(2) Casual use does not include use of mechanized earth-moving equipment, truck-mounted drilling equipment, motorized vehicles in areas when designated as closed to “off-road vehicles” as defined in § 8340.0-5 of this title, chemicals, or explosives. Code of Federal Regulations / Title 43 - Public Lands: Interior / Vol. Operators may use motorized vehicles for casual use activities provided the use is consistent with the regulations governing such use (part 8340 of this title), off-road vehicle use designations contained in BLM land-use plans, and the terms of temporary closures ordered by BLM. It also generally includes use of metal detectors, gold spears and other battery-operated devices for sensing the presence of minerals, and hand and battery-operated drywashers. It may include use of small portable suction dredges.

(1) Casual use generally includes the collection of geochemical, rock, soil, or mineral specimens using hand tools hand panning or non-motorized sluicing. '§ 3809.5 How does BLM define certain terms used in this subpart?Īs used in this subpart, the term: Casual use means activities ordinarily resulting in no or negligible disturbance of the public lands or resources. (ii) Prospecting and sampling which will not cause significant surface resource disturbance and will not involve removal of more than a reasonable amount of mineral deposit for analysis and study which generally might include searching for and occasionally removing small mineral samples or specimens, gold panning, metal detecting, non-motorized hand sluicing, using battery operated dry washers, and collecting of mineral specimens using hand tools (i) Operations which will be limited to the use of vehicles on existing public roads or roads used and maintained for National Forest System purposes (1) A notice of intent to operate is not required for:

For federal land in Oregon that is open to mineral entry, in other words, on which mining claims may be filed:

Suction dredge mining in oregon