Thats the point! I AM with a government entity so i know what the laws are. I have to, otherwise people would be getting arrested or ticketed or going to jail or whatever for no reason and/or charges being dropped by the time they showed up in court. But in most ways you are correct and i totally agree with that. Most of those involved with law enforcement agencies will not take the chance on arresting or ticketing anyone unless they indeed know what laws they are arresting or ticketing the individual for,,,unless the officer absolutely has no common sense whatsoever but that kind of scenario CAN happen but it very rarely does.

Also, i must add this. Even tho the ARS title codes was mentioned, those only apply to STATE codes as federal has thier own title codes which are totally different then State codes, thus making the ARS codes irrelevent when federal authorites become involved. But now, on the other hand, ARS or any other States' titles COULD come into play should the State the crimes are involved in or the persons(s) in that particular State want to bring charges of thier own against the individual (perp), meaning they could end up with federal charges PLUS State charges that was brought on either by the State or the ones that owns the mine or whatever.

There have been several instances where Federal authorities was brought in on things but also other entities also showed up(Sheriff or State Police) ending up with the perp having federal PLUS State charges.

State codes may define certain laws differently than federal codes do even tho both codes mean identical laws but are just written differently. This just means that State codes may or may not go into detail or even mention certain things that the federal codes would, or vice versa.

This is why i mentioned theres a difference between ARS (State law codes) and federal law codes.

Contacting mining companies on certain laws doesnt really define anything as they usually will only know the laws that apply to thier own operation. Going by the federal or state law codes is the best bet, just as we do.

And, in the case of patented claims, getting the key from the mine owner erases any doubt as to the legality of what I'm doing. It's amazing how willing folks are to let you onto or into their mine when you explain that you are legitimately interested in the operation. I've driven my pickup into the active pit of a limestone/fluorspar mine in Illinois for exactly that reason- talked to the company owner; he was more than happy to let me take photos of the intact 1920s-era mill on the property.

I've been working in Arizona for the past week; the ASMI office likes to post mines. No other state does that; there is more than one reason that I hold New Mexico to be a superior state in most regards! It has not affected me; the adits I've seen posted had too much material slabbing or fragmenting off the back for me to enter them anyways. This wouldn't stop an untrained individual, so I don't see the point. I don't trust that office anyways; the former state inspector was indicted on fraud counts a while back. The large-scale mining industry in AZ is painfully incompetent.

Dawn_C, as far as I'm concerned, until you give us something other than hearsay and anecdotes, I will continue to believe that you are simply blowing hot air and wasting our time.

Back to Missouri in a week, where the mines are on private land, the owners are friendly, and the beers flow freely

Nice! Hard rock can definitely be sketchy sometimes, especially regarding false floors. Do you do coal or limestone? Personally, the gas problems in coal mines push me away from them, otherwise I'd have made a vacation of the Eastern Kentucky field. I may still do that if I get a gas detector, a few Draeger units, and find mines that don't have issues with slabbing.