Any person or persons, or the manager, officer, agent or employe [employee] of any person, firm, corporation or association, who shall in any manner alter, deface or change the location notice of any mining claim in this state, located under the laws of the United States and of this state, or any local regulations in force in the district wherein such claim is situated, thereby in any manner affecting the rights of any person, firm or corporation, to such claim or location, or the land covered thereby, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be fined in a sum not less than one hundred dollars [($100)], nor more than five hundred dollars [($500)], or imprisoned in the county jail for not less than sixty days, nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court trying the case. Nothing herein contained shall affect the rights of such locator or locators, and his or their assigns, to correct errors in such notice and file amended location notices as provided in Section 69-3-12 NMSA 1978, and the laws of the United States: provided, such change shall not affect or change the date of such location notice, or affect the rights of any other person.
History: Laws 1897, ch. 58, § 3; C.L. 1897, § 2311; Code 1915, § 3452; C.S. 1929, § 88-108; 1941 Comp., § 67-208; 1953 Comp., § 63-2-8.
Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 53A Am. Jur. 2d Mines and Minerals § 377 et seq.
58 C.J.S. Mines and Minerals §§ 45, 131.
Structure New Mexico Statutes
Article 3 - Mining Locations and Operations
Section 69-3-1 - Mining claim location and posting notice.
Section 69-3-7 - Discovery of natural gas or hydrocarbons.
Section 69-3-8 - [Exceptions.]
Section 69-3-10 - [Boundary posts.]
Section 69-3-12 - Amended and additional location notices.
Section 69-3-12.1 - Annual labor and annual filings.
Section 69-3-13 - [Alteration, removal or destruction of location marks or notice; penalty.]
Section 69-3-14 - [Defacing or changing location notice; penalty; correction of errors.]
Section 69-3-15 to 69-3-17 - Repealed.
Section 69-3-18 - [Abandonment of mining claims; methods; encumbered claims.]
Section 69-3-19 to 69-3-21 - Repealed.
Section 69-3-22 - [Size of placer mining claims.]
Section 69-3-23 - [Regulations by private landowners as to mining locations; recording; amending.]
Section 69-3-24 - [No trespassing notices.]
Section 69-3-25 - [Penalty for trespass; exceptions.]
Section 69-3-26 - [Trespass against person rightfully in possession.]
Section 69-3-27 - [Trespass by livestock; liability of owner.]
Section 69-3-28 - [Termination of lease; thirty days' notice.]
Section 69-3-29 - [Terminating lease without notice; liability in damages; forfeiture of lease.]
Section 69-3-30 - [Stockholders; right of entry and examination of mines.]
Section 69-3-31 - [Denial to stockholders of right of entry; penalty.]