3900. Any person, who is a citizen of the United States or who has
declared his or her intention to become a citizen, and who discovers
a vein or lode of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing gold,
silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or any other valuable deposit,
may locate a claim upon the vein or lode, by defining the boundaries
of the claim, in the manner specified in this chapter, by erecting at
the point of discovery a monument as defined in Section 3915, and by
posting in or on the monument a notice of the location. The notice
shall contain all of the following:
(a) The name of the lode or claim.
(b) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(c) The number of linear feet claimed in length along the course
of the vein, each way from the point of discovery, with the width on
each side of the center of the claim, and the general course of the
vein or lode, as near as may be.
(d) The date of location, which shall be the date of posting the
notice.
(e) A description of the type of monuments used for the discovery
and corner monuments.
(f) A description of the claim by reference to some natural
object, or permanent monument, as will identify the claim located.
3901. The locator of any lode mining claim shall define the
boundaries of the claim so that they may be readily traced, but in no
case shall the claim extend more than 1,500 feet along the course of
the vein or lode, or more than 300 feet on either side thereof as
measured from the centerline of the vein at the surface. Within 60
days after the date of location of any lode mining claim located, the
locator shall erect at each corner of the claim, a monument as
defined in Section 3915. Each corner monument so erected shall bear
or contain markings sufficient to appropriately designate the corner
of the mining claim and the name of the claim to which it pertains.
3902. The location of a placer claim shall be made in the following
manner:
(a) By erecting at the point of discovery thereon a conspicuous
and substantial monument, and by posting in or on the monument a
notice of location containing all of the following:
(1) The name of the claim.
(2) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(3) The date of the location, which shall be the date of posting
the notice.
(4) The number of feet or acreage claimed.
(5) A description of the claim by reference to some natural object
or permanent monument as will identify the claim located.
(b) By marking the boundaries so that they may be readily traced
and by erecting at each corner of the claim, or at the nearest
accessible points thereto, a conspicuous and substantial monument.
Each corner monument shall bear or contain markings sufficient to
appropriately designate the corner of the mining claim to which it
pertains and the name of the claim.
Where the United States survey has been extended over the land
embraced in the location, the claim may be taken by legal
subdivisions and no other reference than those of the survey shall be
required, and the boundaries of a claim so located and described
need not be staked or monumented. The description by legal
subdivisions shall be deemed the equivalent of marking.
3903. The relocation of any lode or placer mining location which is
subject to relocation shall be made as an original location is
required to be made.
3904. As to any placer mining claim which has been otherwise
validly located or relocated since July 20, 1935, and as to which
claim the locator or relocator has not performed the work thereon
required by former Sections 1426da and 1426dc of the Civil Code for
the reason that literal compliance therewith was not feasible, the
locator or relocator may perfect his or her claim by excavating an
open cut thereon and removing from the cut not less than seven cubic
yards of material if the work is completed not later than December
14, 1935.
3905. The failure or neglect of the locator or locators to comply
with the requirements of Section 3900, 3901, or 3903 shall render the
location null and void, unless the failure or neglect is curable
under Section 3908, in which event the location shall be voidable.
3906. The locator of a tunnel right or location shall locate his or
her tunnel right or location by erecting at the face or point of
commencement of the tunnel a conspicuous and substantial monument in
or on which there shall be posted a notice of location, which notice
shall contain all of the following:
(a) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(b) The date of location, which shall be the date of posting the
notice.
(c) The proposed course or direction of the tunnel.
(d) A description of the tunnel by reference to some natural
object or permanent monument as will identify the claim or tunnel
right.
3907. The boundary lines of the tunnel shall be established by
conspicuous and substantial monuments placed along the lines on the
surface at an interval of not more than 600 feet from the face or
point of commencement of the tunnel to the terminus of 3,000 feet
therefrom.
3908. If at any time the locator of any mining claim, or his or her
assigns, apprehends that his or her original location notice was
defective, erroneous, or that the requirements of the law had not
been complied with before filing, or in case the original notice was
made prior to April 28, 1939, and he or she is desirous of securing
the benefit of this chapter, the locator, or his or her assigns, may
file an amended notice, subject to this chapter, if the amended
location notice does not interfere with the existing rights of others
at the time of posting and filing the amended location notice. No
amended location notice or the record thereof precludes the claimant
from proving any title as he or she may have held under previous
locations.
3909. Where a locator, or his or her assigns, has the boundaries
and corners of his or her claim established by a United States deputy
mineral surveyor, or a licensed surveyor of this state, and the
claim connected with the corner of the public or minor surveys of an
established initial point, and incorporates into the record of the
claim the field notes of the survey, and attaches to and files with
the location notice a certificate of the surveyor setting forth all
of the following:
(a) The survey was actually made by him or her, giving the date
thereof.
(b) The name of the claim surveyed and the location thereof.
(c) The description incorporated in the declaratory statement is
sufficient to identify the claim.
The survey and certificate becomes a part of the record, and the
record is prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.
3910. The proprietor of a vein or lode claim or mine, the
proprietor of a placer claim, or the owner of a quartz mill or
reduction works, or any person qualified by the laws of the United
States may locate not more than five acres of nonmineral land as a
millsite.
The location shall be made and the claim boundaries marked in the
same manner as required by Section 3902 for locating placer claims,
except that the monument in or on which the notice of location is
posted may be erected anywhere within the claim, and location work is
not required.
3911. Within 90 days after the posting of his or her notice of
location upon a lode mining claim, placer claim, tunnel right or
location, or millsite claim or location, the locator shall record, in
the office of the county recorder of the county in which the claim
is situated, a true copy of the notice together with a statement by
the locator of the markings of the boundaries as required by this
chapter and the character of the markings, which statement also shall
include the section or sections, township, range, and meridian of
the United States survey within which all, or any part, of the claim
is located.
Any person who willfully makes a false statement with respect to
any mining claim on the posted location notice or on the recorded
notice, or accompanying statement, is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than two
hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not
more than six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
3912. The amount of work done, improvements made, or maintenance
fee paid to the Bureau of Land Management in the United States
Department of Interior during each year to hold possession of a
mining claim shall be that prescribed by the laws of the United
States.
3913. (a) Whenever labor is performed, improvements are made, or a
maintenance fee is paid as required by law upon any mining claim, the
person on whose behalf the labor was performed, improvements made,
or a maintenance fee was paid, or someone in his or her behalf,
shall, within 30 days after the time required by law for performing
the labor, making the improvements, or paying the maintenance fee,
make and have recorded by the county recorder, in the county in which
the mining claim is situated, an affidavit setting forth all of the
following:
(1) The name of the claim and the serial number, if any, assigned
to the claim by the Bureau of Land Management in the United States
Department of Interior.
(2) A reference by book and page or document number to the public
record of the notice of location of the claim and, if amended, of the
last recorded amendment thereof.
(3) The section or sections, township, range, and meridian of the
United States survey within which all or any part of the claim is
located.
(4) A description of the labor performed or improvements made upon
or for the benefit of the claim for which the proof is made, the
value of each item, and the dates on which, or the period of time
within which, the labor was performed or the improvement was made, or
a statement that a maintenance fee in the amount prescribed by the
laws of the United States has been or will be paid, the amount of the
maintenance fee, and the date of payment or anticipated payment.
(5) The name, current mailing address, and current residence
address of the person who makes the proof and of the owner of the
claim, as known to the affiant.
(6) A statement that the claim is held and claimed by the owner,
or the person making the proof if he or she is entitled to possession
thereof, for the valuable mineral contained therein.
(7) The name and address of the person who performed or made the
work and improvements described in the affidavit, as known to the
affiant, if applicable.
(8) A statement that all monuments required by law to have been
erected upon the claim and all notices required by law to have been
posted on the claim or copies thereof were in place at a date within
the assessment year for which the affidavit is made and a statement
of the date.
(9) A statement that, at that date, each corner monument bore or
contained a marking sufficient to appropriately designate the corner
of the mining claim to which it pertains and the name of the claim.
(b) An affidavit recorded as required by subdivision (a), or a
copy thereof duly certified by the county recorder, shall be prima
facie evidence of the performance of the labor, the making of the
improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee as stated in the
affidavit.
(c) The neglect or failure of the owner of any mining claim to
record, or cause to be recorded, within the time allowed by this
section an affidavit containing the statements required by
subdivision (a) creates a prima facie presumption of the act and
intent of the owner to abandon the claim at the end of the assessment
year within which the labor should have been performed, the
improvements should have been made, or the maintenance fee should
have been paid under the laws of the United States, and imposes the
burden of proof upon the owner of the claim to show that the labor
has been performed, that the improvements have been made, or that the
maintenance fee has been paid in any contest, suit, or proceeding
touching the title to the claim. However, if the affidavit is
executed and recorded by anyone other than an owner within the 30-day
period, and the owner apprehends that there are deficiencies in the
recorded affidavit, he or she may supplement the recorded affidavit
by further affidavit to comply with the section and may record the
supplemental affidavit within 30 days following the last day of the
30-day period after the time required by law for performance of the
work, making of improvements, or payment of the maintenance fee, and
thereby obtain the prima facie evidence of the performance of labor,
the making of improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee,
and avoid the prima facie presumption of abandonment and the burden
of proving the performance of labor, the making of improvements, or
the payment of the maintenance fee required by law.
(d) Any person who willfully makes a false statement with respect
to any mining claim on the affidavit required by subdivision (a), or
on the supplementary affidavit permitted by subdivision (c), is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a
fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment
in the county jail for not more than six months, or by both the fine
and imprisonment.
3914. The board of supervisors, may require, by resolution, that
any person filing an affidavit pursuant to Section 3913 or any person
filing a notice of intent to hold, demonstrate proof of payment of
any unsecured tax levied against the mining claim on which the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold is filed, along with any
delinquent unsecured taxes levied against the person filing the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold, prior to the recordation of
the affidavit or notice of intent to hold.
If a resolution is adopted by the board of supervisors pursuant to
this section, it may include the following provisions, and any other
provisions determined by the board as necessary to carry out the
intent of this section:
(a) A provision prohibiting the county recorder from accepting the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold for recordation without the
tax collector's certification that the taxes have been paid.
(b) A provision requiring the following:
(1) That, when taxes are paid, the tax collector issue a receipt
or certificate of payment for use in certification of the affidavit
or notice of intent to hold.
(2) That the county recorder forward the affidavit or notice of
intent to hold to the tax collector if the county recorder receives
an affidavit for recording by mail and the affidavit or notice of
intent to hold does not contain the tax collector's certification
that the taxes have been paid.
(3) That, if applicable, the tax collector then certify that the
taxes have been paid on the face of the affidavit or notice of intent
to hold and return the document to the county recorder for
recording.
(4) That, if the taxes have not been paid, the tax collector
return the affidavit unrecorded to the filer.
3915. (a) The following are the only monuments which may be used
pursuant to this chapter:
(1) A wooden post not less than 1 1/2 inches in diameter
projecting at least two feet above the ground.
(2) A mound of stone projecting at least two feet above the
ground.
(3) A nonperforated, capped metal post or solid metal rod, not
less than one inch in diameter and projecting at least two feet above
the ground.
(b) Where, by reason of precipitous ground, it is impractical or
dangerous to place a monument in its true position, a witness
monument may be erected as near thereto as the nature of the ground
will permit and marked so as to identify the true position.
(c) Where, by reason of working the claim, it is impractical or
dangerous to maintain a monument in its true position, a witness
monument shall be erected as near thereto as the nature of the ground
will permit and marked so as to identify the true position.
(d) Any person using on January 1, 1992, or who has previously
erected, any monument or object other than those defined in this
section for the purposes of this chapter shall have until January 1,
1995, to comply with this section or remove those monuments which are
not in compliance.
(e) Within 180 days of abandonment, relinquishment, or loss of a
claim, in effect on January 1, 1992, all monuments pertaining to that
claim shall be permanently removed by the locator. A person who
violates this subdivision shall be subject to a fine of not more than
fifty dollars ($50) for each monument which is not removed and
additionally liable for any cost incurred by the federal, state, or
county government agency which removes any monument or has it
removed.
3916. Any person who takes down, removes, alters, or destroys any
stake, post, monument, or notice of location upon any mining claim
which is required by law to be upon the mining claim, without the
consent of the owner thereof, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than
two hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment in the county jail for
not more than six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.
3917. Whenever a coowner or coowners of a mining claim give to a
delinquent coowner or coowners the notice in writing or notice by
publication provided for in Section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of
the United States, an affidavit of the person giving the notice,
stating the time, place, manner of service, and by whom and upon whom
service was made, shall be attached to a true copy of the notice.
The notice and affidavit shall be recorded in the office of the
county recorder, in books kept for that purpose, in the county in
which the claim is situated, within 90 days, after the giving of the
notice. For recording the notice and affidavit, the recorder shall
receive the same fees as are allowed by law for recording deeds.
If the notice is given by publication in a newspaper, there shall
be attached to a printed copy of the notice an affidavit of the
printer or his or her foreman, or principal clerk of the newspaper,
stating the date of the first, last, and each insertion of the notice
therein, and where the newspaper was published during that time, and
the name of the newspaper. The affidavit and notice shall be
recorded within 180 days after the first publication thereof.
3918. The original of the notice and affidavit, or a duly certified
copy of the record thereof, shall be prima facie evidence that the
delinquent mentioned in Section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States has failed or refused to contribute his or her
proportion of the expenditure required by that section, and of the
service of publication of the notice, unless the writing or affidavit
specified in Section 3919 is of record.
3919. If the delinquent, within the 90 days required by Section
2324 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, contributes to his
or her coowner or coowners his or her proportion of the expenditures
and also all costs of service of the notice required by Section
3917, whether incurred for publication charges or otherwise, the
coowner or coowners shall sign and deliver to the delinquent or
delinquents a writing, stating that the delinquent or delinquents by
name has, within the time required by that Section 2324, contributed
his or her share for the year ____, upon the ____ mine, and further
stating therein the district, county, and state wherein the claim is
situated, and the book and page where the location notice is
recorded, if the claim was located under this chapter. The writing
shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the county,
for which he or she shall receive the same fees as are allowed by
law for recording deeds.
3920. If the coowner fails to sign and deliver the writing to the
delinquent within 20 days after the contribution, the coowner so
failing is liable to the delinquent for a penalty of one hundred
dollars ($100) to be recovered by the delinquent in any court of
competent jurisdiction. If the coowner fails to deliver the writing
within 20 days after the contribution, the delinquent, with two
disinterested persons having personal knowledge of the contribution,
may make an affidavit setting forth in what manner, the amount of, to
whom, and upon what claim, the contribution was made. The affidavit,
or a record thereof in the office of the county recorder of the
county in which the claim is situated, is prima facie evidence of the
contribution.
3921. The record of any location of a mining claim, millsite, or
tunnel right in the office of the county recorder, as provided in
this chapter, shall be received in evidence and have the same force
and effect in the courts of the state as the original notice.
3922. Copies of the records of all instruments required to be
recorded by this chapter, duly certified by the recorder in whose
custody the records are, may be read in evidence under the same
circumstances and rules as are provided by law for using copies of
instruments relating to real estate, duly executed or acknowledged or
proved and recorded.
3923. This chapter does not in any manner affect or abolish any
mining district or the rules and regulations thereof within the
state.
3924. Whenever any mining district in this state, organized or
created under the laws of the United States, is dissolved, the
officers or custodians of the records of the mining district shall
deposit with the county recorder of the county, in which the district
is located, all records of location notices or other documents
affecting titles to mining claims in the mining district, shown by
the records of the district.
County recorders of the counties shall accept any location notices
and other documents affecting title to mining claims of dissolved
mining districts. Thereafter all notices and documents shall be open
for public inspection.
3900. Any person, who is a citizen of the United States or who has
declared his or her intention to become a citizen, and who discovers
a vein or lode of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing gold,
silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or any other valuable deposit,
may locate a claim upon the vein or lode, by defining the boundaries
of the claim, in the manner specified in this chapter, by erecting at
the point of discovery a monument as defined in Section 3915, and by
posting in or on the monument a notice of the location. The notice
shall contain all of the following:
(a) The name of the lode or claim.
(b) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(c) The number of linear feet claimed in length along the course
of the vein, each way from the point of discovery, with the width on
each side of the center of the claim, and the general course of the
vein or lode, as near as may be.
(d) The date of location, which shall be the date of posting the
notice.
(e) A description of the type of monuments used for the discovery
and corner monuments.
(f) A description of the claim by reference to some natural
object, or permanent monument, as will identify the claim located.
3901. The locator of any lode mining claim shall define the
boundaries of the claim so that they may be readily traced, but in no
case shall the claim extend more than 1,500 feet along the course of
the vein or lode, or more than 300 feet on either side thereof as
measured from the centerline of the vein at the surface. Within 60
days after the date of location of any lode mining claim located, the
locator shall erect at each corner of the claim, a monument as
defined in Section 3915. Each corner monument so erected shall bear
or contain markings sufficient to appropriately designate the corner
of the mining claim and the name of the claim to which it pertains.
3902. The location of a placer claim shall be made in the following
manner:
(a) By erecting at the point of discovery thereon a conspicuous
and substantial monument, and by posting in or on the monument a
notice of location containing all of the following:
(1) The name of the claim.
(2) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(3) The date of the location, which shall be the date of posting
the notice.
(4) The number of feet or acreage claimed.
(5) A description of the claim by reference to some natural object
or permanent monument as will identify the claim located.
(b) By marking the boundaries so that they may be readily traced
and by erecting at each corner of the claim, or at the nearest
accessible points thereto, a conspicuous and substantial monument.
Each corner monument shall bear or contain markings sufficient to
appropriately designate the corner of the mining claim to which it
pertains and the name of the claim.
Where the United States survey has been extended over the land
embraced in the location, the claim may be taken by legal
subdivisions and no other reference than those of the survey shall be
required, and the boundaries of a claim so located and described
need not be staked or monumented. The description by legal
subdivisions shall be deemed the equivalent of marking.
3903. The relocation of any lode or placer mining location which is
subject to relocation shall be made as an original location is
required to be made.
3904. As to any placer mining claim which has been otherwise
validly located or relocated since July 20, 1935, and as to which
claim the locator or relocator has not performed the work thereon
required by former Sections 1426da and 1426dc of the Civil Code for
the reason that literal compliance therewith was not feasible, the
locator or relocator may perfect his or her claim by excavating an
open cut thereon and removing from the cut not less than seven cubic
yards of material if the work is completed not later than December
14, 1935.
3905. The failure or neglect of the locator or locators to comply
with the requirements of Section 3900, 3901, or 3903 shall render the
location null and void, unless the failure or neglect is curable
under Section 3908, in which event the location shall be voidable.
3906. The locator of a tunnel right or location shall locate his or
her tunnel right or location by erecting at the face or point of
commencement of the tunnel a conspicuous and substantial monument in
or on which there shall be posted a notice of location, which notice
shall contain all of the following:
(a) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(b) The date of location, which shall be the date of posting the
notice.
(c) The proposed course or direction of the tunnel.
(d) A description of the tunnel by reference to some natural
object or permanent monument as will identify the claim or tunnel
right.
3907. The boundary lines of the tunnel shall be established by
conspicuous and substantial monuments placed along the lines on the
surface at an interval of not more than 600 feet from the face or
point of commencement of the tunnel to the terminus of 3,000 feet
therefrom.
3908. If at any time the locator of any mining claim, or his or her
assigns, apprehends that his or her original location notice was
defective, erroneous, or that the requirements of the law had not
been complied with before filing, or in case the original notice was
made prior to April 28, 1939, and he or she is desirous of securing
the benefit of this chapter, the locator, or his or her assigns, may
file an amended notice, subject to this chapter, if the amended
location notice does not interfere with the existing rights of others
at the time of posting and filing the amended location notice. No
amended location notice or the record thereof precludes the claimant
from proving any title as he or she may have held under previous
locations.
3909. Where a locator, or his or her assigns, has the boundaries
and corners of his or her claim established by a United States deputy
mineral surveyor, or a licensed surveyor of this state, and the
claim connected with the corner of the public or minor surveys of an
established initial point, and incorporates into the record of the
claim the field notes of the survey, and attaches to and files with
the location notice a certificate of the surveyor setting forth all
of the following:
(a) The survey was actually made by him or her, giving the date
thereof.
(b) The name of the claim surveyed and the location thereof.
(c) The description incorporated in the declaratory statement is
sufficient to identify the claim.
The survey and certificate becomes a part of the record, and the
record is prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.
3910. The proprietor of a vein or lode claim or mine, the
proprietor of a placer claim, or the owner of a quartz mill or
reduction works, or any person qualified by the laws of the United
States may locate not more than five acres of nonmineral land as a
millsite.
The location shall be made and the claim boundaries marked in the
same manner as required by Section 3902 for locating placer claims,
except that the monument in or on which the notice of location is
posted may be erected anywhere within the claim, and location work is
not required.
3911. Within 90 days after the posting of his or her notice of
location upon a lode mining claim, placer claim, tunnel right or
location, or millsite claim or location, the locator shall record, in
the office of the county recorder of the county in which the claim
is situated, a true copy of the notice together with a statement by
the locator of the markings of the boundaries as required by this
chapter and the character of the markings, which statement also shall
include the section or sections, township, range, and meridian of
the United States survey within which all, or any part, of the claim
is located.
Any person who willfully makes a false statement with respect to
any mining claim on the posted location notice or on the recorded
notice, or accompanying statement, is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than two
hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not
more than six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
3912. The amount of work done, improvements made, or maintenance
fee paid to the Bureau of Land Management in the United States
Department of Interior during each year to hold possession of a
mining claim shall be that prescribed by the laws of the United
States.
3913. (a) Whenever labor is performed, improvements are made, or a
maintenance fee is paid as required by law upon any mining claim, the
person on whose behalf the labor was performed, improvements made,
or a maintenance fee was paid, or someone in his or her behalf,
shall, within 30 days after the time required by law for performing
the labor, making the improvements, or paying the maintenance fee,
make and have recorded by the county recorder, in the county in which
the mining claim is situated, an affidavit setting forth all of the
following:
(1) The name of the claim and the serial number, if any, assigned
to the claim by the Bureau of Land Management in the United States
Department of Interior.
(2) A reference by book and page or document number to the public
record of the notice of location of the claim and, if amended, of the
last recorded amendment thereof.
(3) The section or sections, township, range, and meridian of the
United States survey within which all or any part of the claim is
located.
(4) A description of the labor performed or improvements made upon
or for the benefit of the claim for which the proof is made, the
value of each item, and the dates on which, or the period of time
within which, the labor was performed or the improvement was made, or
a statement that a maintenance fee in the amount prescribed by the
laws of the United States has been or will be paid, the amount of the
maintenance fee, and the date of payment or anticipated payment.
(5) The name, current mailing address, and current residence
address of the person who makes the proof and of the owner of the
claim, as known to the affiant.
(6) A statement that the claim is held and claimed by the owner,
or the person making the proof if he or she is entitled to possession
thereof, for the valuable mineral contained therein.
(7) The name and address of the person who performed or made the
work and improvements described in the affidavit, as known to the
affiant, if applicable.
(8) A statement that all monuments required by law to have been
erected upon the claim and all notices required by law to have been
posted on the claim or copies thereof were in place at a date within
the assessment year for which the affidavit is made and a statement
of the date.
(9) A statement that, at that date, each corner monument bore or
contained a marking sufficient to appropriately designate the corner
of the mining claim to which it pertains and the name of the claim.
(b) An affidavit recorded as required by subdivision (a), or a
copy thereof duly certified by the county recorder, shall be prima
facie evidence of the performance of the labor, the making of the
improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee as stated in the
affidavit.
(c) The neglect or failure of the owner of any mining claim to
record, or cause to be recorded, within the time allowed by this
section an affidavit containing the statements required by
subdivision (a) creates a prima facie presumption of the act and
intent of the owner to abandon the claim at the end of the assessment
year within which the labor should have been performed, the
improvements should have been made, or the maintenance fee should
have been paid under the laws of the United States, and imposes the
burden of proof upon the owner of the claim to show that the labor
has been performed, that the improvements have been made, or that the
maintenance fee has been paid in any contest, suit, or proceeding
touching the title to the claim. However, if the affidavit is
executed and recorded by anyone other than an owner within the 30-day
period, and the owner apprehends that there are deficiencies in the
recorded affidavit, he or she may supplement the recorded affidavit
by further affidavit to comply with the section and may record the
supplemental affidavit within 30 days following the last day of the
30-day period after the time required by law for performance of the
work, making of improvements, or payment of the maintenance fee, and
thereby obtain the prima facie evidence of the performance of labor,
the making of improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee,
and avoid the prima facie presumption of abandonment and the burden
of proving the performance of labor, the making of improvements, or
the payment of the maintenance fee required by law.
(d) Any person who willfully makes a false statement with respect
to any mining claim on the affidavit required by subdivision (a), or
on the supplementary affidavit permitted by subdivision (c), is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a
fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment
in the county jail for not more than six months, or by both the fine
and imprisonment.
3914. The board of supervisors, may require, by resolution, that
any person filing an affidavit pursuant to Section 3913 or any person
filing a notice of intent to hold, demonstrate proof of payment of
any unsecured tax levied against the mining claim on which the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold is filed, along with any
delinquent unsecured taxes levied against the person filing the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold, prior to the recordation of
the affidavit or notice of intent to hold.
If a resolution is adopted by the board of supervisors pursuant to
this section, it may include the following provisions, and any other
provisions determined by the board as necessary to carry out the
intent of this section:
(a) A provision prohibiting the county recorder from accepting the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold for recordation without the
tax collector's certification that the taxes have been paid.
(b) A provision requiring the following:
(1) That, when taxes are paid, the tax collector issue a receipt
or certificate of payment for use in certification of the affidavit
or notice of intent to hold.
(2) That the county recorder forward the affidavit or notice of
intent to hold to the tax collector if the county recorder receives
an affidavit for recording by mail and the affidavit or notice of
intent to hold does not contain the tax collector's certification
that the taxes have been paid.
(3) That, if applicable, the tax collector then certify that the
taxes have been paid on the face of the affidavit or notice of intent
to hold and return the document to the county recorder for
recording.
(4) That, if the taxes have not been paid, the tax collector
return the affidavit unrecorded to the filer.
3915. (a) The following are the only monuments which may be used
pursuant to this chapter:
(1) A wooden post not less than 1 1/2 inches in diameter
projecting at least two feet above the ground.
(2) A mound of stone projecting at least two feet above the
ground.
(3) A nonperforated, capped metal post or solid metal rod, not
less than one inch in diameter and projecting at least two feet above
the ground.
(b) Where, by reason of precipitous ground, it is impractical or
dangerous to place a monument in its true position, a witness
monument may be erected as near thereto as the nature of the ground
will permit and marked so as to identify the true position.
(c) Where, by reason of working the claim, it is impractical or
dangerous to maintain a monument in its true position, a witness
monument shall be erected as near thereto as the nature of the ground
will permit and marked so as to identify the true position.
(d) Any person using on January 1, 1992, or who has previously
erected, any monument or object other than those defined in this
section for the purposes of this chapter shall have until January 1,
1995, to comply with this section or remove those monuments which are
not in compliance.
(e) Within 180 days of abandonment, relinquishment, or loss of a
claim, in effect on January 1, 1992, all monuments pertaining to that
claim shall be permanently removed by the locator. A person who
violates this subdivision shall be subject to a fine of not more than
fifty dollars ($50) for each monument which is not removed and
additionally liable for any cost incurred by the federal, state, or
county government agency which removes any monument or has it
removed.
3916. Any person who takes down, removes, alters, or destroys any
stake, post, monument, or notice of location upon any mining claim
which is required by law to be upon the mining claim, without the
consent of the owner thereof, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than
two hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment in the county jail for
not more than six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.
3917. Whenever a coowner or coowners of a mining claim give to a
delinquent coowner or coowners the notice in writing or notice by
publication provided for in Section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of
the United States, an affidavit of the person giving the notice,
stating the time, place, manner of service, and by whom and upon whom
service was made, shall be attached to a true copy of the notice.
The notice and affidavit shall be recorded in the office of the
county recorder, in books kept for that purpose, in the county in
which the claim is situated, within 90 days, after the giving of the
notice. For recording the notice and affidavit, the recorder shall
receive the same fees as are allowed by law for recording deeds.
If the notice is given by publication in a newspaper, there shall
be attached to a printed copy of the notice an affidavit of the
printer or his or her foreman, or principal clerk of the newspaper,
stating the date of the first, last, and each insertion of the notice
therein, and where the newspaper was published during that time, and
the name of the newspaper. The affidavit and notice shall be
recorded within 180 days after the first publication thereof.
3918. The original of the notice and affidavit, or a duly certified
copy of the record thereof, shall be prima facie evidence that the
delinquent mentioned in Section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States has failed or refused to contribute his or her
proportion of the expenditure required by that section, and of the
service of publication of the notice, unless the writing or affidavit
specified in Section 3919 is of record.
3919. If the delinquent, within the 90 days required by Section
2324 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, contributes to his
or her coowner or coowners his or her proportion of the expenditures
and also all costs of service of the notice required by Section
3917, whether incurred for publication charges or otherwise, the
coowner or coowners shall sign and deliver to the delinquent or
delinquents a writing, stating that the delinquent or delinquents by
name has, within the time required by that Section 2324, contributed
his or her share for the year ____, upon the ____ mine, and further
stating therein the district, county, and state wherein the claim is
situated, and the book and page where the location notice is
recorded, if the claim was located under this chapter. The writing
shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the county,
for which he or she shall receive the same fees as are allowed by
law for recording deeds.
3920. If the coowner fails to sign and deliver the writing to the
delinquent within 20 days after the contribution, the coowner so
failing is liable to the delinquent for a penalty of one hundred
dollars ($100) to be recovered by the delinquent in any court of
competent jurisdiction. If the coowner fails to deliver the writing
within 20 days after the contribution, the delinquent, with two
disinterested persons having personal knowledge of the contribution,
may make an affidavit setting forth in what manner, the amount of, to
whom, and upon what claim, the contribution was made. The affidavit,
or a record thereof in the office of the county recorder of the
county in which the claim is situated, is prima facie evidence of the
contribution.
3921. The record of any location of a mining claim, millsite, or
tunnel right in the office of the county recorder, as provided in
this chapter, shall be received in evidence and have the same force
and effect in the courts of the state as the original notice.
3922. Copies of the records of all instruments required to be
recorded by this chapter, duly certified by the recorder in whose
custody the records are, may be read in evidence under the same
circumstances and rules as are provided by law for using copies of
instruments relating to real estate, duly executed or acknowledged or
proved and recorded.
3923. This chapter does not in any manner affect or abolish any
mining district or the rules and regulations thereof within the
state.
3924. Whenever any mining district in this state, organized or
created under the laws of the United States, is dissolved, the
officers or custodians of the records of the mining district shall
deposit with the county recorder of the county, in which the district
is located, all records of location notices or other documents
affecting titles to mining claims in the mining district, shown by
the records of the district.
County recorders of the counties shall accept any location notices
and other documents affecting title to mining claims of dissolved
mining districts. Thereafter all notices and documents shall be open
for public inspection.
3900. Any person, who is a citizen of the United States or who has
declared his or her intention to become a citizen, and who discovers
a vein or lode of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing gold,
silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or any other valuable deposit,
may locate a claim upon the vein or lode, by defining the boundaries
of the claim, in the manner specified in this chapter, by erecting at
the point of discovery a monument as defined in Section 3915, and by
posting in or on the monument a notice of the location. The notice
shall contain all of the following:
(a) The name of the lode or claim.
(b) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(c) The number of linear feet claimed in length along the course
of the vein, each way from the point of discovery, with the width on
each side of the center of the claim, and the general course of the
vein or lode, as near as may be.
(d) The date of location, which shall be the date of posting the
notice.
(e) A description of the type of monuments used for the discovery
and corner monuments.
(f) A description of the claim by reference to some natural
object, or permanent monument, as will identify the claim located.
3901. The locator of any lode mining claim shall define the
boundaries of the claim so that they may be readily traced, but in no
case shall the claim extend more than 1,500 feet along the course of
the vein or lode, or more than 300 feet on either side thereof as
measured from the centerline of the vein at the surface. Within 60
days after the date of location of any lode mining claim located, the
locator shall erect at each corner of the claim, a monument as
defined in Section 3915. Each corner monument so erected shall bear
or contain markings sufficient to appropriately designate the corner
of the mining claim and the name of the claim to which it pertains.
3902. The location of a placer claim shall be made in the following
manner:
(a) By erecting at the point of discovery thereon a conspicuous
and substantial monument, and by posting in or on the monument a
notice of location containing all of the following:
(1) The name of the claim.
(2) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(3) The date of the location, which shall be the date of posting
the notice.
(4) The number of feet or acreage claimed.
(5) A description of the claim by reference to some natural object
or permanent monument as will identify the claim located.
(b) By marking the boundaries so that they may be readily traced
and by erecting at each corner of the claim, or at the nearest
accessible points thereto, a conspicuous and substantial monument.
Each corner monument shall bear or contain markings sufficient to
appropriately designate the corner of the mining claim to which it
pertains and the name of the claim.
Where the United States survey has been extended over the land
embraced in the location, the claim may be taken by legal
subdivisions and no other reference than those of the survey shall be
required, and the boundaries of a claim so located and described
need not be staked or monumented. The description by legal
subdivisions shall be deemed the equivalent of marking.
3903. The relocation of any lode or placer mining location which is
subject to relocation shall be made as an original location is
required to be made.
3904. As to any placer mining claim which has been otherwise
validly located or relocated since July 20, 1935, and as to which
claim the locator or relocator has not performed the work thereon
required by former Sections 1426da and 1426dc of the Civil Code for
the reason that literal compliance therewith was not feasible, the
locator or relocator may perfect his or her claim by excavating an
open cut thereon and removing from the cut not less than seven cubic
yards of material if the work is completed not later than December
14, 1935.
3905. The failure or neglect of the locator or locators to comply
with the requirements of Section 3900, 3901, or 3903 shall render the
location null and void, unless the failure or neglect is curable
under Section 3908, in which event the location shall be voidable.
3906. The locator of a tunnel right or location shall locate his or
her tunnel right or location by erecting at the face or point of
commencement of the tunnel a conspicuous and substantial monument in
or on which there shall be posted a notice of location, which notice
shall contain all of the following:
(a) The name, current mailing address or current residence
address, of the locator.
(b) The date of location, which shall be the date of posting the
notice.
(c) The proposed course or direction of the tunnel.
(d) A description of the tunnel by reference to some natural
object or permanent monument as will identify the claim or tunnel
right.
3907. The boundary lines of the tunnel shall be established by
conspicuous and substantial monuments placed along the lines on the
surface at an interval of not more than 600 feet from the face or
point of commencement of the tunnel to the terminus of 3,000 feet
therefrom.
3908. If at any time the locator of any mining claim, or his or her
assigns, apprehends that his or her original location notice was
defective, erroneous, or that the requirements of the law had not
been complied with before filing, or in case the original notice was
made prior to April 28, 1939, and he or she is desirous of securing
the benefit of this chapter, the locator, or his or her assigns, may
file an amended notice, subject to this chapter, if the amended
location notice does not interfere with the existing rights of others
at the time of posting and filing the amended location notice. No
amended location notice or the record thereof precludes the claimant
from proving any title as he or she may have held under previous
locations.
3909. Where a locator, or his or her assigns, has the boundaries
and corners of his or her claim established by a United States deputy
mineral surveyor, or a licensed surveyor of this state, and the
claim connected with the corner of the public or minor surveys of an
established initial point, and incorporates into the record of the
claim the field notes of the survey, and attaches to and files with
the location notice a certificate of the surveyor setting forth all
of the following:
(a) The survey was actually made by him or her, giving the date
thereof.
(b) The name of the claim surveyed and the location thereof.
(c) The description incorporated in the declaratory statement is
sufficient to identify the claim.
The survey and certificate becomes a part of the record, and the
record is prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.
3910. The proprietor of a vein or lode claim or mine, the
proprietor of a placer claim, or the owner of a quartz mill or
reduction works, or any person qualified by the laws of the United
States may locate not more than five acres of nonmineral land as a
millsite.
The location shall be made and the claim boundaries marked in the
same manner as required by Section 3902 for locating placer claims,
except that the monument in or on which the notice of location is
posted may be erected anywhere within the claim, and location work is
not required.
3911. Within 90 days after the posting of his or her notice of
location upon a lode mining claim, placer claim, tunnel right or
location, or millsite claim or location, the locator shall record, in
the office of the county recorder of the county in which the claim
is situated, a true copy of the notice together with a statement by
the locator of the markings of the boundaries as required by this
chapter and the character of the markings, which statement also shall
include the section or sections, township, range, and meridian of
the United States survey within which all, or any part, of the claim
is located.
Any person who willfully makes a false statement with respect to
any mining claim on the posted location notice or on the recorded
notice, or accompanying statement, is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than two
hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not
more than six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
3912. The amount of work done, improvements made, or maintenance
fee paid to the Bureau of Land Management in the United States
Department of Interior during each year to hold possession of a
mining claim shall be that prescribed by the laws of the United
States.
3913. (a) Whenever labor is performed, improvements are made, or a
maintenance fee is paid as required by law upon any mining claim, the
person on whose behalf the labor was performed, improvements made,
or a maintenance fee was paid, or someone in his or her behalf,
shall, within 30 days after the time required by law for performing
the labor, making the improvements, or paying the maintenance fee,
make and have recorded by the county recorder, in the county in which
the mining claim is situated, an affidavit setting forth all of the
following:
(1) The name of the claim and the serial number, if any, assigned
to the claim by the Bureau of Land Management in the United States
Department of Interior.
(2) A reference by book and page or document number to the public
record of the notice of location of the claim and, if amended, of the
last recorded amendment thereof.
(3) The section or sections, township, range, and meridian of the
United States survey within which all or any part of the claim is
located.
(4) A description of the labor performed or improvements made upon
or for the benefit of the claim for which the proof is made, the
value of each item, and the dates on which, or the period of time
within which, the labor was performed or the improvement was made, or
a statement that a maintenance fee in the amount prescribed by the
laws of the United States has been or will be paid, the amount of the
maintenance fee, and the date of payment or anticipated payment.
(5) The name, current mailing address, and current residence
address of the person who makes the proof and of the owner of the
claim, as known to the affiant.
(6) A statement that the claim is held and claimed by the owner,
or the person making the proof if he or she is entitled to possession
thereof, for the valuable mineral contained therein.
(7) The name and address of the person who performed or made the
work and improvements described in the affidavit, as known to the
affiant, if applicable.
(8) A statement that all monuments required by law to have been
erected upon the claim and all notices required by law to have been
posted on the claim or copies thereof were in place at a date within
the assessment year for which the affidavit is made and a statement
of the date.
(9) A statement that, at that date, each corner monument bore or
contained a marking sufficient to appropriately designate the corner
of the mining claim to which it pertains and the name of the claim.
(b) An affidavit recorded as required by subdivision (a), or a
copy thereof duly certified by the county recorder, shall be prima
facie evidence of the performance of the labor, the making of the
improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee as stated in the
affidavit.
(c) The neglect or failure of the owner of any mining claim to
record, or cause to be recorded, within the time allowed by this
section an affidavit containing the statements required by
subdivision (a) creates a prima facie presumption of the act and
intent of the owner to abandon the claim at the end of the assessment
year within which the labor should have been performed, the
improvements should have been made, or the maintenance fee should
have been paid under the laws of the United States, and imposes the
burden of proof upon the owner of the claim to show that the labor
has been performed, that the improvements have been made, or that the
maintenance fee has been paid in any contest, suit, or proceeding
touching the title to the claim. However, if the affidavit is
executed and recorded by anyone other than an owner within the 30-day
period, and the owner apprehends that there are deficiencies in the
recorded affidavit, he or she may supplement the recorded affidavit
by further affidavit to comply with the section and may record the
supplemental affidavit within 30 days following the last day of the
30-day period after the time required by law for performance of the
work, making of improvements, or payment of the maintenance fee, and
thereby obtain the prima facie evidence of the performance of labor,
the making of improvements, or the payment of the maintenance fee,
and avoid the prima facie presumption of abandonment and the burden
of proving the performance of labor, the making of improvements, or
the payment of the maintenance fee required by law.
(d) Any person who willfully makes a false statement with respect
to any mining claim on the affidavit required by subdivision (a), or
on the supplementary affidavit permitted by subdivision (c), is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a
fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment
in the county jail for not more than six months, or by both the fine
and imprisonment.
3914. The board of supervisors, may require, by resolution, that
any person filing an affidavit pursuant to Section 3913 or any person
filing a notice of intent to hold, demonstrate proof of payment of
any unsecured tax levied against the mining claim on which the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold is filed, along with any
delinquent unsecured taxes levied against the person filing the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold, prior to the recordation of
the affidavit or notice of intent to hold.
If a resolution is adopted by the board of supervisors pursuant to
this section, it may include the following provisions, and any other
provisions determined by the board as necessary to carry out the
intent of this section:
(a) A provision prohibiting the county recorder from accepting the
affidavit or notice of intent to hold for recordation without the
tax collector's certification that the taxes have been paid.
(b) A provision requiring the following:
(1) That, when taxes are paid, the tax collector issue a receipt
or certificate of payment for use in certification of the affidavit
or notice of intent to hold.
(2) That the county recorder forward the affidavit or notice of
intent to hold to the tax collector if the county recorder receives
an affidavit for recording by mail and the affidavit or notice of
intent to hold does not contain the tax collector's certification
that the taxes have been paid.
(3) That, if applicable, the tax collector then certify that the
taxes have been paid on the face of the affidavit or notice of intent
to hold and return the document to the county recorder for
recording.
(4) That, if the taxes have not been paid, the tax collector
return the affidavit unrecorded to the filer.
3915. (a) The following are the only monuments which may be used
pursuant to this chapter:
(1) A wooden post not less than 1 1/2 inches in diameter
projecting at least two feet above the ground.
(2) A mound of stone projecting at least two feet above the
ground.
(3) A nonperforated, capped metal post or solid metal rod, not
less than one inch in diameter and projecting at least two feet above
the ground.
(b) Where, by reason of precipitous ground, it is impractical or
dangerous to place a monument in its true position, a witness
monument may be erected as near thereto as the nature of the ground
will permit and marked so as to identify the true position.
(c) Where, by reason of working the claim, it is impractical or
dangerous to maintain a monument in its true position, a witness
monument shall be erected as near thereto as the nature of the ground
will permit and marked so as to identify the true position.
(d) Any person using on January 1, 1992, or who has previously
erected, any monument or object other than those defined in this
section for the purposes of this chapter shall have until January 1,
1995, to comply with this section or remove those monuments which are
not in compliance.
(e) Within 180 days of abandonment, relinquishment, or loss of a
claim, in effect on January 1, 1992, all monuments pertaining to that
claim shall be permanently removed by the locator. A person who
violates this subdivision shall be subject to a fine of not more than
fifty dollars ($50) for each monument which is not removed and
additionally liable for any cost incurred by the federal, state, or
county government agency which removes any monument or has it
removed.
3916. Any person who takes down, removes, alters, or destroys any
stake, post, monument, or notice of location upon any mining claim
which is required by law to be upon the mining claim, without the
consent of the owner thereof, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than
two hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment in the county jail for
not more than six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.
3917. Whenever a coowner or coowners of a mining claim give to a
delinquent coowner or coowners the notice in writing or notice by
publication provided for in Section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of
the United States, an affidavit of the person giving the notice,
stating the time, place, manner of service, and by whom and upon whom
service was made, shall be attached to a true copy of the notice.
The notice and affidavit shall be recorded in the office of the
county recorder, in books kept for that purpose, in the county in
which the claim is situated, within 90 days, after the giving of the
notice. For recording the notice and affidavit, the recorder shall
receive the same fees as are allowed by law for recording deeds.
If the notice is given by publication in a newspaper, there shall
be attached to a printed copy of the notice an affidavit of the
printer or his or her foreman, or principal clerk of the newspaper,
stating the date of the first, last, and each insertion of the notice
therein, and where the newspaper was published during that time, and
the name of the newspaper. The affidavit and notice shall be
recorded within 180 days after the first publication thereof.
3918. The original of the notice and affidavit, or a duly certified
copy of the record thereof, shall be prima facie evidence that the
delinquent mentioned in Section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States has failed or refused to contribute his or her
proportion of the expenditure required by that section, and of the
service of publication of the notice, unless the writing or affidavit
specified in Section 3919 is of record.
3919. If the delinquent, within the 90 days required by Section
2324 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, contributes to his
or her coowner or coowners his or her proportion of the expenditures
and also all costs of service of the notice required by Section
3917, whether incurred for publication charges or otherwise, the
coowner or coowners shall sign and deliver to the delinquent or
delinquents a writing, stating that the delinquent or delinquents by
name has, within the time required by that Section 2324, contributed
his or her share for the year ____, upon the ____ mine, and further
stating therein the district, county, and state wherein the claim is
situated, and the book and page where the location notice is
recorded, if the claim was located under this chapter. The writing
shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the county,
for which he or she shall receive the same fees as are allowed by
law for recording deeds.
3920. If the coowner fails to sign and deliver the writing to the
delinquent within 20 days after the contribution, the coowner so
failing is liable to the delinquent for a penalty of one hundred
dollars ($100) to be recovered by the delinquent in any court of
competent jurisdiction. If the coowner fails to deliver the writing
within 20 days after the contribution, the delinquent, with two
disinterested persons having personal knowledge of the contribution,
may make an affidavit setting forth in what manner, the amount of, to
whom, and upon what claim, the contribution was made. The affidavit,
or a record thereof in the office of the county recorder of the
county in which the claim is situated, is prima facie evidence of the
contribution.
3921. The record of any location of a mining claim, millsite, or
tunnel right in the office of the county recorder, as provided in
this chapter, shall be received in evidence and have the same force
and effect in the courts of the state as the original notice.
3922. Copies of the records of all instruments required to be
recorded by this chapter, duly certified by the recorder in whose
custody the records are, may be read in evidence under the same
circumstances and rules as are provided by law for using copies of
instruments relating to real estate, duly executed or acknowledged or
proved and recorded.
3923. This chapter does not in any manner affect or abolish any
mining district or the rules and regulations thereof within the
state.
3924. Whenever any mining district in this state, organized or
created under the laws of the United States, is dissolved, the
officers or custodians of the records of the mining district shall
deposit with the county recorder of the county, in which the district
is located, all records of location notices or other documents
affecting titles to mining claims in the mining district, shown by
the records of the district.
County recorders of the counties shall accept any location notices
and other documents affecting title to mining claims of dissolved
mining districts. Thereafter all notices and documents shall be open
for public inspection.
