On the recordMarch 25, 2010
I rise today to introduce legislation in the Senate that has already been introduced in the House of Representatives by Alaska Congressman Don Young to clarify federal mining law and remedy a problem that has arisen with the extension process for "small" miner land claims. Under revisions to the Federal Mining Law of 1872, 30 U.S.C. 28(f), holders of unpatented mineral claims must pay a claim maintenance fee originally set at $100 per claim by a deadline, set by regulation, of September 1st each year. Since 2004 that fee has risen to $125 per claim. But Congress also has provided a claim maintenance fee waiver for "small" miners, those who hold 10 or fewer claims, that they do not have to submit the fee, but that they must file to renew their claims and submit an affidavit of annual labor by Dec. 31st each year, certifying that they had performed more than $100 of work on the claim in the preceding year, 30 U.S.C. 28f(d)(1).
