The battle over a new set of state fees on unpatented mining claims in Nevada appears to pitting the small miner against the majors.
A recently formed Nevada Mineral Exploration Coalition says "Section 47 of Assembly Bill 6 enacted by the Special Session of the Nevada Legislature (the Act)... increased the fee payable by the owner of an unpatented mining claim on the recording of a notice of intent to hold the mining claim. The increase in the fee is $70, $85 or $195 per mining claim depending upon the number of mining claims owned by the recording party." [right, mining claims at the end of 2008. Credit, NV Bur. of Mines & Geology]
The Act is a done deal, with the first claim payments due in June 2011. But one of my contacts says many of the small companies are threatening to not pay although he says the penalties for not doing so are unclear.
Opponents of the state fees say it was part of a deal negotiated by major mining companies to avoid elimination of the 5% cap on state production taxes.