Or. Rev. Stat. § 517.120
Definitions for ORS 517.120 to 517.133
Oregon · Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 517 — Mining and Mining Claims · Status: effective
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- Or. Rev. Stat. § 517.120, Definitions for ORS 517.120 to 517.133, Oregon, version 1 as recorded 2026-10-04, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/2519487
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As used in ORS 517.120 to 517.133:
(1) “Mining” means the removal of gold, silver or other precious minerals from aggregate or a vein of ore.
(2) “Mining claim” means a portion of the public lands claimed for the valuable minerals occurring in those lands and for which the mineral rights are obtained under federal law or a right that is recognized by the United States Bureau of Land Management and given an identification number.
(3) “Prospecting” means to search or explore, using motorized or nonmotorized methods, for samples of gold, silver or other precious minerals from among small quantities of aggregate or ore.
(4) “Recreational mining” means mining in a manner that is consistent with a hobby or casual use, including use on public lands set aside or withdrawn from mineral entry for the purpose of recreational mining, or using pans, sluices, rocker boxes, other nonmotorized equipment and dredges with motors of 16 horsepower or less and a suction nozzle of four inches or less in diameter.
(5) “Small scale mining” means mining on a valid federal mining claim operating under a notice of intent or plan of operations while using whatever equipment is necessary, as approved by the notice of intent or plan of operations, to locate, remove and improve the claim.