Mining Claims Under the General Mining Laws; Surface Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM or "we") amends its regulations governing mining operations involving metallic and some other minerals on public lands. We are amending the regulations to improve their clarity and organization, address technical advances in mining, incorporate policies we developed after we issued the previous regulations twenty years ago, and better protect natural resources and our Nation's natural heritage lands from the adverse impacts of mining. We intend these regulations to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of BLM-administered lands by mining operations authorized under the mining laws.