US Mining Claims: 559,056 Active Federal Claims
Every active (not-closed) mining claim on federal land, from BLM records synced weekly. Lode claims cover hard-rock minerals; placer claims cover loose deposits — the pannable gold ground. Anyone can stake a claim on open federal land, and knowing where existing claims sit is the difference between collecting legally and taking someone else's minerals.
What is a mining claim?
A mining claim is a legal right, filed with the BLM, to the valuable minerals on a piece of public land. An active claim doesn't close the land — you can usually still hike and explore — but collecting the claimed mineral is taking someone else's property.
Claims are staked, sold, and dropped constantly. Records here sync weekly from BLM MLRS; the official record for any serial number lives at mlrs.blm.gov.