Tunnel Sites, can somebody explain it to me?

[bobw53]

I think I understand "Lode" and "placer" claim well enough, plenty of info here and all over the interwebs on that....
Not much on "tunnel sites"

However, an area I would like to go do some prospecting on has 3 active "tunnel sites". No placer claims, and one load claim way out where I probably won't go.

From Mining Claims and Mill Sites |Bureau of Land Management California

Tunnel Site - A tunnel site is where a tunnel is run to develop a vein or lode. It may also be used for the discovery of unknown veins or lodes. To stake a tunnel site, two stakes are placed up to 3,000 feet apart on the line of the proposed tunnel. Recordation is the same as a lode claim. A Tunnel Site can be regarded more as a right-a-way, than a mining claim. (43 CFR 3843)

And from Types of Claims

Tunnel Sites

A tunnel site is where a tunnel is run to develop a vein or lode. It may also be used for the discovery of unknown veins or lodes. To stake a tunnel site, two stakes are placed up to 3,000 feet apart on the line of the proposed tunnel. Recordation is the same as a lode claim. Some States require additional centerline stakes (for example, in Nevada centerline stakes must be placed at 300-foot intervals).

An individual may locate lode claims to cover any or all blind (not known to exist) veins or lodes intersected by the tunnel. The maximum distance these lode claims may exist is 1,500 feet on either side of the centerline of the tunnel. This, in essence, gives the mining claimant the right to prospect an area 3,000 feet wide and 3,000 feet long. Any mining claim located for a blind lode discovered while driving a tunnel relates back in time to the date of the location of the tunnel site.

So if I'm out there and digging some surface dirt, and I happen to be on somebodies 200acre tunnel site, am I legally stepping on their toes? Especially if there
is no corresponding Lode claim?

Alternately, is filing a tunnel site claim a short cut to get 10 claims worth of land for the price of 1?

Just trying to learn a little more, and not get arrested.

 

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[B H Prospector]

Load and tunnel sites over ride a placer claim. If you are digging on someone's tunnel site you are claim jumping. Each tunnel site is a single claim not 10 claims for the price of one. Placer, tunnel, and load claims all have their own measurement requirements.

 

[bobw53]

Load and tunnel sites over ride a placer claim. If you are digging on someone's tunnel site you are claim jumping. Each tunnel site is a single claim not 10 claims for the price of one. Placer, tunnel, and load claims all have their own measurement requirements.

A tunnel site can be 3000x3000 feet, 206 point something acres... So if I run across a nice little place where nobody else has a claim, should I file for a "tunnel site" and get 206 acres for the price of
20 acres of placer claim? The 206 acres cost the same per year as the 20 acres, so essentially 10 for 1... And it seems if you play the small miner assessment thing, $10 a year per claim, limit of 10 claims,
you can get almost 3 and a half square miles of ground for $100 per year.

Is this a giant loop hole that I can exploit?

 

[Clay Diggins]

Loop hole ?

Tunnel sites are non-mineral mining claims. They are a maximum of 3,000 feet long and are as wide and high as the tunnel that has been dug.

Locations can be made on any discovered valuable mineral deposits that are not already claimed by a mineral location. Otherwise there is no right to the minerals found when digging a tunnel.

Most tunnels are dug for drainage, haulage and access to existing mines. It's very expensive to dig tunnels so rarely are they dug for exploration.

No loopholes here. Just serious mining work.

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