79,000+
Dropped claims scored
Mining-claim intelligence · Public BLM data
Every mining claim dropped in America, scored.
Each year tens of thousands of federal mining claims lapse nationwide when holders miss the annual maintenance fee. LodeFinder watches BLM's records across the whole country, scores the freshly-dropped ground, and emails you the morning a claim opens up in your area.
⛏ The September 1 maintenance-fee wave is the biggest drop window of the year — get watching before it hits.
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Why LodeFinder
Built for one job: acquiring open ground.
Archives let you browse old claims. Maps show you whose ground you're standing on. LodeFinder is the only tool built around the opposite question — what just opened up, and can I stake it?
The combination nothing else offers
A daily national feed of dropped claims, a transparent 0–100 opportunity score on each one, an authoritative stakeability verdict from the free inspector, and self-serve watchlist alerts — at a prosumer price. Individually these signals exist in scattered places; together, in one workflow, they don't exist anywhere else.
How it works
Three pieces. The inspector is free forever; the feed and alerts are the subscription.
Free
Point inspector
Click any spot on federal land for the live BLM verdict: surface agency, in-force mineral withdrawals, wilderness and monument overlays, the PLSS legal description, and whether an active claim already covers it.
Paid
Scored drop feed
Every recently-dropped claim nationwide — from Nevada to Alaska — ranked by a transparent 0–100 score built from how fresh the drop is, its acreage, claim type, and whether it sits inside an active mining district.
Paid
Daily drop alerts
Save a state or map area to a watchlist. When new claims drop inside it you get one digest email that morning — with the score and a deep link into BLM's records for each.
Draw your watchlist
Pick a state or drag a box on the map around the ground you care about.
We watch BLM daily
Every morning we re-pull the national closed-claims layer and score the new drops.
You get the email
A ranked digest of what dropped inside your watchlist, each linked to its BLM record.
Try it — free point inspector
Click anywhere on the map (try Nevada or eastern California). Live BLM land-status, no account needed.
Data: live BLM MLRS / Land Tenure layers. A claim conveys mineral rights only — not a spatial legal clearance.
How it compares
What each kind of tool actually does with a change in the claim data.
| Capability | Free BLM / MLRS map | Claims archive site | LodeFinder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recently-dropped claims, browsable | — | All-time archive | ✓ Scored feed |
| Opportunity score per drop | — | — | ✓ 0–100 |
| Stakeability verdict (withdrawals + agency) | Raw layers | — | ✓ Point inspector |
| Self-serve drop alerts by area | — | — | ✓ Daily email |
| National refresh cadence | Varies | Uneven | ✓ Daily |
| Links to the official BLM record | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Comparison by capability category, not a knock on any specific provider. Always confirm current facts for yourself against BLM.
Pricing
One plan, billed monthly or annually. Cancel anytime from the customer portal — access runs to the end of the paid period.
Monthly
$29/mo
- Full scored drop feed, national
- Unlimited state & map-area watchlists
- Daily drop-alert emails
- Free inspector included
Annual
$290/yr
Save $58 — about two months free
- Everything in monthly
- Best value through the Sept 1 season
- Free inspector included
- Cancel anytime
Not investment, legal, or tax advice. Data is sourced from public BLM records and can be incomplete or stale — BLM is the authoritative source and every claim must be verified there before you act. Fees are non-refundable for data-driven outcomes. See Terms and Privacy.
Frequently asked
What is a dropped mining claim?
A federal mining claim on public land stays valid only while the holder pays BLM's annual maintenance fee (or files a qualifying small-miner waiver). Miss it, and the claim is forfeited — the ground becomes open to location again.
Tens of thousands lapse each year, and the largest wave clusters around the September 1 fee deadline. LodeFinder watches BLM's closed-claim records nationwide and surfaces these drops as they appear.
Is using LodeFinder legal?
Yes. LodeFinder only aggregates and scores public records published by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and USGS. Everything we show is already public.
It is not legal, investment, or professional advice. Locating a mining claim is a regulated process under federal and state law — verify a claim's status with BLM and follow the proper location and recording steps before acting.
What do I get with a subscription?
The full scored feed of recently-dropped claims nationwide, unlimited watchlists by state or map area, and a daily digest email when new claims drop inside your watchlists. The free BLM point inspector is included, and every claim links out to its official BLM MLRS record.
How fresh is the data?
We re-pull BLM's national closed-claims layer once daily, detect newly-dropped claims, score them, and send alerts the same morning. BLM's own records are authoritative and can lag or be revised, so every claim must be verified there before you act.
Do you send SMS alerts?
No. Alerts are email only. We do not send text messages.