It is also important to demonstrate the non-mineral character of the land. In the case of adjoining blanket deposits such as uranium, a few scattered drill holes will show the absence of a mineral deposit.
Office Work
5–8 Calculation: The first step will be to reduce coordinate positions to direct ties, starting with the section corner ties, followed by short ties between claims of the survey should these claims actually overlap. In selecting the corners to tie, the tie between corners should be given that will facilitate the calculation of intersections and areas by solving triangles.
As illustrated by Figure 6, claims ABC and XYZ are in the same survey. A tie should be given from Cor. No. 1 of claim ABC to Cor. No. 2 of claim XYZ; not between Corners 1 and 3. After these ties have been calculated, they should be checked by calculating closures using the various short ties and section corner ties.
In selecting corners of conflicting surveys to give tie to, the corner within the survey as illustrated in Figure 5 should be selected. The tie to Sur. No. 1235 B lode should be to Cor. No. 1 from Cor. No. 1 of the XYZ lode, or to Cor. No. 2 from Cor. No. 4.
Lines of prior mineral surveys between recovered corners should be reported as correct or substantially correct as approved. If found in error the correct bearing and distance should be given.
In Figure 5, if Cors. Nos. 1, 2 and 4 of Sur. No. 1235 B lode were recovered, lines 1–2 and 4–1 should be reported. Lines 2–3 and 3–4 cannot be reported since Cor. No. 3 was not found. If the tie from Cor. No. 1 is to the same section corner as used in the survey of claim XYZ, then the correctness of the tie should be reported. If Cor. No. 1 was not recovered, the section corner tie cannot be reported.
The position of missing corners should be fixed in accordance with Chapter VI. The remaining lines can then be reported as fixed by the selected method of restoration.
Intersections and areas of conflict should then be calculated by solving triangles. Areas may be calculated using double meridian distances, but intersections should never be calculated by forcing a closure. Intersections may be checked by closure.
A special situation exists where a former survey excluded an unsurveyed location from the patent and the unsurveyed location has subsequently been abandoned. This area is designated as a tract and its boundaries are determined from the prior survey. See Tract A of the Jim Dandy Lode described in the specimen field notes and plat of the Manual of Surveying Instructions.