Treasure · Six-part mining guide
From a promising stone to a small mine
Follow the full journey: find a mineral occurrence, establish whether the ground is open, locate and record a claim, test its value, operate responsibly, and understand what a mineral patent can mean today.
A mine begins with evidence
Start with the mineral clue and the land-status investigation. A claim filing then protects a properly discovered interest; it does not prove the deposit economic. The later chapters show how to test grade and recovery, plan a small permitted operation, and distinguish an unpatented claim from private patented property.
The BLM mineral-patents guidance says it cannot accept new mineral-patent applications under the continuing congressional moratorium. The final chapter explains that change to the historic mining sequence.
Six complete chapters
Read the guide
- Finding a Mineral Occurrence: From a Rockhound's Clue to a Prospect Worth Testing
A small miner's first step: read geology, follow mineral clues, distinguish float from bedrock, document a discovery, and decide whether an occurrence merits careful testing.
- Is the Ground Open to Mining? Surface, Mineral Estate, Claims, and Withdrawals
Before staking a New Mexico mineral discovery, establish who owns the surface and minerals, whether federal land is open to mineral entry, and whether an existing claim or withdrawal controls it.
- How a Small Miner Locates and Records a Federal Mining Claim in New Mexico
Understand lode and placer claims, discovery, boundary marking, county and BLM filings, current fees, annual maintenance, and what a recorded claim actually grants.
- Proving a Mining Claim: Sampling, Assays, Continuity, and a Mineable Market
What does it mean to prove a small mining claim? Move from selected specimens to representative samples, quality control, deposit geometry, recovery, costs, and the federal valuable-discovery test.
- Working a Small Mine: From Permitted Exploration to Ore, Safety, and Reclamation
A practical look at the real work behind a small New Mexico mine: federal and state operating approvals, access, water, processing, worker safety, costs, and closure.
- Mineral Patents and the Moratorium: What Owning a Mine Means Today
The historical federal mineral-patent path, the 1994 moratorium on new applications, and the practical tenure choices for a small miner who has located and tested a claim.
See the minerals and mines in place
The Grant County mineral field guide explains the rocks and collecting rights behind local finds. The Small-Time Prospecting district stories follow the actual geology and people of Pinos Altos, Tyrone, Santa Rita, and other mining places. Check current agency requirements for any real project.
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