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The BLM posted a notice to the Federal Register at 1 am on Saturday morning raising the maintenance and location fees... effective today July 1. 
You can read and download the notice here:
Mining claim annual fees are now $200 per year for each lode, millsite or tunnel site claim and $200 per each 20 acres of placer claim. A single 160 acre placer claim now has $1600 in fees due annually! Until 1993 the same placer claim was only $15.
Location fees are going up as well. The base location fee is now $49 plus the $25 filing fee. A single mining claim location now requires a mandatory $274 fee payment to BLM (no small miner waiver in the first year of a mining claim).
If you already paid your annual maintenance fee for mining year 2025 you will need to pony up the additional $35 by August 31 or you will receive a deficiency warning notice and could lose your claim if you don't respond timely. If you are locating a claim today you will need to pay the full $274 location fees, your county recording fees plus the cost of staking.
This time of year Land Matters distributes their Annual Federal Mining Claims Filing Requirements instructions with a flow chart to guide you. We did update the fee requirement on that handout to help claim owners understand the current requirements. You can download a copy of the PDF file here. Please feel free to share this and help educate your fellow miners.
Heavy Pans
You can read and download the notice here:
Mining claim annual fees are now $200 per year for each lode, millsite or tunnel site claim and $200 per each 20 acres of placer claim. A single 160 acre placer claim now has $1600 in fees due annually! Until 1993 the same placer claim was only $15.
Location fees are going up as well. The base location fee is now $49 plus the $25 filing fee. A single mining claim location now requires a mandatory $274 fee payment to BLM (no small miner waiver in the first year of a mining claim).
If you already paid your annual maintenance fee for mining year 2025 you will need to pony up the additional $35 by August 31 or you will receive a deficiency warning notice and could lose your claim if you don't respond timely. If you are locating a claim today you will need to pay the full $274 location fees, your county recording fees plus the cost of staking.
This time of year Land Matters distributes their Annual Federal Mining Claims Filing Requirements instructions with a flow chart to guide you. We did update the fee requirement on that handout to help claim owners understand the current requirements. You can download a copy of the PDF file here. Please feel free to share this and help educate your fellow miners.
Heavy Pans
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