Duties of the Mineral Surveyor
3–10 The duties of the mineral surveyor begin with an order for survey and cease with the approval of that survey. This precludes using data acquired by former surveys and by reason of having made the location or amended location survey, unless such data is verified by field work and examination after the survey order is issued.
The surveyor should not act as agent for the claimant in the signing of location or amended location certificates, although he may post such notices for the claimant. The mineral surveyor is prohibited from taking any part in the patent application; however, he may assist the attorney or agent or the claimant himself in interpreting his field notes, including the area statement. A mineral surveyor exceeds his duties if he prepares the notices of application for patent (24 L.D. 193).
3–11 The survey must be made in person by the mineral surveyor. This does not mean that every physical act of survey must be performed by him, but it must be performed under his direct supervision in the field. The mineral surveyor is prohibited from delegating such supervision to employees. In other words, the mineral surveyor cannot send a field party out to do the work under his authority without being on the ground himself. There is no objection to having more than one survey crew perform the field work as long as the mineral surveyor can give each crew adequate supervision. The same rule applies to office work in connection with the survey.
There is nothing that prohibits a mineral surveyor from being a part of an engineering and/or surveying firm, but he should be a principal of that firm. If he works as an employee of such a firm, he is compromising his appointment, for as a mineral surveyor he is an employee of the Bureau of Land Management.
He cannot be an employee of the claimant, nor can he employ the claimant, his attorney or parties in interest as assistants in making surveys of mineral claims (43 C.F.R. 3861.3–2).
3–12 The survey must be an actual survey on the ground. This precludes the calculation of ties and other lines through prior surveys. (See 6 L.D. 718 which disallowed a section corner tie calculated from another survey and required an amended survey to run the section tie on the ground.)
3–13 The mineral surveyor should bear in mind that his field work is subject to spot checks by cadastral surveyors of the Bureau of Land Management for sufficiency and accuracy; also, if his returns of a survey indicate irregularities, a complete examination by the Bureau of Land Management may be made. Such field checks will normally be made when a field party is in the area during the normal course of a field season. Irregularities that cannot be resolved with the mineral surveyor may call for a special field examination.