California Gold Mining Claims: 9 Steps to Stake and Hold

To stake a claim in California you find federal land that is open to mineral entry, make a discovery of gold, mark the corners with monuments, post a location notice, record a copy with the county recorder within 90 days, and file with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) California State Office inside the same 90 days. A new lode claim, or a placer of up to 20 acres, costs $274 in BLM fees for its first year ($25 processing, $49 location, $200 maintenance), plus a county recording fee. After that you pay $200 per claim by 1 September each year or file a small-miner waiver (BLM California State Office, 2027 mining packet).

Gold claims in California sit on top of three layers of rules: the federal Mining Law of 1872, BLM or Forest Service surface rules, and state law on recording, reclamation and streams. This guide walks through the claim types, the steps, every fee with its official 2025-26 source, and the California rules that decide whether you can actually dig. If you only want to know what a claim does and does not give you, start with our short guide to what a gold claim is.

Lode or placer: which California gold claim fits your ground

A lode claim covers gold in solid rock, such as quartz veins. A placer claim covers loose gold in gravel, sand or old river channels. The choice follows the geology, not your preference. Federal law lets a lode claim run up to 1,500 feet along the vein and 300 feet on each side of its centre line, and it requires a discovery of the vein inside the claim before you locate it (30 U.S.C. 23). California repeats the same 1,500 by 300 foot limit in its own code (Public Resources Code 3901).

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Maximum size of each claim type

Acres; a lode claim is 1,500 ft by 600 ft

A placer claim is capped at 20 acres for each individual claimant, and a group of eight or more locators can hold up to 160 acres (30 U.S.C. 35, 30 U.S.C. 36). A mill site is a separate claim for processing and support, limited to five acres of land that carries no valuable mineral (Public Resources Code 3910). A tunnel site is a right-of-way for a tunnel under federal land that is open to entry, and it can be up to 3,000 feet long (BLM, mining claims).

Rule of thumb: stream gravel and benches are placer ground, and a quartz outcrop with a vein is lode ground. If both are present, you may need one claim of each type, and each pays its own fees.

Where you can stake a gold claim in California

You can only stake claims on federal land that is open to mineral entry. Private land needs a lease or a purchase from the owner of the mineral rights, and state parks are state land, not federal land, so a federal mining claim cannot be staked there. The BLM manages about 15.2 million acres of public land in California and the subsurface mineral estate under 47 million acres, but not all of it is open (BLM California State Office, 2027 packet). National parks, national monuments, designated wilderness, most wildlife refuges and other withdrawn lands are closed to new claims (BLM, mining claims brochure). Only US citizens, people who have declared their intention to become citizens, and corporations organized under a US state’s law can locate claims (30 U.S.C. 22; BLM brochure).

National Forest ground is often open, but the Forest Service wants a notice of intent to operate from anyone whose work might cause significant disturbance of surface resources (36 CFR 228.4). A USGS table built from 1999 federal land statistics put about 45% of California in federal ownership (USGS, Mineral Commodity Profiles: Gold). Much of that is closed or restricted, so check current land status on the map.

Reading a California gold claims map

The official source for existing claims is BLM’s Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS research map). It shows claim cases only to the quarter section, so you cannot read exact corners off it; the staked corners are in the notice recorded at the county (Western Mining History, researching claims with MLRS). Use the map to see whether a section already carries claims, then pull the county record for the exact ground. Our step-by-step lookup guide, with claim counts for the state, is in BLM mining claims map for California.

▶ Uses a Washington example to show that a gold claim is not title to the land; the federal rule is the same in California. · 3:19

How to stake a gold claim in California: 9 steps

1. Check land status. Search MLRS for existing claims and the BLM or Forest Service land map for withdrawals. Ask the local field office if the status is unclear.
2. Find a discovery. For a lode claim the statute asks for a discovery of the vein within the claim before you locate it; for a placer, gold in the gravel. Take samples and keep notes with the date and GPS point.
3. Pick the claim type and size. Lode up to 1,500 by 600 feet; placer up to 20 acres per person. Use legal subdivisions if the land is surveyed.
4. Build the discovery monument and post the notice. California requires a conspicuous, substantial monument at the discovery point with a notice of location in or on it. A monument is a wooden post, a capped metal post or a stone mound that stands at least two feet above the ground (Public Resources Code 3915). The notice shows the claim name, the locator’s name and address, the date of location, the length or acreage claimed and a description tied to a natural object or permanent marker (Public Resources Code 3900 for lode claims, 3902 for placers). The date you post it is your date of location.
5. Monument the corners. For a lode claim, set a monument at each corner within 60 days of the location date, marked with the corner and the claim name (Public Resources Code 3901).
6. Draw a map. BLM requires a map of the claim boundaries with the filing, and the county form asks for the quarter-sections, section, township, range and meridian.
7. Record at the county. File a true copy of the notice, with a statement of how the boundaries are marked, at the county recorder within 90 days of posting (Public Resources Code 3911).
8. File with BLM. Send the recorded notice, map and fees to the BLM California State Office in Sacramento within 90 days of location (BLM, recording a mining claim). Failing to record on time can make the claim count as abandoned.
9. Hold it every year. Pay the maintenance fee or file the waiver with BLM by 1 September. California also asks you to record an affidavit of that payment or work with the county recorder within 30 days after the federal deadline (Public Resources Code 3913). Keep the receipts.

Put your own name and the claim name on every monument, and photograph each one with its GPS position. If a rival locator disputes your ground later, dated photos and the recorded notice are your best evidence.

How to file a mining claim in California: county and BLM deadlines

Two offices need the paperwork, and the clocks run side by side. California’s 90-day county rule comes from state law, and the 90-day BLM rule comes from section 314 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The BLM California State Office is at 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento; payments can also be made online through MLRS (BLM California State Office, 2027 packet).

The BLM packet sets the next dates for existing claimants: the 2027 assessment-year fees were due by 1 September 2026, and anyone who filed a waiver must still file the 2026 affidavit of assessment work by 30 December 2026. The next maintenance fee is due by 1 September 2027. When 1 September falls on a weekend or holiday the deadline moves, as it did in 2025, when it was 2 September (BLM California State Office, 2026 packet). There are no extensions, and a claim whose fee is not paid or waived on time is forfeited by operation of law.

California gold claim fees: what you pay to file and hold

The old figures on many websites are out of date. For the 2022 and 2024 assessment years BLM California charged $165 for maintenance, $40 for location and $20 for processing, a $225 first-year total. From the 2025 assessment year the numbers rose to $200, $49 and $25, a $274 total, and the 2026 and 2027 packets show the same (BLM California State Office, 2022 packet; 2024 packet; 2025 packet).

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First-year BLM fees for a new lode claim

US$ per claim, BLM California State Office packets

These amounts come from the BLM fee page, the 2027 California packet and the county’s own form. County fees differ, and the Sierra County lode-notice form lists the $15, $3 and $75 charges as its recording fees (Sierra County lode notice form). Ask your recorder for today’s schedule before you mail anything. A placer of 70 acres pays $800 a year, because each 20 acres or part of 20 acres is charged $200. BLM also notes that a claim located before 1 September but filed after it can be charged for two assessment years unless a valid waiver is filed.

The small-miner waiver is a real saving only if you do the work. You must own 10 or fewer claims nationwide, with all related parties counted, and perform $100 of assessment work on each claim (BLM California State Office, 2027 packet). The cost to the claimant is the work itself plus $15 per claim for the affidavit.

Use the calculator for your own claims

The calculator below adds BLM and county filing costs for a set of claims over the number of years you plan to hold them. It does not include survey costs, legal fees or the value of the work needed for the waiver.

California rules that apply on top of the claim

A valid claim gives you a right to the minerals, not permission to do anything you like on the surface. Four layers of rules apply to most gold claims in the state.

BLM surface rules: casual use, notice and plan

BLM sorts work into three levels. Casual use causes no or negligible disturbance and needs no notification; it covers hand panning, hand tools and metal detectors, and it excludes mechanized earth-moving equipment, explosives and chemicals (43 CFR 3809.5). If you disturb 5 acres or less with exploration work, you submit a notice 15 calendar days before you start. You may not split a project into a series of notices to avoid a plan of operations (43 CFR 3809.21). Anything above casual use that is not a notice-level exploration job needs a plan of operations approved by BLM, and so does any work above casual use in special status areas such as the California Desert Conservation Area’s controlled or limited use zones, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and BLM national monuments (43 CFR 3809.11).

Suction dredging is banned

Federal casual-use rules mention small portable dredges, but in California streams the state ban applies. The Department of Fish and Wildlife says suction dredging is prohibited and unlawful throughout the state, it may not issue permits, and violations are a criminal misdemeanor (CDFW, suction dredge permits). The ban covers mechanized or motorized systems that remove material from a river, stream or lake bed to recover minerals. Our guide to gold panning laws in California explains what hand panning allows on each land type. Never use mercury to recover gold.

Streams, water and habitat

Work that changes a streambed or bank can need a Lake or Streambed Alteration notification to CDFW, and the department updated its fee schedule from 1 January 2026 by 2.53% (CDFW, LSA fees). Discharges of sediment or waste can also fall under the State and Regional Water Boards. Ask the board that covers your county before moving gravel near water.

SMARA and reclamation

The Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) requires reclamation of surface mining operations. It exempts prospecting or extraction for commercial purposes only when the material removed totals under 1,000 cubic yards in any one location and the disturbed area is under one acre (Public Resources Code 2714). Above that, your county or city acts as the lead agency and approves a reclamation plan, and the operation pays an annual reporting fee to the Department of Conservation. The statute sets that fee between $100 and $10,000 per operation, adjusted for inflation, and adds $5 per ounce of gold mined in the state for a fund that cleans up abandoned mines (Public Resources Code 2207). The board sets the schedule by regulation, so ask the department which tier your operation falls in. Larger projects can also need review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

▶ The seven environmental impacts of mining, explained in claymation with satellite maps. · 2:31

Where California’s gold is, and what it produced

Gold was found at Sutter’s sawmill on 24 January 1848. The state’s non-Native population grew from about 14,000 then to roughly 250,000 by 1852 (California State Parks, Gold Rush overview). The Mother Lode of the central Sierra Nevada foothills and the Klamath Mountains in the north-west produced most of the early gold, and Empire Mine kept running until 1956 according to the same page. Later strikes opened districts such as Bodie and, in Southern California, Red Rock Canyon.

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Gold mined in the United States through 2001

Metric tons, leading states

The USGS counted about 3,670 metric tons of gold mined in California through 2001, which is 25% of the US total and second only to Nevada at 3,700 tons (USGS, Mineral Commodity Profiles: Gold). That is roughly 118 million troy ounces by our conversion. Two of the ten largest US gold deposits by production through 1996 are in California: Empire-North Star at 196 tons and Hammonton at 160 tons.

Today most US gold comes from Nevada. In 2025 Nevada made about 64% of US mine output and Alaska about 22% (USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). California claim owners are mostly small placer and lode holders, plus explorers working old districts. For a state-by-state look at where gold is produced now, see our ranking of active gold mines in the USA.

Buying or leasing an existing California gold claim

Many people reach this topic by looking for claims for sale. Before you pay anyone, check four things. First, pull the claim record in MLRS and confirm that its status is active and the maintenance fee is paid up to date. Second, get the recorded notice from the county to see the real corners. Third, walk the ground and look for the discovery monument, because a claim without a valid discovery can be challenged. Fourth, check that the land is still open and has not been withdrawn since the claim was staked. Our listing guide to gold claims for sale in California covers sellers and marketplaces.

A sale of a claim needs a legal deed, for example a quitclaim deed, filed with both the county and the BLM; the BLM charges $15 per claim for each transferee (BLM, recording a mining claim). The deed does not make the buyer the owner of the land. A claim is a right to the minerals under the Mining Law, not title to the surface.

Screening ground before you stake

Staking costs little compared with sampling and drilling, so the larger risk is spending field time on ground that has no chance. Satellite imagery cannot see gold. It can map iron staining, clay alteration and fault patterns that often sit around gold systems, and that helps rank which creeks or ridges deserve a walk-over. Farmonaut’s satellite-based mineral detection takes a KML, KMZ or polygon of your area and returns target zones in 5 to 20 business days, as an exploration target and not a resource estimate. Read more at satellite-based mineral detection, or send your boundary through the mining quote form or contact us.

▶ Why excellent rock can still be unmineable when land access blocks it. · 2:05

Mistakes that cost claimants their claims

• Missing 1 September. Unpaid and unwaived claims are forfeited by law, with no extensions.
• Staking closed ground. A claim on withdrawn land has no standing, whatever you paid in fees.
• Locating without a discovery. The statute requires one before a lode location, and a weak discovery is the first thing a challenger attacks.
• Skipping the lode notice or corner monuments. California makes a lode location void, or voidable if the fault can be cured with an amended notice, when the notice posting or the 60-day corner monuments are missed (Public Resources Code 3905).
• Recording late. A claim not recorded with BLM within 90 days of location may be treated as abandoned (BLM, recording a mining claim). Skipping the yearly county affidavit raises a legal presumption that you abandoned the claim (Public Resources Code 3913).
• Suction dredging. A single dredge on a stream can bring a misdemeanor charge.
• Using old fees. The $165 maintenance fee on older pages is no longer the figure BLM California quotes.

Thinking of selling your claims later? Read how to sell a mine or mining claims for valuation and deal structures.

To see which mines are active in California and other states, use the US mining map.

Frequently asked questions

How do I stake a claim in California?

Locate federal land that is open to mineral entry, find a discovery, build a discovery monument with a posted notice, monument the corners, then record the notice at the county within 90 days and with the BLM California State Office within 90 days. The first year costs $274 per claim in BLM fees plus county recording.

How do I file a mining claim in California?

You file twice. The county recorder gets a true copy of the notice and a statement about how the boundaries are marked. BLM gets the recorded notice, a map and the processing, location and first-year maintenance fees. Both are due within 90 days.

How much does a gold mining claim cost in California?

BLM charges $25 processing, $49 location and $200 maintenance for a new lode claim ($274). A placer pays $200 maintenance for each 20 acres. The county adds a recording fee, which on Sierra County’s form is $15 plus $3 per extra page plus the $75 SB 2 state housing fee.

How big is a gold claim in California?

A lode claim is up to 1,500 feet long and 600 feet wide. A placer claim is up to 20 acres per person, or up to 160 acres for a group. A mill site is up to five acres.

Can I stake a claim on private land?

Generally no. Mining claims are located on federal land that is open to mineral entry. On private land you need the mineral owner’s lease or purchase, and you still need county and state permits for any real work.

Is there a map of gold claims in California?

Yes. BLM’s MLRS research map shows claim cases to the quarter section, and the county record holds the exact corners. See our California claims map guide for how to read it.

Can I pan for gold on my claim?

Hand panning is casual use on federal land and needs no BLM notice, but check the rules for your land type. Suction dredging and other motorized stream mining are banned statewide, so a claim does not change that.

What happens if I miss the 1 September deadline?

The claim is forfeited by operation of law unless you paid the maintenance fee or filed a valid waiver in time. BLM states there are no extensions.

Can a foreign citizen own a US mining claim?

Usually no. BLM says only US citizens, people who have declared their intention to become citizens, and corporations organized under US state law may hold a mining claim, and non-citizens may not own or have an interest in one. Ask a lawyer how a US company would hold the claim.

Does a claim mean I own the land?

No. A claim is a right to the minerals under the General Mining Law. The surface stays public land, and the government can regulate what you do on it.

Do I need a SMARA reclamation plan for a small claim?

Not if you stay under both thresholds: less than 1,000 cubic yards of material in one location and less than one acre disturbed. Above that, your county or city will ask for a reclamation plan and financial assurance.