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March 27, 2024 Update:

Use the following dial-in information for the Fairness Hearing taking place on April 11, 2024 at 10:00a.m. EST.

Dial-In: 833-568-8864 (Toll Free)

Meeting ID: 161 614 6685

Passcode: 910729

Please be advised that the Opt-In Filing Deadlne passed on January 18, 2019. 

The United States Court of Federal Claims has certified a class action involving your right to obtain a refund of mining claim maintenance fees for the 2013 assessment year timely paid to the United States Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”).  The Court in Silver Buckle Mines, Inc. v. United States, Case No. 13-476C, has ruled that Silver Buckle Mines, Inc. is entitled to a refund of claim maintenance fees.

Prior to 1993 BLM required that mining claimholders conduct a minimum level of assessment work on their claims and comply with the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 annual filing requirements to continue holding their mining claims.  In 1993 Congress changed the law to require claimholders to pay an annual claim maintenance fee for each claim to BLM in lieu of assessment work and related filing requirements.

Congress changed the claim maintenance fees in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 eliminating the claim maintenance fees for unpatented lode mining claims, mill sites and tunnel sites (nonplacer claims) located before August 10, 1993.  Despite the statutory change, BLM issued regulations which continued to require payment of the claim maintenance fees for the 2013 assessment year for pre-August 10, 1993 unpatented nonplacer claims.

Recognizing the absence of statutory authority for payment of the 2013 maintenance fees, Silver Buckle Mines, Inc. commenced this lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims seeking a refund of claim maintenance fees paid for itself and other claimholders similarly situated.   The government denied the claim challenging jurisdiction; that any payment made was voluntary; that a refund would result in a windfall to plaintiff; and plaintiff faces a risk of forfeiture of its claim if the claim maintenance fees are recouped.

The Court has ruled that plaintiff is entitled to recover the 2013 maintenance fees paid on its pre-1993 unpatented nonplacer claims.  Neither the voluntary payment doctrine nor the anti-windfall doctrine bar plaintiff’s illegal exaction claim.  With regard to the risk of forfeiture of its mining claims, the Court has declared this issue beyond the scope of this case and the Court’s jurisdiction.  Nonetheless, the Court addressed the government’s argument that plaintiff could potentially face forfeiture of its 1993 unpatented nonplacer claims in the event the 2013 maintenance fees are recouped.  The government argues that under these circumstances plaintiff should have engaged in assessment work and completed certain filings.  However, the Court analyzed the government’s argument concluding that forfeiture under the circumstances would be unlikely.  All of the Court’s opinions and orders in this matter are links available on the Court Documents page.

You may have been sent a Notice because you submitted a Claim Form and opted in to be a member of a Plaintiff Class that the United States Court of Federal Claims certified in a class action. Plaintiff in that Lawsuit, titled Silver Buckle Mines, Inc. v. United States, Case No. 13-476C (Court of Federal Claims), sought compensation from the United States based upon allegations that the Bureau of Land Management lacked the legal authority to collect maintenance fees in 2012 for lode claims, mill sites, and tunnel sites located before August 10, 1993. The Plaintiff alleged that due to the lack of legal authority to collect these maintenance fees, the United States Government illegally exacted these fees. The United States of America denied the allegations and denied that plaintiff is entitled to Compensation. The Court granted Summary Judgment in favor of the plaintiff.

Please submit your Taxpayer Identificaiton Number through this website portal, using the information listed in your Notice. If you would like to have a form mailed to you instead, please email [email protected].