The Business of Mining

Claim Staking
Without a secure and fair system of land tenure there can be no healthy mining industry.

A system where individuals determine the ownership of a carload of ore by trading gunfire until one or the other gives up is sufficiently effective, but dangerous to the public peace. Systems under which the law determines the ownership of mineral rights are much better.

The first preocupation of any successful minefinder is to be assured of the benefits from his efforts. Mineral laws give the prospector the feasibility to do just that.

Even though these laws change and are different from one country to the next, many of the same principles apply. In the majority of countries, the intent and spirit of the law is:

• to secure the exclusive right for persons and companies to pursue development of a mineral discovery;
• to protect the public interest;
• to uphold exploration and prevent owners from tying up ground without exploring
• it - to use it or lose it;

to provide the means whereby disputes may be reached quickly and at minimum expense.

There are two widespread systems. Claim staking is a system that permits a prospector – whether it is an individual or a company – to establish a right to mine in a specified area. It is the typical way of establishing mining rights in countries with legal systems deriving from the English common law. In some places it is done by placing physical monuments or marks on the land itself, and then reporting the act of staking to the government.

Other jurisdictions permit "map staking," where the prospector just applies for the right to mine an area without physically staking the ground in itself. In either case, the prospector gets the right to the mineral resources of the land only if he is the first person to apply for them.