The only mineral occurrences in the state's mineral records near Section 28 are road-gravel pits and one CO2 occurrence; by law common gravel cannot be claimed

recordconfirmed

2026-09 · dir-003 · Utah Geospatial Resource Center, Valar Atomics, Carbon County

Utah's mineral occurrence records (the USGS / Utah Geological and Mineral Survey records compiled by UGRC) list six occurrences within about 6 km of Section 28: all are sand-and-gravel pits in pediment gravels (Utah Department of Highways pits 04024, 04025 and 04026 northeast of the Wellington rodeo ground, the Wellington NE and NW gravel pits, and the Soldier Creek upper gravel pits), described as road metal, riprap and aggregate. The CRIB mineral-location layer adds one carbon dioxide occurrence. Federal law says no deposit of common varieties of sand, stone or gravel is a valuable mineral deposit under the mining laws unless it has a distinct and special value (30 U.S.C. 611), and carbon dioxide is obtained by lease, not by claim. No vein or lode deposit of a locatable mineral is on record there in these databases. A lode claim requires a vein or lode discovered within it (Utah Code 40-1-1; dir-004). Absence from these databases does not prove no mineral exists.

In plain termsThe government's mineral records for the area around the claim show only gravel pits for road building, plus some carbon dioxide underground. Ordinary gravel cannot be held with a mining claim, and carbon dioxide is obtained by lease, not by claim. A lode claim is supposed to cover a mineral vein. None is recorded there. That does not prove there is none, but it is the question Valar's claim raises.

Utah mineral occurrence records (UGRC 'Minerals'; USGS/UGMS records) within about 6 km of Section 28 (Utah Geospatial Resource Center (USGS / Utah Geological and Mineral Survey records)) primary government
Utah mineral locations (CRIB) within about 6 km of Section 28 (Utah Geospatial Resource Center) primary government
30 U.S.C. 611 (common varieties not valuable mineral deposits) (Legal Information Institute (Cornell), text of the U.S. Code) primary government “No deposit of common varieties of sand, stone, gravel”
30 U.S.C. 181 (deposits subject to the Mineral Leasing Act) (Legal Information Institute (Cornell), text of the U.S. Code) primary government “or gas, and lands containing such deposits owned by the United States”

verified 2026-10-02: Map layer read in late September 2026 for the area about 110.62-110.76 W, 39.53-39.64 N. Corrected in late September 2026: lease wording restated. Corrected 2026-09-30: The State's map layer cited here (Utah Geospatial Resource Center, hosted on ArcGIS Online) was checked in late September 2026; no copy of it is kept, and the figures rest on the cited layer as it stood that day.

In tabs: Mining Claims, Carbon County Site