording district in which the claim is located. The certificate of location must contain (1) the name or number of the claim; (2) the number of feet in length and width of the claim; (3) the date of discovering and of posting the notice of location; (4) the name of the locator or locators; (5) a description of the claim with such reference to some natural object or permanent monument so that an intelligent person with a knowledge of the prominent natural objects and permanent monuments in the vicinity can identify the claim. Sec. 27.10.060. Effect of failure to record. Failure to record the certificate of location within the required 90 days constitutes an abandonment of the claim, and the ground is open to location. Sec. 27.10.070. Changes in locations and amended notices. Notices may be amended at any time and monuments changed to correspond with the amended location, but no change may be made that interferes with the rights of others. Whenever monuments are changed or an error is made in the notice or in the certificate of location, an amended certificate of location shall be recorded in the same manner and with the same effect as the original certificate. Sec. 27.10.080. Water rights where claim includes both banks of a stream. [Repealed, § 2 ch 50 SLA 1966. For current law, see AS 46.15 .] Article 2. Placer Claims on Federal Public Domain. Sec. 27.10.090. Sections applicable to precious-metal placers only. AS 27.10.100 — 27.10.140 apply only to placer deposits containing gold, silver, or other precious metals or minerals. Sec. 27.10.100. Limits on size of individual placer claims. The unit of placer locations in the state is 20 acres, and no single or individual placer mining claim may be located in excess of 20 acres nor have a greater length than 1,320 feet. Where a parcel of placer ground lies between and adjoins two or more validly located claims, the restriction as to length does not apply. Secs. 27.10.110 , 27.10.120. Limits on size of association claims; location of claims by agent or attorney. [Repealed, § 4 ch 91 SLA 1994.] Sec. 27.10.130. Value of labor or improvements required on placer claims. Upon each placer mining claim located after March 14, 1935, until patent is issued, not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year for each 20 acres or excess fraction contained in the claim. Sec. 27.10.140. Location in violation of AS 27.10.090 — 27.10.140 is void. A placer mining claim attempted to be located in violation of AS 27.10.090 — 27.10.140 is null and void, and the whole area of it may be located by a qualified locator as if no earlier attempt had been made, and no placer mining claim that contains a greater area or is longer than is fixed by law may be patented. Article 3. Annual Labor or Improvements. Sec. 27.10.150. Annual labor or improvements required. (a) During each year beginning at noon on September 1, and until patent is issued, annual labor shall be performed or improvements made on, or for the benefit of or development of, each mining claim in the state to the extent required by the laws of the United States applicable to Alaska. (b) If the owner of a mining claim fails to perform the annual labor or make the improvements required by the laws of the United States, the claim is forfeited and open to location by others as if no location of it had ever been made. (c) If the general laws of the United States requiring annual labor upon mining claims in Alaska are suspended or waived, administratively or by statute, the laws of the state requiring annual labor under this section upon mining claims are likewise suspended or waived upon the same terms and conditions. Sec. 27.10.160. Affidavit of labor or improvements. Within 90 days after September 1 of each year the owner of a mining claim, or some other person having knowledge of the facts, shall make and record with the recorder for the district in which the claim is located an affidavit showing the performance of labor or the making of improvements. The affidavit must contain (1) the name or number of the mining claim and where situated; (2) the number of days' work done and the character and value of the improvements made; (3) the date of the performance of the labor and of the making of improvements; (4) at whose instance the work was done or the improvements made; (5) the actual amount paid for the work and improvements, and by whom paid, when the work was not done by the owner or the lessee of the owner. Sec. 27.10.170. Effect of recording affidavit of labor or improvements. An affidavit recorded under AS 27.10.160 is prima facie evidence of the performance of the work or of making the improvements stated in it. Sec. 27.10.180. Notice to co-owners to contribute to cost of annual labor or improvements and forfeiture for failure to contribute. If one of several co-owners fails to contribute the proportion of the expenditures required for annual labor from the co-owner, the co-owners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the annual labor year, give the delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing, or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim for at least once a week for 90 days and, if at the expiration of 90 days after the service of the notice in writing or 90 days after the completion of the publication the delinquent co-owner fails or refuses to contribute the proportion of the required expenditures, that co-owner's interest in the claim is forfeited to the co-owners who have made the expenditures. Sec. 27.10.190. Recording the notice to contribute and affidavits. (a) Within 120 days after personal service or within 120 days after the completion of publication of the notice provided for in AS 27.10.180 , the co-owner who claims the forfeiture shall record in the office of the recorder of the recording district in which the claim is located a copy of the notice with the following affidavits attached: (1) an affidavit of the person serving the notice giving the time, place, and manner of service and by whom and upon whom the service was made or, if service was made by publication in a newspaper, an affidavit of the editor, publisher, printer, or foreman of the newspaper giving the name of the newspaper, the place where, and the time during which the notice was published, and the number of insertions; (2) an affidavit of the co-owner who claims the forfeiture stating that neither the delinquent co-owner nor any person acting for the delinquent co-owner has paid or tendered to the affiant the delinquent's proportion of the expenditures for annual labor or improvements. (b) The record of the notice and affidavits or a certified copy of it is prima facie evidence of the facts contained in it. Sec. 27.10.200. Lienholder may perform the annual labor. A person who holds a claim to or lien upon an unpatented mining claim under a certificate of sale, mortgage, attachment, levy, judgment, or other lien, may, when necessary for the protection of the lien or claim, go upon the mining claim and perform or cause to be performed the annual labor required by law to prevent forfeiture. Before performing the labor the person shall mail a written notice of intention to perform the annual labor on the claim to the owner of the claim at the owner's last known address. Sec. 27.10.210. Lien for performance of annual labor. (a) The person performing or causing to be performed annual labor upon an unpatented mining claim as provided in AS 27.10.200 shall have a lien upon the claim for the assessment work, including the reasonable cost of transportation to and from the claim incurred in doing the work. The lien is enforced either as in other suits for the foreclosure of liens upon real property or as supplemental accruing costs in an action, if any, then pending in which the claim has been levied upon by attachment, execution, or other court process. (b) A person claiming a lien under this section shall within 90 days after the completion of the annual labor for which the lien is claimed record in the office of the recorder of the recording district in which the property on which the lien is claimed is situated a notice of claim of lien, verified by the oath of the claimant or another person having knowledge of the facts, and stating the name of the owner or reputed owner of the property, the amount of the claim, the time of the performance of the annual labor for which the lien is claimed, the nature of the labor done or improvements made, and the amount of the claim, including costs of transportation, after deducting all just credits and offsets. (c) An independent suit or action brought to enforce a lien under this section shall be commenced within six months after the recording of the notice of claim of lien. Sec. 27.10.220. Lien for annual labor is independent of other liens. The lien given for the performance of annual labor by AS 27.10.210 , if the work is done in good faith and necessarily for the protection either of possession under a certificate of sale or of an attachment, levy, mortgage, judgment, or other lien, remains in effect notwithstanding the contemporaneous or subsequent vacation, dissolution, or setting aside of, or redemption from, the certificate of sale, attachment, levy, mortgage, judgment, or other lien. Sec. 27.10.230. Surveys may qualify as annual labor. The term “labor” where used in AS 27.10.130 and 27.10.150 includes, without being limited to, geological, geochemical, and geophysical surveys conducted by qualified experts and verified by a detailed report recorded in the recording district office in which the claim is located that sets forth fully (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 thereof, (3) the basic findings therefrom, and (4) the name, address, and professional background of the person or persons conducting the work. Surveys of this kind, however, may not be applied as labor for more than two consecutive years or for more than a total of five years on any one mining claim, and each of these surveys shall be nonrepetitive of any previous survey on the same claim. Sec. 27.10.240. Definitions for AS 27.10.230 . In AS 27.10.230 , (1) “geochemical surveys” means surveys on the ground for mineral deposits by the proper application of the principles and techniques of the science of chemistry as they relate to the search for and discovery of mineral deposits; (2) “geological surveys” means surveys on the ground for mineral deposits by the proper application of the principles and techniques of the science of geology as they relate to the search for and discovery of mineral deposits; (3) “geophysical surveys” means surveys on the ground for mineral deposits through the employment of generally recognized equipment and methods for measuring physical differences between rock types or discontinuities in geological formations; (4) “qualified expert” means an individual qualified by education or experience to conduct geological, geochemical, or geophysical surveys.