Back to Blog/Technology

How to Research Mineral Claims with Official Records

A practical workflow for checking mineral tenure and access before you prospect.

Paystreak Team2026-01-20Updated 2026-08-146 min read

Legal prospecting starts with one thing: checking the current official record for the ground you plan to work. Access rules, permits, claims and closures all change, and no third-party website can substitute for the official register. Paystreak's guides are research references: they link the official record systems and point you to the right check before you travel — they are not a live claim-data feed.

1. The Official Record Systems

Mineral tenure is recorded by national or state agencies. These are the systems Paystreak links on its guides:

  • United States — BLM MLRS: the Bureau of Land Management Mineral & Land Records System claim search covers lode, placer and mill-site claims on public land.
  • New Zealand — NZPAM: the official permit maps and gold fossicking area data published by New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals.
  • Australia — state systems: Resources Victoria, NSW MinView, WA TENGRAPH and QLD GeoResGlobe each publish tenure and fossicking-area data for their state.

2. The Research Workflow

A repeatable check before any trip:

  • 1.
    Pick a district and check the official map viewer for current claims, tenements and designated fossicking areas.
  • 2.
    Confirm land status and access rules — state forest authorisations, exempt rivers, prohibited areas.
  • 3.
    Check local conditions — weather, water level, fire bans — with the land manager before you leave.
  • 4.
    Record what you checked and when, then re-check before every visit.

The Honest Rule

Paystreak does not run a real-time claim-boundary feed or a live density dashboard. Where a guide shows boundaries, areas or status, treat it as a research reference and confirm it against the official source and its last-updated date before relying on it.

3. What Paystreak Delivers

Source-linked guides: each location and region page points to the official records system for its jurisdiction, with the date the link was last checked. Pro adds offline planning files, access-check workflows and field-note templates so you can prepare before you lose reception.

Research Before You Dig

Browse the database of source-linked research targets, or get the Pro field research toolkit for offline planning files.

Explore the Pro Toolkit