Title 27 — Mining
13 chapters · 140 sections in this title.
AS 27.05.010 Department responsible for mineral resources.
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(a) The department has charge of all matters affecting exploration, development, and mining of the mineral resources of the state, the collection and dissemination of all official information relative to the mineral resources, and mines and mining projects of the state, and the a…
AS 27.05.020 Conflict of interest prohibited.
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In conducting the inquiries and investigations authorized by AS 27.05.010 — 27.05.070, no officer or employee of the department may have a personal or private interest in a mine or the products of a mine under investigation or accept employment from a private party for services i…
AS 27.05.030 Cooperation with federal departments.
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The department shall cooperate with the heads of executive departments of the United States in making investigations and in disseminating information to stimulate mining, quarrying, and metallurgical industries in the state, and in providing for the inspection of mines and protec…
AS 27.05.040 Negotiations with federal departments and other agencies.
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The department may negotiate with the federal departments and other agencies for arrangements that it considers expedient for cooperation with those departments and agencies in formulating and carrying out policies and projects designed to encourage and assist in the development …
AS 27.05.050 Survey of resources and mining operations and dissemination of information.
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The department shall conduct a continuing survey of the mineral resources and mining operations of the state and shall disseminate information regarding them to assist prospectors and miners, safeguard the lives and health of miners, protect investors in the mining industry, and …
AS 27.05.060 Annual report.
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The department shall make an annual report to the governor on all essential matters with regard to mining in the state. The department shall notify the legislature that the report is available.
AS 27.05.070 Assistance to miners and prospectors.
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Article 2. Assays. The department shall, so far as practicable, throughout the state assist miners and prospectors by (1) giving information as to mineral deposits gained from the minerals survey of the state; (2) securing and examining samples and applying tests upon the ground,…
AS 27.05.080 Public assay offices.
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The department shall, for the purpose of aiding bona fide miners and prospectors and stimulating mineral discoveries, establish a public assay office. The department may adopt regulations and establish procedures considered necessary and expedient to carry out this section and AS…
AS 27.05.090 Appointment of assayers; information and procedure.
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The department shall appoint for each public assay office a competent person to make assays and analyses of Alaskan ores and minerals. No charge shall be imposed for an assay or analysis. When an assay and analysis are made, the person requesting them shall state upon forms furni…
AS 27.05.100 Secs. 27.05.100 — 27.05.130. Unlawful acts; penalties. [Repealed, § 21 ch 166 SLA 1978.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 27.05.140 Secs. 27.05.140 — 27.05.170. Prospectors' subsidies. [Repealed, § 2 ch 51 SLA 1963.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 27.05.180 Secs. 27.05.180 — 27.05.210. State equipment for prospectors. [Repealed, § 16 ch 93 SLA 1984.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 27.05.250 Reclamation. [Repealed, § 3 ch 92 SLA 1990. For current law, see AS 27.19.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 27.08.010 Compact enacted.
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The Interstate Mining Compact contained in this section is enacted into law and entered into as follows: (a) The party states find that (1) mining and the contributions thereof to the economy and well-being of every state are of basic significance; (2) the effects of mining on th…
AS 27.08.020 Alternate.
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The governor may designate the commissioner of natural resources as the governor's alternate to the Interstate Mining Commission.
AS 27.08.030 Compact bylaws.
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In accordance with art. V(i) of the compact, the Interstate Mining Commission shall file copies of its bylaws and any amendments to the bylaws with the commissioner of natural resources.
AS 27.09.010 Mining loan fund.
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(a) There is established in the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development the mining loan fund. The department may make loans from the fund to underwrite advanced mineral exploration, development, or mining in the state. (b) The mining loan fund is a revolving f…
AS 27.09.015 Special account established.
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(a) There is established as a special account within the mining loan fund the foreclosure expense account. This account is established as a reserve from fund equity. (b) The commissioner of commerce, community, and economic development may expend money credited to the foreclosure…
AS 27.09.020 Eligibility.
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(a) The department may make loans under this chapter to (1) an individual who has at least five years of mining or prospecting experience in the state and who is a resident of the state; (2) a partnership if at least half of the partners each have five years mining or prospecting…
AS 27.09.030 Operating plan.
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(a) A person who requests a loan under AS 27.09.010 shall prepare an operating plan that describes the amount of the loan requested, the nature and location of the advanced mineral exploration, development, or mining for which the loan is requested, the equipment and other resour…
AS 27.09.040 Loan terms.
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(a) A loan granted under this chapter (1) may not exceed $5,000,000; (2) may not exceed a term of 15 years; (3) may not bear interest exceeding 10 percent; and (4) may not exceed 75 percent of the appraised value of the collateral used to secure the loan. (b) A loan may not be ma…
AS 27.09.045 Refinancing.
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The department may refinance a loan under this chapter by making a loan to pay outstanding mining debts. When an original loan is to be refinanced, the department may not refinance more than 49 percent of the amount of the original loan. The terms in AS 27.09.040 apply to mining …
AS 27.09.050 Regulations.
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The department may adopt regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter, including regulations to establish reasonable fees for services provided. Regulations adopted under this section shall be prepared after consultation with the Department of Natural Resourc…
AS 27.09.055 Disposal of property acquired by default or foreclosure.
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The department shall dispose of property acquired through default or foreclosure of a loan made under this chapter. Disposal shall be made in a manner that serves the best interests of the state and may include the amortization of payments over a period of years.
AS 27.09.060 Definitions.
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In this chapter, (1) “advanced mineral exploration” means the investigation of a known mineral deposit to gain knowledge of its size, shape, and value, and to determine whether it is feasible for mining, by the use of geophysical surveys, boreholes, pits, or underground workings;…
AS 27.10.010 Claims to be located as prescribed by law.
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A person who discovers upon the public domain in the state a lode or vein of rock in place, or a placer deposit that is open to location under the mining laws of the United States, may locate a lode mining claim or placer mining claim by posting a notice of location and by markin…
AS 27.10.020 Grubstake contracts to be in writing and recorded.
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All contracts commonly known as “grubstaking,” except as between the parties making them, are void unless in writing, subscribed by the parties, and recorded with the recorder of the recording district in which the location is made. The contract must contain the names of the part…
AS 27.10.030 Manner of designating a lode claim location.
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The discoverer of a lode claim shall designate the location as follows: (1) by posting at the northeast corner of the claim a plain sign or notice containing (A) the name of the lode claim; (B) the name of the locator or locators; (C) the date of the location; (D) the approximate…
AS 27.10.040 Manner of designating a placer claim location.
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 27.10.050 Certificate of location to be recorded.
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The locator of a lode claim or placer claim shall within 90 days after the date of posting the notice of location on the claim have the claim recorded by recording a certificate of location with the recorder of the recording district in which the claim is located. The certificate…
AS 27.10.060 Effect of failure to record.
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Failure to record the certificate of location within the required 90 days constitutes an abandonment of the claim, and the ground is open to location.
AS 27.10.070 Changes in locations and amended notices.
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Notices may be amended at any time and monuments changed to correspond with the amended location, but no change may be made that interferes with the rights of others. Whenever monuments are changed or an error is made in the notice or in the certificate of location, an amended ce…
AS 27.10.080 Water rights where claim includes both banks of a stream. [Repealed, § 2 ch 50 SLA 1966. For current law, see AS 46.15.]
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Article 2. Placer Claims on Federal Public Domain.
AS 27.10.090 Sections applicable to precious-metal placers only.
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AS 27.10.100 — 27.10.140 apply only to placer deposits containing gold, silver, or other precious metals or minerals.
AS 27.10.100 Limits on size of individual placer claims.
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The unit of placer locations in the state is 20 acres, and no single or individual placer mining claim may be located in excess of 20 acres nor have a greater length than 1,320 feet. Where a parcel of placer ground lies between and adjoins two or more validly located claims, the …
AS 27.10.110 Secs. 27.10.110 , 27.10.120. Limits on size of association claims; location of claims by agent or attorney. [Repealed, § 4 ch 91 SLA 1994.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 27.10.130 Value of labor or improvements required on placer claims.
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Upon each placer mining claim located after March 14, 1935, until patent is issued, not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year for each 20 acres or excess fraction contained in the claim.
AS 27.10.140 Location in violation of AS 27.10.090 — 27.10.140 is void.
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Article 3. Annual Labor or Improvements. A placer mining claim attempted to be located in violation of AS 27.10.090 — 27.10.140 is null and void, and the whole area of it may be located by a qualified locator as if no earlier attempt had been made, and no placer mining claim that…
AS 27.10.150 Annual labor or improvements required.
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(a) During each year beginning at noon on September 1, and until patent is issued, annual labor shall be performed or improvements made on, or for the benefit of or development of, each mining claim in the state to the extent required by the laws of the United States applicable t…
AS 27.10.160 Affidavit of labor or improvements.
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Within 90 days after September 1 of each year the owner of a mining claim, or some other person having knowledge of the facts, shall make and record with the recorder for the district in which the claim is located an affidavit showing the performance of labor or the making of imp…
AS 27.10.170 Effect of recording affidavit of labor or improvements.
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An affidavit recorded under AS 27.10.160 is prima facie evidence of the performance of the work or of making the improvements stated in it.
AS 27.10.180 Notice to co-owners to contribute to cost of annual labor or improvements and forfeiture for failure to contribute.
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If one of several co-owners fails to contribute the proportion of the expenditures required for annual labor from the co-owner, the co-owners who have performed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the annual labor year, give the delinquent co-owner person…
AS 27.10.190 Recording the notice to contribute and affidavits.
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(a) Within 120 days after personal service or within 120 days after the completion of publication of the notice provided for in AS 27.10.180, the co-owner who claims the forfeiture shall record in the office of the recorder of the recording district in which the claim is located …
AS 27.10.200 Lienholder may perform the annual labor.
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A person who holds a claim to or lien upon an unpatented mining claim under a certificate of sale, mortgage, attachment, levy, judgment, or other lien, may, when necessary for the protection of the lien or claim, go upon the mining claim and perform or cause to be performed the a…
AS 27.10.210 Lien for performance of annual labor.
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(a) The person performing or causing to be performed annual labor upon an unpatented mining claim as provided in AS 27.10.200 shall have a lien upon the claim for the assessment work, including the reasonable cost of transportation to and from the claim incurred in doing the work…
AS 27.10.220 Lien for annual labor is independent of other liens.
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The lien given for the performance of annual labor by AS 27.10.210, if the work is done in good faith and necessarily for the protection either of possession under a certificate of sale or of an attachment, levy, mortgage, judgment, or other lien, remains in effect notwithstandin…
AS 27.10.230 Surveys may qualify as annual labor.
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The term “labor” where used in AS 27.10.130 and 27.10.150 includes, without being limited to, geological, geochemical, and geophysical surveys conducted by qualified experts and verified by a detailed report recorded in the recording district office in which the claim is located …
AS 27.10.240 Definitions for AS 27.10.230.
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In AS 27.10.230, (1) “geochemical surveys” means surveys on the ground for mineral deposits by the proper application of the principles and techniques of the science of chemistry as they relate to the search for and discovery of mineral deposits; (2) “geological surveys” means su…
AS 27.19.010 Administration; applicability.
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(a) The commissioner of natural resources shall implement this chapter. (b) This chapter applies to state, federal, municipal, and private land and water subject to mining operations. (c) Except as provided in AS 27.19.040(b), this chapter does not apply to an activity regulated …
AS 27.19.020 Reclamation standard.
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A mining operation shall be conducted in a manner that prevents unnecessary and undue degradation of land and water resources, and the mining operation shall be reclaimed as contemporaneously as practicable with the mining operation to leave the site in a stable condition.