(a) You will forfeit your mining claims or sites if you fail to—

(1) Record a mining claim or site within 90 days after you locate it;

(2) Pay the location fee or initial maintenance fee within 90 days after you locate it;

(3) Pay the annual maintenance fee on or before the due date;

(4) Submit a small miner waiver request on or before the due date (see § 3835.1) and also fail to pay the annual maintenance fee on or before the due date;

(5) List any claims or sites that you own on your small miner waiver request and fail to pay an annual maintenance fee for the missing claims or sites on or before the due date;

(6) Cure any defects in your timely small miner waiver request or pay the maintenance fee within the allowed time after BLM notifies you of the defects;

(7) File an annual FLPMA filing on or before the due date, as applicable; or

(8) Submit missing documentation or a complete payment after BLM notifies you that a filing or payment you made was defective, within the time allowed in the BLM notice.

(b) You will forfeit your mining claim or site if you locate your mining claim or site on lands closed to mineral entry at the time you locate it.

(c) Even if you forfeit your mining claims or sites, you remain responsible for—

(1) All reclamation and performance requirements imposed by subparts 3715, 3802, 3809, or 3814 of this chapter; and

(2) All other legal responsibilities imposed by other agencies or parties who have management authority over surface or subsurface operations.

(d) Under the circumstances described in §§ 3830.93 through 3830.97, you may cure a failure to comply with these regulations.

(a) Under 30 U.S.C. 188(f), you, as an oil placer mining claimant, may seek to convert an oil placer mining claim to a noncompetitive oil and gas lease under section 17(e) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(e)), if:

(1) The BLM declared your oil placer mining claim abandoned and void under section 314 of FLPMA;

(2) Your failure to comply with section 314 of FLPMA was inadvertent, justifiable, or not due to lack of reasonable diligence;

(3) You or your predecessors in interest validly located the unpatented oil placer mining claim before February 24, 1920;

(4) The claim has been or is currently producing or is capable of producing oil or gas; and

(5) You have submitted a petition asking the BLM to issue a noncompetitive oil and gas lease. Your petition must include the required rental and royalty payments, including back rental and royalty accruing from the statutory date of abandonment of the oil placer mining claim.

(b) If the BLM chooses to issue a noncompetitive oil and gas lease, the lease will be effective from the statutory date the claim was deemed conclusively abandoned. See 43 CFR 3108.2-4 Conversion of unpatented oil placer mining claims: Class III reinstatements.

(a) If there is a defect in your compliance with a statutory requirement, the defect is incurable if the statute does not give the Secretary authority to permit exceptions (see § 3830.91(a) and (b) of this chapter). If your payment, recording, or filing has incurable defects, the affected mining claims or sites are statutorily forfeited.

(b) If there is a defect in your compliance with a regulatory, but not statutory, requirement, the defect is curable. You may correct curable defects when the BLM gives you notice. If you fail to cure the defect within the time the BLM allows, you will forfeit your mining claims or sites. Failure to pay the required fees with your documents will result in your document not being accepted for filing, and the failure to pay such fees is not a curable defect. See 43 CFR 3000.10(b).

(a)(1) When the BLM determines that you have filed any document that is defective or you are not in compliance with a regulatory requirement, the BLM will attempt to notify you by certified mail, return receipt requested at the address you gave on:

(i) Your notice or certificate of location;

(ii) An address correction you have filed with the BLM; or

(iii) A valid transfer document filed with the BLM.

(2) The notice provided for in paragraph (a)(1) of this section constitutes legal service even if you do not actually receive the notice or decision. See § 1810.2 of this chapter.

(b) If you have timely filed any defective document other than a defective small miner fee waiver request, or you are not in compliance with a regulatory requirement, you must cure the defects or noncompliance within 30 days of receiving the BLM's notification of the defects.

(c) If you have timely filed a defective small miner fee waiver request, you must cure the defects or pay the annual maintenance fee within 60 days of receiving notification of the defects from the BLM. Failure to timely file a small miner fee waiver request without timely paying the annual maintenance fee is not a curable defect and will result in your claim or site being declared forfeited for failure to pay the fee. See 43 CFR 3835.92(a).

(d) If you fail to file a notice of intent to hold under 43 CFR 3835.31(c)(2), (3), and (4), you must file your notice of intent within 30 days of receiving the BLM's notification of the failure to file.

(e) If the BLM does not receive the requested information in the time allowed, or if the matter is statutorily not curable, you will receive a final decision from the BLM that you forfeited the affected mining claims or sites.

If the BLM receives your location documents for recording and determines that the funds you paid are not sufficient to cover the total amount of processing, location, and maintenance fees for your mining claims or sites, the BLM will process the funds you paid in the following manner:

(a)(1) The BLM will not record any mining claim or site that is not accompanied by the full processing, location, and maintenance fees.

(2) For mining claims or sites located before September 1 and timely recorded after September 1, you must also pay the annual maintenance fee at the time of recording for the assessment year in which you record, unless you qualify for and file a small miner waiver for that assessment year in accordance with § 3835.14(a)(2).

(b) The BLM will assign a serial number to each claim or site that is received with the full processing, location, and maintenance fee until the funds run out;

(c) If the full processing, location, and maintenance fees are not received, the BLM will reject the recordation of the claims and the location documents will be returned unrecorded, and the remaining fees not used for recording will be refunded.

(d) Resubmission of returned location documents. (1) If the 90-day recording period has not expired, you may refile returned location documents for recording with the proper fees. The refiled location documents with fees must be received by the BLM before the end of the 90-day recording period.

(2) If the 90-day recording period has expired, the affected mining claims and sites are forfeited.

(a) If your payment only covers one mining claim and you pay only part of the processing fee or only part of the annual maintenance fee, then the BLM will not accept your filing.

(b) If your payment covers multiple mining claims or sites and you pay only part of the processing fees due for any document filings or only part of the annual maintenance fees for previously recorded mining claims or sites, or any combination of these fees, absent other instructions from you, the BLM will apply the partial payment in serial number order until the money runs out. Any underpayment of fees remaining following the expiration of the notice under § 3834.23 is not subject to the partial payment process described in this paragraph.

(c) If your partial payment for multiple mining claims is submitted in a year in which the BLM adjusts the maintenance fees under § 3834.21, the BLM will apply the partial payment in the amount based on the fee in effect immediately before the adjustment was made to each mining claim or site in serial number order until the money runs out. The BLM will then follow the procedures described in § 3834.23 with respect to each mining claim or site for which the BLM received the full amount of the fee in effect immediately before the adjustment was made. Any underpayment of fees remaining following the expiration of the notice under § 3834.23 is not subject to the partial payment process described in this paragraph.

(d) For any claims or sites for which there are no funds in your partial payment to pay the annual maintenance fee, you will forfeit the mining claims or sites not covered by your partial payment unless you pay the additional funds necessary to complete the full payment on or before September 1.

(e) If the BLM rejects your FLPMA document because you have not included sufficient funds to pay the processing fee, you will forfeit the mining claims or sites not covered by your partial payment unless you pay the additional funds necessary to complete the full payment on or before the date that the document must be filed.

For notices of intent to locate (NOITL) mining claims or tunnel sites under the Stock Raising Homestead Act (SRHA), the BLM will not accept a NOITL unless you pay the full processing fee as required in 43 CFR 3830.21. If your NOITL is received with insufficient funds, the BLM will return the NOITL to you unrecorded. See subparts 3831, 3838, and 3839 of this chapter for information regarding the Stock Raising Homestead Act and NOITLs.