Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: mining claim

I don't know if there is a single state-wide minimum; more likely, it is a matter of county planning, permitting and zoning. Various federal and California laws have specified the maximum size of a single placer mining location or claim as 20 acres (see 30 USCA 35 and 36 and the Public Resources Code), but if there is any minimum it is probably based on a BLM policy which in turn may be based on local ordinances.

The law of mining claims is an esoteric backwater of the law of real property. Your best bet for really good advice would be to find a specialist in defending pseudo-mining claims. In the 1970s and 80s a lot of hippies staked out supposed mining locations or claims in the backwoods, and did the mimimum - maybe - to keep the claim valid so they could have a nice country estate on Uncle Sam's land. By the way, I applaud the idea and might have done it myself. There are no doubt lawyers around who defended these pseudo-claims and I would look at the Bar directories for Siskiyou, Modoc, Lassen, etc. Counties. Also, lawyers specializing in mining law might be helpful, but my guess is you are not interested in mining your pseudo-claim, but more likely in living on it, and many mining lawyers would not want to provide assistance for your kind of need. (I'm guessing, of course).