G4G, "A mining claim is only a claim to any minerals brought to market."

...not sure what that means, unless you are suggesting that a claim is only as valuable as what the owners bring to market. Even then there are people who buy and sell claims, both at the state and federal levels, for recreational purposes, and often without intent to extract anything within the life of the claims, or will do only the minimum in work and/or expenditures to renew the claim (but again without intent to acheive commercial success.

"Since the Federal Government has stated that no minerals can be brought to market from any claim in the area described, unless there was a working mine at the time of the moritorium,..."

That's only a matter of words from this administration - not the way the exemption was written -, and should not carry any weight in court. And, as you said, this should be resolved easily by getting the current batch of civil servants to sson recognize a new leader, one who respects law, property rights, and the county's need exploit it's resouces for the greater good.

...all in my opinion, of course.

VP