Hjelvik v. Babbitt, 98-35340

• Decision Date: 07 December 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-35340,98-35340
• Citation: 198 F.3d 1072
• Parties: (9th Cir. 1999) JOHN HJELVIK, TRUE CRAIG, JR., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. BRUCE BABBITT, Secretary of the Interior, United States Department of the Interior, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1072

198 F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. 1999)

JOHN HJELVIK, TRUE CRAIG, JR., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. BRUCE BABBITT, Secretary of the Interior, United States Department of the Interior, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 98-35340

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Argued and Submitted August 12, 1999

Memorandum filed October 27, 1999

Memorandum Withdrawn December 7, 1999

Filed December 7, 1999

COUNSEL: Katherine W. Hazard, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the defendant-appellant.

Peter T. Stanley, Billings, Montana, for the plaintiffs-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana.

Before: William C. Canby, Jr., Melvin Brunetti, and Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, Circuit Judges.

ORDER

BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge:

The memoradndum disposition filed October 27, 1999, is hereby WITHDRAWN. An opinion is being filed in place of the memorandum disposition.

OPINION

This appeal involves the review of an administrative proceeding which culminated in a decision of the Interior Board of Land Appeals ("IBLA") finding that fourteen ¹ unpatented mining claims held by appellees, John Hjelvik and True Craig, Jr., were null and void for lack of discovery of valuable mineral deposit. The United States District Court for the district of Montana reversed the IBLA's decision. On appeal, the government argues that the IBLA's decision must be affirmed because it is in accordance with federal mining law and supported by substantial evidence. We agree and reverse the district court's summary judgment order.

"In reviewing decisions of the IBLA, this court exercises a limited standard of review." Baker v. United States, 613 F.2d 224, 226 (9th Cir. 1980). We review the case from the same position as the district court and will reverse the IBLA's decision only if that decision is arbitrary, capricious, not supported by substantial evidence, or contrary to law. See Gilmore v. Lujan, 947 F.3d 1409, 1411 (9th Cir. 1991). To determine whether the IBLA's decision is supported by substantial evidence, we carefully search the entire record to determine whether it contains "such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion," Drouin v. Sullivan, 966 F.2d 1255, 1257 (9th Cir. 1992), and whether it demonstrates that the "decision was based on a consideration of the relevant factors, " Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 416 (1971).

I.

The validity of a mining claim depends on the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit. See 30 U.S.C.S 22. "[I]n order to qualify as `valuable mineral deposits,' the discovered deposits must be of such a character that `a person of ordinary prudence would be justified in the further expenditure of his labor and means, with a reasonable prospect of success, in developing a valuable mine . . . .' " United States v. Coleman, 390 U.S. 599, 602 (1968)(quoting Castle v. Womble, 19 L.D. 455, 457 (1984)). In Coleman, the Supreme Court refined the prudent person test and held that "profitability is an important consideration in applying the prudent-man test." Id. The supplemental marketability test requires a showing that the mineral deposit can be extracted, removed, and marketed at a profit. See Baker, 613 F.2d at 225-26. Where a claim is located on land withdrawn from mineral entry pursuant to the Wilderness Act, a claim must be supported by a discovery of a valuable mineral deposit at the time of withdrawal in order to qualify as an existing right under Section 4 of the Wilderness Act. See Wilderness Society v. Dombeck, 168 F.3d 367, 375 (9th Cir. 1999). Additionally, a claim must be shown to be valid as of the time of the contest hearing. See United States v. Beckley, 66 IBLA 357, 361 (1982). ²

When the government contests the validity of a mining claim for lack of a discovery, it bears the initial burden of going forward with sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case that no discovery of a valuable mineral deposit has been made. United States v. Williamson and Lapine Pumice Co., 45 IBLA 264, 278 (1980). The IBLA has explained that:

prima facie case means that the case is adequate to support the Government's contest of the claim and that no further proof is needed to nullify the claim. The Government does not have to negate the evi dence presented by the mining claimant. If the Gov ernment shows that one essential criterion of the test was not met, it has established a prima facie case.

Id. (internal citations omitted).

Once the government establishes a prima facie case, the burden of proof devolves to the claimant who must refute by a preponderance of the evidence the government's case. Lara v. Secretary of Interior, 820 F.2d 1535, 1542 (9th Cir. 1987). The claimant does not have to establish all the necessary elements required for a valid discovery, but rather only needs "to preponderate on the issues raised by the evidence. " United States v. Crawford, 109 IBLA 264, 268 (1989).

The principal issue here is whether the government went forward with sufficient evidence to establish that the appropriate measure of resources for the purpose of determining the validity of contested claims was 16,840 short tons. In their brief to this court and at oral argument, the claimants have not contested the IBLA's determination that they could not mine 22,340 short tons of chromite, the amount of resources found by the IBLA to be in place on the contested claims,³ at a profit. Nor have the claimants posited that the IBLA erred in finding that they did not preponderate on the issue of the proper measure of resources found on the claims. Instead, they argue that the government's evidence did not raise the issue of the proper measure of resources for determining the validity of the claims and that they therefore did not have the burden of establishing the appropriate measure of resources at the contest hearing. Thus, if substantial evidence supports the IBLA's determination that the government made a prima facie case that the proper measure of the chromite on the contested claims was 16,840 short tons, we must uphold the IBLA's decision.

Where the physical presence of a mineral deposit on a claim has been established, proof that minerals exist on the claims sufficient to justify discovery may be evidenced by geological inferences. See, e.g., Barton v. Morton, 498 F.2d 288, 292 n.6 (9th Cir. 1974); United States v. New York Mines, 105 IBLA 171, 191 (1988). Geological inferences can be used to infer sufficient quantity of similar quality mineralization beyond the actual exposed areas where the values of the exposed deposits on claims owned or controlled by claimants are high and relatively consistent. United States v. Freezor, 74 IBLA 72 (1983). Moreover, where there is evidence of exposed mineral deposit on each claim, a series of contiguous claims may be considered as a group when determining whether a prudent person would be justified in expending resources on developing a mine on all of the contiguous claims. New York Mines, 105 IBLA at 191.

At the initial contest hearing, the government's expert witness Barry Burkhardt, a certified mineral examiner for the Forest Service, testified that, based on field examinations, sampling of minerals on the claims, and a review of the pertinent literature, he estimated that there existed approximately 16,840 short tons of chromite on the contested claims. Based on a 1946 report prepared by H.L. James, he estimated that the chromite deposits in the entire mining district equaled 112,000 short tons. Burkhardt also testified that the deposits in the mining district are podiform and that such deposits are "very irregular," "randomly scattered and vary in size and dimension." The James report also described the mineral deposits as being "pod like in form."

The government submitted two mining reports prepared by Burkhardt which concluded that the cost of mining the claims would exceed the market value of the refined chromite. One report contained two cost estimates: one assuming that only the indicated reserves found on the contested claims would be mined (16,840 short tons) and the other that all the estimated chromite deposits in the district (112,000 short tons) could be mined. The second, earlier report only analyzed the profitability of mining all the chromite found in the district.

At the close of the government's presentation of evidence, the claimants made a motion to dismiss averring that the government had failed to make a prima facie case of invalidity. The Administrative Law Judge took the motion under advisement and ordered supplemental briefing. In its brief in opposition to the motion to dismiss, its reply brief in opposition to the motion to dismiss and its post-hearing brief, the government expressly argued that the...