Title 38, Mining and Gas and Oil Production

Any opencut, crosscut, or tunnel at a depth sufficient to disclose the mineral vein or lode, an adit of at least ten feet [3.05 meters] in along the lode from the point where the lode may be discovered, or the drilling of a hole or holes in the manner, and under the conditions an…

From the time of uncovering or disclosing a lode, the discoverer has sixty days within which to sink a discovery shaft thereon.

The surface boundaries of the lode must be marked by eight substantial posts hewed or blazed on the side facing the claim and plainly marked with the name of the lode and the corner, end, or side of the claim that they respectively represent and sunk in the ground as follows: 1. …

The location as described in the location certificate of any lode claim must be construed to include all surface ground within the surface lines thereof, and all lodes and ledges throughout their entire depth the top or apex of which lies inside of such lines extended vertically,…

If the top or apex of the lode in its longitudinal course extends beyond the exterior lines of the claim at any point on the surface, or as extended vertically downward, such lode may not be followed in its longitudinal course beyond the point where it is intersected by the exter…

If the right to a mine is separate from the ownership or right of occupancy to the surface, the owner or rightful occupant of the surface may demand satisfactory security from the miner, and if such security is refused, may enjoin such miner from working until the same is given. …

If the locator of any mining claim, or the locator's assigns, shall apprehend that the original certificate was defective, erroneous, or that the requirements of the law had not been complied with before filing, or is desirous of changing the locator's surface boundaries, or of t…

The amount of work to be done or the improvements to be made during each year to hold possession of a mining claim must be the same as that prescribed by the applicable laws of the United States. The period within which the work required to be done annually on any unpatented clai…

The relocation of an abandoned lode claim must be made by: 1. Sinking a new discovery shaft and fixing new boundaries in the same manner as if it were the location of a new claim; or 2. Sinking the original shaft, cut, or adit to a sufficient depth to comply with sections 38-02-0…

No location certificate may claim more than one location, whether the location is made by one or several locators. If the certificate purports to claim more than one location, it is absolutely void except as to the first location therein described. If the locations are described …

In an action in any district court of this state wherein the title or right of possession to any mining claim is in dispute, the court, upon the application of any of the parties to such suit, may enter an order for such survey of the underground as well as the surface of such pa…