In the past, claims could be declared null and void only after a successful contest had been brought against the claim. After October 21, 1979, claims must be recorded with the Bureau of Land Management within 90 days of the location date or they will automatically be deemed to have been abandoned and void.
The procedure is as follows: When the Chief, Branch of Cadastral Surveys of the State Office is notified that a claim has been declared null and void, a notation to that effect should be made on the plat of survey (or if the plat is in the archives, it may be made on the card index). No further action is necessary at this time; the survey is not cancelled.
Cancellation becomes necessary if an entry or administrative action, including a survey or resurvey, involves the land embraced in the mineral survey. Current Form 3860–4, Approval of Mineral Survey, may be used to cancel the survey and to notify the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and any other interested parties substituting the word “cancelled” or “cancellation” for approval or it may be by memorandum.
Should a supplemental plat be required to lot the area embraced in the survey, a certified set of the field notes of the survey and the mineral survey plat should accompany the plat to Washington, as they do not have the field notes of unpatented mineral surveys. The field notes of the cancelled survey becomes the basis for the new lot designation. The Director’s memoranda of July 14, 1958 and November 17, 1960, cover the subject.
5–17 Unapproved Survey: Occasionally an order for survey will be cancelled and it is not known how far the mineral surveyor has proceeded with the field work and what corners have been set and marked. In no case should the corners be removed as they still serve as corners of the location which may be perfectly valid. The survey number should not be re-used inasmuch as it will serve to identify the corners on the ground.
5–18 Additional Notes and Certificate on Plat: In the past, additional notes were sometimes prepared from the existing record along with amendment to the plat in red ink and accompanying certificate when there was an omission of a conflict with an agricultural or other patent, a pending entry or an adverse claim.
For example: A survey was approved without showing the conflict with a legal subdivision that had been included in a preemption homestead. The subdivision was protracted on the mineral survey plat from the township survey, based on the section corner tie given in the mineral survey, intersections given with the boundaries of the subdivision, and an area of conflict calculated. All plats were recalled for the amendment. The additional notes were written, in triplicate, by the cadastral surveyor, to show only the lines of the mineral survey involved in the conflict, giving the intersections. The area statement was rewritten to the extent necessary to show the area of conflict.
The same procedure was followed if an adverse claim was to be excluded on the basis of the description in its location certificate. Red ink was used on the plats to distinguish the amendment, but black ink was used if the certificate specifically stated the extent of the amendment.
Most offices now resolve the above situations solely through a memorandum process.
5–19 Amended Surveys and Amended Plats: This is occasioned by an error in the original survey that is not discovered until after the survey is approved, or for the same reasons listed in 5–18 above, where the amendment cannot be made from the existing record and additional field work is required. The claimant may also request an amended survey. The claimant bears the cost. Example: In Survey No. 19202A-Am. Colorado, the wrong claim was included in the survey. The correct claim was included in the amended survey which covered the same ground.