C.R.S. § 34-43-101 Length of lode claim
34-43-101. Length of lode claim. The length of any lode claim located after June 1, 1874, may equal but not exceed fifteen hundred feet along the vein.
Claims - How Located
C.R.S. tit. 34, art. 43
in effectC.R.S. § 34-43-102 Width of lode claim
34-43-102. Width of lode claim. The width of all lode claims located after April 13, 1923, may equal but not exceed three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein or crevice, and the owners of any lode claims located before April 13, 1923, and having a lesser width, who are desirous of securing the benefit of this section, may file an additional certificate claiming such additional width as provided in this section, if the additional certificate does not interfere with the existing rights of others at the time of filing of the same. No such additional certificate or other record thereof shall preclude the claimants from proving such titles as they may have held under previous location.
C.R.S. § 34-43-103 Lode claim certificate - contents
34-43-103. Lode claim certificate - contents. (1) The discoverer of a lode, within three months from the date of discovery, shall record his claim in the office of the recorder of the county in which such lode is situated, by a location certificate, which shall contain:
(a) The name of the lode;
(b) The name of the locator;
(c) The date of location;
(d) The number of feet in length claimed on each side of the center of the discovery shaft;
(e) The general course of the lode as near as may be.
C.R.S. § 34-43-104 Location certificate void - when
34-43-104. Location certificate void - when. Any location certificate of a lode claim which does not contain the name of the lode, the name of the locator, the date of location, the number of lineal feet claimed on each side of the discovery shaft, the general course of the lode, and such description as identifies the claim with reasonable certainty shall be void.
C.R.S. § 34-43-105 Certificate shall contain but one location
34-43-105. Certificate shall contain but one location. No location certificate shall claim more than one location, whether the location is made by one or several locators. If it purports to claim more than one location it shall be absolutely void, except as to the first location therein described, and if they are described together, or so that it cannot be determined which location is first described, the certificate shall be void as to all.
C.R.S. § 34-43-106 Manner of locating claims
34-43-106. Manner of locating claims. (1) Before filing such location certificate, the discoverer shall locate his claim by:
(a) Sinking a discovery shaft upon the lode to the depth of at least ten feet from the lowest part of the rim of such shaft at the surface, or deeper if necessary, to show a well-defined crevice;
(b) Posting at the point of discovery on the surface a plain sign or notice, containing the name of the lode, the name of the locator, and the date of discovery;
(c) Marking the surface boundaries of the claim.
(2) The locator of any mining claim, in lieu of sinking a discovery shaft as required in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section, may at his option, within the period allowed for the recording of the location certificate as provided in section 34-43-103, file in the office of the county clerk and recorder of the county in which such claim is located, a map which shall be attached to said location certificate, which map shall be of a scale of approximately one inch equals five hundred feet, prepared from an actual field survey and shall show the following:
(a) The name and address of the discoverer of the claim;
(b) The legal subdivisions of the land upon which the claim is located, if such land is surveyed;
(c) The claim pattern with courses and distances of the boundary lines, and reference to the nearest section or quarter-section corner of the public land survey, if surveyed, or reference to a permanent monument, if unsurveyed, by which the location of the claim on the ground can be readily and accurately ascertained.
(3) The owner of any mining claim located prior to April 8, 1955, may avail himself of the provisions of this subsection (3) and subsection (2) of this section by preparing and filing with the county clerk and recorder of the county in which the claim is situated an amended location certificate with a map as provided in subsection (2) of this section within one hundred eighty days from April 8, 1955.
C.R.S. § 34-43-107 Marking boundaries
34-43-107. Marking boundaries. Such surface boundaries shall be marked by six substantial posts hewed or marked on the sides which are in toward the claim, and sunk in the ground, one at each corner and one at the center of each side line. Where it is practically impossible on account of bedrock to sink such posts, they may be placed in a pile of stones, and where in marking the surface boundaries of a claim any one or more of such posts fall by right upon precipitous ground where the proper placing of it is impractical or dangerous to life or limb, it shall be legal and valid to place any such post at the nearest practicable point, suitably marked, to designate the proper place.
C.R.S. § 34-43-108 To hold lode - crosscut - tunnel - adit
34-43-108. To hold lode - crosscut - tunnel - adit. Any open cut, crosscut, or tunnel which cuts a lode at the depth of ten feet below the surface shall hold such lode, the same as if a discovery shaft were sunk thereon, or an adit of at least ten feet in along the lode, from the point where the lode may be in any manner discovered, shall be equivalent to a discovery shaft.
C.R.S. § 34-43-109 Sixty days to sink discovery shaft
34-43-109. Sixty days to sink discovery shaft. The discoverer shall have sixty days from the time of uncovering or disclosing a lode to sink a discovery shaft thereon.
C.R.S. § 34-43-110 What location includes - extralateral rights
34-43-110. What location includes - extralateral rights. The location or location certificate of any lode claim shall be construed to include all surface ground within the surface lines thereof, and all lodes and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such lines extended downward, vertically, with such parts of all lodes or ledges as continue by dip beyond the side lines of the claim, but shall not include any portion of such lodes or ledges beyond the end lines of the claim or the end lines continued, whether by dip or otherwise, or beyond the side lines in any other manner than by the dip of the lode.
C.R.S. § 34-43-111 Top not to be followed beyond lines
34-43-111. Top not to be followed beyond lines. If the top or apex of a lode in its longitudinal course extends beyond the exterior lines of the claim at any point on the surface, or as extended vertically downward, such lode may not be followed in its longitudinal course beyond the point where it is intersected by the exterior lines.
C.R.S. § 34-43-112 Placer claim certificate - recording - manner of locating
34-43-112. Placer claim certificate - recording - manner of locating. (1) The discoverer of a placer claim, within thirty days from the date of discovery, shall record his claim in the office of the recorder of the county in which said claim is situated by a location certificate, which shall contain:
(a) The name of the claim, designating it as a placer claim;
(b) The name of the locator;
(c) The date of location;
(d) The number of acres or feet claimed; and
(e) A description of the claim by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim.
(2) Before filing such location certificate the discoverer shall locate his claim:
(a) By posting upon such claim a plain sign or notice containing the name of the claim, the name of the locator, the date of discovery, and the number of acres or feet claimed;
(b) By marking the surface boundaries with substantial posts, sunk into the ground, one at each angle of the claim.
C.R.S. § 34-43-113 Tunnel claim - recording
34-43-113. Tunnel claim - recording. If any person locates a tunnel claim for the purpose of discovery, he shall record the same, specifying the place of commencement and termination thereof with the names of the parties interested therein.
C.R.S. § 34-43-114 Affidavit of annual labor, improvements, or payment of federal claim rental fee - effect of filing - repeal
34-43-114. Affidavit of annual labor, improvements, or payment of federal claim rental fee - effect of filing - repeal. (1) On or before December 30th of each year following the end of any set time or annual period allowed for the performance of labor or making improvements upon any lode claim or placer claim, or for the payment of an annual claim rental fee as required by federal law in lieu of such work or improvements, the person on whose behalf such outlay was made, or such person's representative, may make and record in the office of the recorder of the county wherein such claim is situate an affidavit in substance as follows:
STATE OF COLORADO )
) ss.
County of .....................................)
Before me, the subscriber personally appeared ............, who, being duly sworn, saith that at least ........ dollars [worth of work or improvements were performed or made upon] [claim rental fee as required by federal law was paid upon] (here describe claim or part of claim), situate in .............. mining district, county of .............., state of Colorado, between the .............. day of .............., A.D..., and the .... day of .............., A.D.... Such expenditure was made by or at the expense of .............., owners of said claim, for the purpose of complying with the law, and holding said claim.
Jurat:
(Signature) ......................................
(2) Such affidavit when recorded shall be prima facie evidence of the performance of such labor or the making of such improvements or the payment of such annual claim rental fee. The original thereof, or a certified copy of the record of the same, shall be received as evidence accordingly by the courts of this state, and this class of evidence shall be receivable, where relevant or material, in all causes.
(3) (a) The fee for recording the affidavit described in subsection (1) of this section is set forth in section 30-1-103 (2)(m), C.R.S.
(b) This subsection (3) is repealed, effective July 1, 2025.
C.R.S. § 34-43-115 Relocation by owner - conditions
34-43-115. Relocation by owner - conditions. If at any time the locator of any mining claim, or his assigns, apprehends that his original certificate is defective, erroneous, or that the requirements of the law had not been complied with before filing, or is desirous of changing his surface boundaries, or of taking in any part of an overlapping claim which has been abandoned, or in case the original certificate was made prior to June 1, 1874, and he is desirous of securing the benefits of this article, such locator, or his assigns, may file an additional certificate, subject to the provisions of this article, if his relocation does not interfere with the existing rights of others at the time of such relocation. No such relocation or other record thereof shall preclude the claimant from proving any such title as he may hold under previous location.
C.R.S. § 34-43-116 Relocation of abandoned claims
34-43-116. Relocation of abandoned claims. The relocation of abandoned lode claims shall be by sinking a new discovery shaft and fixing new boundaries in the same manner as if it were the location of a new claim; or the relocator may sink the original discovery shaft ten feet deeper than it was at the time of abandonment, and erect new or adopt the old boundaries, renewing the posts if removed or destroyed. In either case a new location stake shall be erected.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-34.docxFetched: 10/6/2026