CHAPTER 9 PROCEDURES FOR PROCESSING MINERAL PATENT APPLICATIONS

• Jurisdiction: United States

Mineral Patenting Procedures
(Feb 1975)
CHAPTER 9
PROCEDURES FOR PROCESSING MINERAL PATENT APPLICATIONS
Jesse H. Johnson Supervisory Land Law Examiner
Bureau of Land Management
Sacramento, California

In the bible for mineral patent attorneys, Linley¹ on Mines, published in 1897, is found the following statement:

"The Land Department is never disposed to be extremely technical and is quite liberal in overlooking minor defects where good faith is apparent. Yet it is a tribunal of great dignity, and the proceeding by which its jurisdiction is invoked should be conducted fairly on the line of a proceeding in rem in courts of common law of equity jurisdiction.

"The claimant has no right to initiate his proceedings to obtain ultimate title to his mining claim by presenting a mere request for patent placing the burden upon the department of examining a number of auxiliary papers for the purpose of ascertaining the origin and equities and facts upon which he asserts his rights for conveyance from the government."

Whether in your minds the Department should be accorded the great dignity Mr. Linley attributes to it, is not the point of the quotation. It is quoted to give a brief glimpse of how a mineral patent proceeding has been viewed historically. The second part of the quotation may lead also to the conclusion on the part of some that the application must be anything but brief. This may account for the fact that when some applications are filed, the application narrative, not counting the supporting papers,

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often contains 15 to 20 pages of typewritten material. The recitation of facts is stated in such lucidly vague language that it is often necessary to write to the applicant and ask for a simple statement indicating what mineral, if any, has been discovered and precisely where within the limits of the claim was the discovery made.

If this statement, together with that which follows in Mr. Linley's presentation, is examined carefully, it will be found that brevity in the presentation of the pertinent facts is what he had in mind. As a matter of interest, a comparison of the specific facts he suggested should be covered in the application when compared to the present regulatory requirement indicates that there is little, if any difference, in the requirements of his day and those of today. The regulations of today even caution with respect to recitation of facts that such statement is to "narrate briefly, but as clearly as possible, the facts containing such compliance, the origin of his possession, and the basis of his claim to a patent,...the kind and character of the vein or lode...whether ore has been extracted...in what amount and of what value. It should show the precise place within the limits of each of the locations embraced in the application where the vein or lode has been exposed or discovered and...contain sufficient data to enable representatives of the government to confirm the same by examination in the field...to determine whether

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a valuable deposit actually exists within the limits of each of the locations embraced in the application."²

No special form is provided by the government for use in filing for mineral patent. Neither is the application required to be in any particular form. The regulation contemplates that an application or request for patent will consist of a narrative statement of facts, showing a right to patent by virtue of compliance with the mining law and the regulations. It contemplates also that this narrative be supported by two copies of the survey and field notes where pertinent and certain proofs in the form of affidavits by two or more disinterested persons of credibility who are cognizant of and can witness to the facts and testify understandably in the matter. In addition to these proofs, either a certificate of title or an abstract of title for each claim accompanied by certified copies of the original and amended notices of...