BLM Maintenance Fee Debate

One question that comes up often is whether one should pay the annual maintenance fee of $155 each year or file a small miner's waiver to save their hard-earned money.

Common sense says, save your money and file a waiver!

Being on our end of things, we can attest that many good people have lost their claims by attempting this option.

The issue is that this is a three part process that has two separate deadlines to adhere to.

Form 3830-2 is the Maintenance Waiver Certification that needs to be filed no later than September 1st each year, there is no fee for this form. Then, by December 30th an Affidavit of Assessment (proof of labor/work) is required with a fee of $15 per claim.

The affidavit must also be recorded by the County Recorder where the claim is located at a fee of $15 per claim.

We recommend to file a waiver this way for a one and done experience:

By September 1st file both the Waiver and Affidavit with the fee of $15 per claim with the BLM and send it to the County for recording with their fee of $15 per claim at the same time!