VALAR WATCH
Key findingsTheir claims, annotatedEvidenceTake action
374 facts · 512 sources · updated 2026-09-30

Fact mine-001

newrecordconfirmed BLM's public mining-claim map shows claim names, serial numbers and status, but not who staked them or when
undated · mine-001 · Bureau of Land Management, MLRS

BLM publishes its Mineral & Land Records System (MLRS) mining claims as two public ArcGIS layers on gis.blm.gov: 'Mining Claims - Not Closed' and 'Mining Claims - Closed' (read 2026-09-29, no key needed; gis.blm.gov has no robots.txt). Their fields are case name, serial number (e.g. UT106782094), legacy serial, claim type (lode, placer, mill site), disposition (Filed, Active, Under Review, Draft, Closed), acres, a Public Land Survey legal description, and record Created/Modified timestamps. They carry no claimant (owner) name, no location date and no county field. The closed layer holds only claims closed or modified within the last year. BLM's own layer description says claims are usually mapped only to the quarter section, and that the staked boundaries are in the Notice/Certificate of Location in the official case file. By contrast, BLM's public layers for mining notices, plans of operations, rights-of-way and leases do carry a 'Business Account Name' (the customer), which is how Valar's rights-of-way applications were found (mine-006).

In plain termsThe federal claim map tells you that a claim exists, its name and number, its type and roughly where it is (to about a 160-acre square). It does not tell you who owns it. To learn that, you look up the serial number in BLM's records (see mine-031) or read the notice nailed to the claim post. The 'Created' date appears to be when the record entered BLM's system (claims carried over from BLM's old system show the 2021 changeover date instead). Because a new claim must be filed with BLM within 90 days of staking (mine-025), it is a close stand-in for when a new claim was staked.
verified 2026-09-29: Re-read 2026-09-29: layer metadata re-fetched from gis.blm.gov; field list and the Closed layer's description match, quote exact (15 words).

In tabs: mining, carbon_site, process · file mining