Mining claims on federal land saw a small increase over the month of July 2016. While 173 claims were staked and only 95 claims were abandoned, this is still significantly fewer than claims staked and closed in July 2015. Interestingly, in July of 2015, though 310 claims were staked, it marked a decrease in mining claims due to the 322 claims that were closed. This is consistent with an annual cycle in mining claim activity: new mining claims spike in the beginning of each year and the number of claims abandoned spikes in the lead up to September when the annual fee is due. Last year, this abandonment trend had already overtaken the claiming trend by July 2015 but not in July 2016.
Nationwide Trends
In July 2016, 173 claims were staked on public land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for mining purposes. This is compared to 483 staked in July 2015—a month-over-month decrease of 310 claims. July’s trends contribute to an annual net decrease of 17,570 active claims between 2016 (360,523 active claims) and 2015 (378,093 active claims). 6,433 acres were acquired with these 173 staked claims. That is a decrease of 3,741.82 acres in contrast to the 10,175 acres claimed in July 2015.
While 173 mining claims were staked through the BLM in July, 95 claims were abandoned over the same month. This is a decrease of 322 claims as opposed to July 2015 when there were 417 abandoned claims. 1,944 acres were released with these 95 closed claims. This is 6,072.93 fewer acres released in July compared to the 8,017 released in the same month in 2015.
July 2016 | July 2015 | Net | Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Active Claims | 360,523 | 378,093 | 17,570 | 4.65% |
Staked Claims | 173 | 483 | 310 | 64.18% |
Staked Acres | 6,433 | 10,175 | 3,741.82 | 36.77% |
Abandoned Claims | 95 | 417 | 322 | 77.22% |
Abandoned Acres | 1,944 | 8,017 | 6,072.93 | 75.75% |
State Trends
Nevada, Arizona, and Wyoming are the three most active states when ranked by total active mining claims on public land overseen by the BLM. Nevada is the most active state with 178,409 active claims, accounting for 49.49% of the overall mining claims in the United States. This is 135,087 more claims than Arizona, the second most active state, which hosts 43,322 mining claims and accounts for 12.02% of the overall mining claims in the United States. Wyoming has 6,642 fewer claim than Arizona, making it the third most active state, with 36,680 mining claims—12.02% of the active mining claims overseen by the BLM.
State | July 2016 (Active Claims) |
July 2015 (Active Claims) |
Net | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nevada | 178,409 | 185,197 | 6,788 | 3.67% |
Arizona | 43,322 | 42,882 | 440 | 1.03% |
Wyoming | 36,680 | 38,793 | 2,113 | 5.45% |
California | 22,067 | 23,179 | 1,112 | 4.8% |
Utah | 18,745 | 20,181 | 1,436 | 7.12% |
Staked Claims In July
California, Arizona, and Washington gained the greatest number of mining claims staked on public land over July 2016. California experienced the most significant growth, with 81 claims staked—a decrease of 18 compared to July 2015. This is 19 more claims than Arizona, which gained 62 mining claims in July—37 more than July last year. Washington has 50 fewer staked claims than Arizona, with a total of 12 staked claims—compared to 8 in July 2016.
State | July 2016 (Staked Claims) |
July 2015 (Staked Claims) |
Net | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
California | 81 | 99 | 18 | 18.18% |
Arizona | 62 | 25 | 37 | 148% |
Washington | 12 | 8 | 4 | 50% |
Utah | 8 | 11 | 3 | 27.27% |
Colorado | 6 | 21 | 15 | 71.43% |
Abandoned Claims In July
Arizona, Nevada, and Idaho had the most abandoned BLM mining claims over the course of July 2016. Arizona is distinguished by its 63 abandoned claims, the most closed that month and 40 less than July 2016. This is 43 more claims than Nevada, which lost 20 mining claims—a decrease of 116 claims from last July. Idaho jettisoned 14 fewer claims than Nevada. The 6 mining claims abandoned in Idaho are 15 fewer than July last year.
State | July 2016 (Abandoned Claims) |
July 2015 (Abandoned Claims) |
Net | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arizona | 63 | 103 | 40 | 38.83% |
Nevada | 20 | 136 | 116 | 85.29% |
Idaho | 6 | 21 | 15 | 71.43% |
Oregon | 3 | 2 | 1 | 50% |
Washington | 1 | 0 | 1 |
County Trends
Elko, Eureka, and Lander counties are the three most active mining counties on public land overseen by the BLM. Elko County, Nevada is the most active with 28,698 active claims. The county accounts for 7.96% of the overall mining claims in the United States. This is 6,402 more claims than Eureka County, Nevada which hosts 22,296 mining claims and accounts for 6.18% of the overall mining claims in the United States. Lander County, Nevada has 1,579 fewer claims than Eureka, with 20,717 mining claims—6.18% of the active mining claims overseen by the BLM.
County | July 2016 (Active Claims) |
July 2015 (Active Claims) |
Net | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
Elko, Nevada | 28,698 | 30,936 | 2,238 | 7.23% |
Eureka, Nevada | 22,296 | 26,582 | 4,286 | 16.12% |
Lander, Nevada | 20,717 | 21,899 | 1,182 | 5.4% |
Humboldt, Nevada | 19,891 | 20,819 | 928 | 4.46% |
Nye, Nevada | 19,036 | 17,778 | 1,258 | 7.08% |
Staked Claims In July
San Bernardino, Yavapai, and Gila counties gained the greatest number of mining claims staked on public land over July 2016. San Bernardino County, California experienced the most significant growth, with 56 claims staked—a 18 increase compared to July 2015. This is 21 more claims than Yavapai County, Arizona which gained 35 mining claims in July—14 more than July last year. Gila County, Arizona has 11 fewer staked claims than Yavapai, with 24 staked claims—compared to 0 in July 2016.
County | July 2016 (Staked Claims) |
July 2015 (Staked Claims) |
Net | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
San Bernardino, California | 56 | 38 | 18 | 47.37% |
Yavapai, Arizona | 35 | 21 | 14 | 66.67% |
Gila, Arizona | 24 | 0 | 24 | |
Chelan, Washington | 10 | 0 | 10 | |
Tooele, Utah | 8 | 0 | 8 |
Abandoned Claims In July
Santa Cruz, Esmeralda, and La Paz counties had the most abandoned BLM mining claims over the course of July 2016. Santa Cruz County, Arizona is distinguished by its 50 abandoned claims, the most closed that month and 49 more than July 2015. This is 35 more claims than Esmeralda County, Nevada, which lost 15 mining claims—an increase of 15 claims from last July. La Paz County, Arizona jettisoned 5 fewer claims than Esmeralda. The 10 mining claims abandoned in La Paz County are 9 more than July last year.
County | July 2016 (Abandoned Claims) |
July 2015 (Abandoned Claims) |
Net | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
Santa Cruz, Arizona | 50 | 1 | 49 | 4,900% |
Esmeralda, Nevada | 15 | 0 | 15 | |
La Paz, Arizona | 10 | 1 | 9 | 900% |
Lander, Nevada | 4 | 91 | 87 | 95.6% |
Boise, Idaho | 3 | 7 | 4 | 57.14% |
View Individual State Trends Reports
While this report focuses on those states and counties with the greatest amount of active claims or significant change in activity on public land, this is hardly to neglect the extensive activity occurring elsewhere. For more locally focused reports, complete with graphs and time series tables, visit any of our listed states below or search for a particular county’s trend report on The Diggings™.
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*These reports are summarizing mining claims on public land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management and do not encompass sales or transfers occurring on private land.