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How to use your Land Matters Claims Advantage Reports


Getting Around your Claims Advantage Report

Each State's Claims Advantage Report can be accessed from the menu at the top of the page. In addition to the twice monthly Claims Advantage reports available from the menu there is a Heat Map page and this How To page.

Each Claims Advantage report page has the same menu. The page you are currently viewing is highlighted in yellow. Any page can be reached from any other page by clicking on the desired report on the menu.




Using the Claims Advantage Report Tables

The tables for each report show all the claims case files whose status was changed to CLOSED in the BLM records database in the most recent bimonthly report period.

Each Row shows the BLM Claim Report for a single CLOSED claim. Shown for each CLOSED Claim are the State, County, Claim Number, Claim Name, Date the Claim was Closed, Year the Claim was Located, Number of years the Claim was ACTIVE,Size of the Claim in Acres,Meridian, Township, Range and Section of the Claim Location, the Type of Claim (Placer or Lode) and the U.S. agency in charge of Surface Management where the Claim was Located.

You can sort the display columns individually in ascending or decending order. Click on the column title block at the top of the claims table. Clicking a second time reverses the sort order.

This sorting feature can be used to view each county's information grouped together as shown in the example below. Or uou might want to see the claims located in the same year displayed together by clicking on the "Year Located" column title. Experiment with sorting the tables to meet your needs.

 

The CLAIM NUMBER column has an internet link to the current BLM LR2000 individual Serial Register Page report for each CLOSED claim. These reports show all the case actions in the history of the Claim. Often these reports contain several pages of information. Only the first page is shown when the Serial Register Page is loaded. To download and view all the pages of the report click on the PDF symbol at the top of the Serial Register Page.

 

Placer Claims and Lode Claims are in separate tables on the same page in your Claims Advantage Report. The Lode Claims are always found below the Placer Claim Table and they have their own column headers. The Closed Lode Claims Report Table includes Closed Millsites and Tunnel Sites.




What is a Heat Map?

The two Heat Maps presented on your Map page are a visual representation of the report period activity across the western states. The darker the color the higher the number of claims CLOSED per section. The larger the circle the more sections are affected in a particular area.

The Heat Maps don't show actual numbers and are only relative to the report period. The smaller lines are showing County boundaries to help you see where the changes are located.




How often will I get my Claims Advantage Reports?

Twice Monthly on the 1st and the 15th the BLM generates a new updated database for Land Matters to download from the BLM's secure server in Denver. Once those reports become available to Land Matters* we begin the process of cleaning the database data and splitting it into tables that can be parsed for comparison against the last update. After that we assemble your new Claims Advantage Report and email it to your registered membership email address.

* The BLM database updates are usually available to the Land Matters BLM server account within 24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends.




How current is this information?

The information presented by Land Matters in your Claims Advantage Report is updated twice monthly. It is the most current information available from the BLM. *

* BLM Claims information may be days or months out of sync with their actual case files. The actual currency of the information depends on which State office is reporting, the reason for the claim case file closure and the time of year.




How reliable is this information?

The Claims Advantage Report presents critical information in an easy to use format to help mining claims researchers to concentrate their research in the most efficient manner. The Closed Claims Report is only a small part of understanding claims status on the ground.

Mining Claims cases marked CLOSED by the BLM are subject to having their case status changed back to ACTIVE. The information in these reports should not be relied on as a definitive source of any particular claim's status.

Even if a claim's status is changed to CLOSED it does not indicate that the area is now open to new mineral claims. Land status as well as pre-existing claims may preclude the valid location of new mineral claims in the area.

For more information about Land Status in any particular area of interest as well as BLM mining claims status please visit Land Matters by clicking on the banner at the top of this page.

It is up to each prospector and locator to perform their own due diligence before putting boots on the ground. Neither Land Matters materials nor the BLM can provide you with complete current information about any particular location's status. At the least a visit to the County Recorder in your area of interest as well as an on the ground check will be necessary before proceeding with prospecting or location of mining claims.




Can't I just get this information from the BLM LR2000?

No, you won't be able to generate these reports from the LR2000. The BLM backdates each closure action to the effective date of the closure. This prevents an accurate time based search of CLOSURE actions when using the LR2000 report system.

The Claims Advantage Membership Reports are generated by making a comparison of the whole claims database between bimonthly update periods. The result is a list of CLOSURES that actually took place during the bimonthly period. By using this method, the Claims Advantage reports provide you with a list of the most current closure actions entered into the LR2000 by the BLM.

These reports are only available as part of your Claims Advantage Membership.