Access to Mining Notices and Plans of Operations
On December 1, 2022, the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture published a joint press release announcing new policies to protect Tribal interests and resources from the impacts of mining, increase Tribal engagement in mining proposals and promote well-designed mining activity. Among other directives, the announcement directed both agencies to create an easy-to-use website that would allow Tribal governments and the general public to see what exploration notices have been submitted. The purpose of this page is to consolidate BLM resources regarding notices and mining plans of operations in one place for easy access.
Information about BLM solid mineral exploration notices and plans of operations is accessible from the Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS) and from National-Apps Reporting System (NRS). MLRS users can access this information from the research map by location if they select the correct data layers and can view it in case information. The NRS serves case data in a tabular report format by selecting appropriate criteria from drop down lists.
National-Apps Reporting System (NRS) Reports
The links below take users to national reports that include mining notices and plans of operations. These are tabular reports of the data from the BLM MLRS system.
Mining Notices and Plans Geospatial Data Layers
The links below take users to national geospatial datasets that include layers with mining notices and plans of operations data. They are also available on the BLM Geospatial Business Platform.
How to use MLRS directly to access mining notices and plans
MLRS is the Bureau of Land Management’s Mineral and Land Record System, which is the data entry and retrieval database for case data. The MLRS Community (public portal) is available for the public to perform searches and look up specific cases. The MLRS Research Map can also be used to research case information spatially. The resources below will assist users to use the MLRS Research Map with a specific focus on surface mining activities (plans and notices).