Location, Recording, and Maintenance of Mining Claims or Sites

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM or "we") is issuing this final rule to amend regulations on locating, recording, and maintaining mining claims or sites. In this rule, we are amending our regulations to respond to the law requiring that: BLM adjust the location and maintenance fees on unpatented mining claims or sites; adjust these fees every five years or sooner if conditions warrant; base the adjustment upon the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and give notice of any fee adjustment in the Federal Register by July 1st of any given assessment year in order for such adjustment to be effective by the beginning of the following assessment year (i.e., the September 1st immediately following the 1st of July in which the notice is given).