Burgex has marked our calendars on the 25th of January this year, and we hope you have too, as big changes are coming to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is revolutionizing the way mining claims are filed and managed, as well as creating a tool for conducting land record research and claim status, with the launch of their new Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS).

There is no doubt that the old ways of filing the notice of location paperwork for mining claims is somewhat archaic and lacks efficiency. So how does the Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS) hope to improve on the old practices? The goal of the Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS) is to eliminate a trip to the public room or post office and put everything at your fingertips in one customer-centric portal. This means uploading your notice/certificate of locations directly to the portal, paying your maintenance and new claim fees, searching current and historic land information, and managing all other aspects of your mining claims on-line.

As a current or potential claim holder, there are some things you should be aware of when it comes to ensuring your mining claims are valid. First, the Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS) only assists with your mining claim’s filing and administration; this does NOT include the actual physical claim staking! While a modern system rollout has been a long time coming, the federal requirement to physically stake your claims on the ground is still in place.

Second, while filing the Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS) will assist with the electronic filing of your claims with the appropriate State Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office, the new system does not take care of the county filing for you. Every notice/certificate of location must still be filed with the appropriate County Recorder’s Office within the governing state’s time requirement. This county filing deadline is different for each state, ranging from 30 to 90 days. Additionally, users need to keep in mind that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) uses a phased rollout approach, and Alaska is not slated to be integrated into the system until 2022.

Third, with the Mineral and Land Records System’s (MLRS) arrival, the LR2000 will be no more. Once the LR2000 database has been decommissioned, all land searches for active or closed mining claims will have to be conducted through the Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS).

With the limited information available on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) website, it appears this new system may be beneficial for only the small-time miner with only a handful of claims. Each individual certificate of location must manually be entered into the system so that a map can be plotted for each claim, but you must ALSO upload your certificate as well. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) hopes this feature will improve each claim’s accuracy and the data available to users; however, this could potentially add a significant time cost for those that intend to file larger claim blocks.

Any new system, especially one of such a large scale, is likely to have bugs to work through upon implementation. Fortunately, you have Burgex at your fingertips. We know the importance of filing your mining claim correctly and promptly, as well as all the other intricacies involved in claim staking. When you don’t want to rely on a new, evolving system for your world-class discovery, you can rely on us. Let us be your expert partner in all things mining claim related. Give Burgex a call at (775) 335-2053 today or visit our website www.burgex.com to get your next project staked, located… and filed accurately!

You can access the new Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS) system here: https://www.blm.gov/services/land-records/mlrs