Court Opinion

ID: 9847012
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:52:14.285428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:58.721566
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Hall
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion.
According to the record, defendants, on February 27, 1955, went upon the E % of Section 27, property owned by the state of Colorado, armed with a geiger counter, and according to the testimony “We did find a reading that was above what was considered to be commercial uranium on these lands that I have described to you; and we did post notices at points where we got a geiger counter reading.”
Three claims each 1500' x 600' were staked and discovery notices posted. The claims were called Redskin No. 1; Redskin No. 2, and Redskin No. 3. Redskin No. 3 is all located on Federal lands and is not involved in this case. Location certificates recorded in the office of the County Clerk of Park County on April 4, 1955 (by coincidence the same date as plaintiffs’ lease) describe Redskin No. 1 as: Beginning NE corner Sec. 27, thence W 1500', thence S 600', thence E 1500', thence N 600' to *206the place of beginning. Redskin No. 2 is described as: Beginning at a point 1500' W of the NE corner of Sec. 27, thence W 1500', thence S 600', thence E 1500', thence N 600' to the point of beginning. Each certificate states that the claim, extends 750' east and 750' west of the “center of discovery shaft.”
“We did the work as we originally staked it prior to April 4, 1955, that is, on these two claims. We dug two holes, we set the outside stakes on the — prior to April 4th. It was subdivided later.”
. “We had an assay made * * * it showed 1.24 in uranium, and I believe it was 0.4 in vanadium * * * it was taken from one of these discovery holes * * * from one of the discovery pits * * * on these claims, that is correct.”
There is some evidence that geiger readings were gotten at four points, four holes dug, and four notices posted — when is anyone’s guess, but presumably not until after April 4, 1955, the date of plaintiffs’ lease, the date defendants recorded with the County Clerk of Park County notices of two claims, two discoveries, Redskin No. 1 and Redskin No. 2. The first evidence of Redskins 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, and 2-B, the claims in litigation, is May 25, 1955, more than six weeks after plaintiffs had been granted a lease by the State.
Evidence showing mineral in place is wholly lacking unless geiger counter readings are evidence of such fact.
I find nothing in the record to indicate that any mineral was found in place. Certainly the geiger counter does not indicate mineral in place; readings could be the same for mineralized rock in place or in float or in wash. As to the rock allegedly sent for assay, the evidence only shows that it came from one of the claims.
I feel that some of the language in the majority opinion is revolutionary insofar as mining laws and mining decisions are concerned. By way of illustration I point to the following:
*207“The record * * * details the lengthy history of just how defendants made their' discoveries with a geiger counter * *
Does .that mean a discovery as contemplated by C.R.S. ’53, 112-3-41, may be made with a geiger counter? The statute provides that discovery must be made “* * * of mineral, in either a lead, lode, ledge, deposit, vein or contact * *
I respectfully submit that a geiger counter, no matter what its reading may be, does not prove mineral in place. Without discovery of mineralized rock' in place there can be no valid location of a lode claim, no matter what the geiger readings may be.
The effect of the majority opinion is to substitute for proof of a discovery of mineral in place a mere possibility, probability or conjecture of mineral in place, and thus judicially legislate that there need not be an actual and proven discovery to have a valid claim.
The legal effect of the decision is to authorize unlimited filings based on one actual valid legal discovery. If such a result is desirable, then that is a matter for the legislature and not for the courts.