mining claims
Prospector's legal territory
A mining claim is a legal right to extract minerals from a specific tract of public land.
In the American West, prospectors stake claims by marking boundaries and filing with the appropriate government office.
Claims don't convey land ownership—only the right to mine what's beneath the surface.
He filed a mining claim on forty acres near the creek.
The phrase sometimes extends figuratively to any territory someone marks as theirs: Each department head has staked out mining claims on the budget.
- land surveysBoundary and elevation measurements
- mineral rightsClaim to underground resources
- pay dirtValuable ore deposit
- grubstakeFunds advanced for prospecting
- public landState-owned accessible terrain
prospecting · gold rush · royalties · ore · panning · boomtowns · boom and bust · gold fever · private land · placer · shaft · assay · pickaxe · tunnel · abandoned mine · pan · gold · nugget
- AlaskaFairbanks, Juneau, Denali, Sitka, Kodiak
- mininggold, mines, gold mines, mine, coal
- Gold RushCalifornia Gold Rush, gold miners, gold flakes, gold nuggets, gold pan
- US Miningcoal miner, prospector, prospecting, mine shaft, open pit
- Canadian FrontierBritish Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon
- colonial recordsland records, colonial maps, military records, land deeds, property deeds
mining claimsprotected areas
Zones with legal conservation status
nature preserves · wildlife refuges · forest reserves · marine sanctuaries · heritage sites