Chet

Attached map is one way to get near the NE corner of the 40 acres. Maybe someone else can suggest a better route. From the Chevron Station North is gravel so 38 minutes total travel time is probably more like 1 hour. Have a good day, Chet

John Wow!!! What great finds! Thank you for sharing this. Gives us some hope that there is still some out there for us to find. Have a good day, Chet

Jeff, likewise happy birthday wishes to you and a few others that I missed this month. Like Jack Benny I'm only 39; but somehow my body feels a little older.😁 Have another good year, Chet

California Desert Protection Act of 1994. PUBLIC LAW 103-433—OCT. 31, 1994 108 STAT. 4483 To designate certain lands in the California Desert as wilderness, to establish the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, to establish the Mojave National Preserve, and for other purposes. (c) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing rights, the Federal lands referred to in subsection (b) are hereby withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; from location, entry, and patent under the United States mining laws; and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing, and mineral materials, and all amendments thereto. Subsection (b) that precedes (c) above is a long subsection that lists several Wilderness areas including Death Valley. They don’t use the word “Prospecting” but the intent may be implied in the language “under the public land laws”. Have a good day, Chet

I have a friend that has detected in Wilderness areas. On one occasion he was challenged by a Ranger. He defended his prospecting activity by the paragraph below from the Wilderness Act. I think this is how oil exploration is allowed in the Alaska Wilderness area. The real problems come when permissions for extraction of minerals is sought. PUBLIC LAW 88-577-SEPT. 3, 1964 "Wilderness Act" SPECIAL PROVISIONS (2)Nothing in this Act shall prevent within national forest wilderness areas any activity, including prospecting, for the purpose of gathering information about mineral or other resources, if such activity is carried on in a manner compatible with the preservation of the wilderness environment. https://wilderness.net/NWPS/documents/publiclaws/88-577.pdf Have a good day, Chet

Looking at maps I found the location where my 2 dwt nugget was found. There are two Marble Canyons; the correct one is about 20 miles SE of Big Pine. If you look on Google Earth at N 37.091604, -117.964783 you will find a cabin and old mining junk. This is where I found the nugget before it was 1 mile inside the Park Boundary. Looking at Land Matters there is only one active 20 acre claim that is just west of the Park Boundary that is in the same drainage. There are a lot of inactive claims in this area that are west of the Park Boundary. Maybe there is an area here that is worth claiming. Have a good day, Chet

Bill It was east of the road. It was an underground ancient river that the miners had tunneled through with vertical shafts where they had lifted the sand and gravel to the surface for processing. There were tailing piles at each vertical shaft. I only had time to rake and detect one of the piles so there was great possibilities for the other ones. Chet

Hi Bill I found my first California nugget near you in Marble Canyon. It was a 2 dwt found raking layers off a tailing pile using a Whites DI 6000 coin detector. That was in 1980, after I got my GPZ 7000 I intended to go there again but found that Death Valley had extended the park boundaries to incorporate that area. Good luck and have a good day, Chet

Norm Sounds like my GPZ 7000 will not give me any advantage over you and Fred’s machines. Thank you, Chet

Hi Rich The Alamo claims are pretty close the border. Many years ago my son and I were hiking a trail south of Ruby. We met a ranger that was carrying a lever action 30-30. I ask him why he was carrying the rifle. He said that the trail was used by dope runners. In the conversation he stated when he came across them they would see his riffle, drop their packs and run back to the border. He also stated that if he ever saw that they were armed he would be running away. He said they didn’t pay him enough to get into a shootout. We followed him back to our car. Have a good day, Chet

Hi Rich Thank you for the reply. Do you have the names of the claims? Chet

Hi Norm I located the WSPA claims by searching on the Diggings website. I might give them a try sometime. What detectors were you and Fred using? Is there a list of WSPA claims somewhere, current or closed? Thank you, Chet

Hi Bill, Denny I see where some new members have " Paid Member " status in their profile. Can you upgrade my status from " Public to Paid "? Thank you, Chet

Bill The BLM doesn’t have anything special for clubs. The club name must be a legal name. If you keep the number of claims below 10 the club can qualify as a small miner and wave the $165 annual fee for each claim. A form 3830-2 form must be filled out each year for each claim stating that at least $100 of work was performed. Example; ten hours of road improvement at $10 per hour. I found this information at; https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/mining-and-minerals/locatable-materials/annual-maintenance Maintenance Fee Payment Waiver Certification (Small Miner’s Waiver) If a claimant owns 10 or fewer active claims/sites on Federal land nationwide, the claimant may qualify for a maintenance fee payment waiver also known as the small miner’s waiver. Form 3830-2 must be used when filing a small miner’s waiver request and must be filed or postmarked (if mailed) on or before September 1 every year. There is no processing fee to file a waiver. By filing a waiver, claimants are certifying that they and all related parties own 10 or fewer claims and sites nationwide and that assessment work (see requirements below) has been or will be performed, and that the proper affidavits of assessment or annual labor will be timely filed. The maintenance fee and small miner’s waiver must be paid or filed in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) state office (in Alaska, the Fairbanks District Office also accepts fee payment) of the state where the claim or site is located. If a claimant owns claims or sites in multiple states, a fee or waiver must be paid or filed in each state where each claim or site is located. Failure to timely pay the fee or file the waiver in the proper BLM office will subject your claims or sites to forfeiture by operation of law. Annual Assessment Work Claimants requesting a small miner’s waiver from paying the annual maintenance fee, must perform assessment work and spend a minimum of $100 in labor or improvements on each claim, and record evidence of such with the BLM on or before December 30 of the calendar year in which the assessment year ended. The same document that the claimant records with the county must be filed with the BLM. The BLM processing fee is $15 per claim for recording an affidavit of annual assessment. The assessment work must be performed within the period defined as the assessment year. Assessment work includes, but is not limited to, drilling, excavations, driving shafts and tunnels, sampling (geochemical or bulk), road construction on or for the benefit of the mining claim; and geological, geochemical, and geophysical surveys. Optional Form 3830-4 may be used for affidavits of assessment filed with the BLM. Have a good day, Chet

Hi Bill No problem. Have a good day, Chet

Denny Thank you, Chet

Denny Thank you, I hope you are doing well. Chet

The Home symbol is very dim and does nothing when I click on it. I signed out and signed back in and it still does not work. Maybe the site is not recognizing me for some reason? Any other ideas for me to try? Thank you, Chet

Hi Martin I am confused, when I joined at Bills outing I thought this was the members site. Where is the members site? Thank you, Chet

Hi Bill I received this email. " WELCOME TO THE WSPA Hi Chet, We have posted Our new proposed constitution pinned on the business forum .This will be here for 2 weeks After that We will have a for a vote it on the members forum. " How do I get access to the Business Form to review this document? Thank you, Chet