The 2027 Assessment Year Starts September 1, 2026
By John Rocco - 30+ Years Experience | Published August 2026
Every mining claim on public land runs on the same clock: the BLM's assessment year begins September 1st. The payment you make by September 1, 2026 doesn't just cover "2026" - it secures your claim through what the BLM itself calls the 2027 assessment year (September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027). Here's the short version: nothing about the fees changed, the deadline is the same date it has always been, and if you take care of it now you don't have to think about it again until next August.
The Short Version
- ✓ No fee increase. Maintenance fee stays at $200 per claim ($200 per 20 acres for placer claims). BLM fees only adjust for inflation every 5 years, and the last adjustment was July 2024 - the next isn't due until around 2029.
- ✓ Deadline stays September 1, 2026 - a Tuesday. Unlike 2025 (Labor Day pushed it to Sept 2), there is no holiday shift this year.
- ✓ Small Miner's Waiver rules are unchanged - 10 or fewer claims nationwide, $100 of assessment work per claim, filed by the same September 1 deadline.
- ✓ Affidavit of Annual Assessment Work (for waiver filers) is due December 30, 2026 - a Wednesday, also no shift.
Why We're Calling It the "2027" Season
This trips people up every year, including plenty of long-time claim holders. Most sites (including, historically, some of our own pages) label the September deadline by the calendar year it falls in - so the payment due September 1, 2026 gets called the "2026 deadline." But the BLM's own paperwork calls the twelve months that payment buys you the 2027 assessment year. Pay by September 1, 2026, and you're covered through August 31, 2027 - hence "2027." Both labels point to the exact same payment and the exact same date. If you see either one, you're looking at the same deadline.
What Actually Changed
Almost nothing, and that's good news. Fee schedules only move once the BLM runs the 5-year Consumer Price Index adjustment required by law - the last one took effect July 1, 2024, bumping the maintenance fee from $165 to $200 and the location fee from $40 to $49. Those numbers hold for the 2027 assessment year. The one thing worth double-checking if you hold claims in Nevada: the state's November 1 county filing deadline falls on a Sunday this year. Nevada's own filing requirements don't spell out an automatic weekend rollover, so we'd recommend filing by Friday, October 30 to stay safely ahead of it rather than assuming a shift to Monday.
What to Do Before September 1
- Pay your maintenance fee - $200 per claim, online through BLM's Mineral & Land Records System (MLRS), by mail, or in person at your state BLM office.
- Or file the Small Miner's Waiver if you hold 10 or fewer claims nationwide and are doing $100/claim of assessment work instead.
- Nevada claimants: file your county/state paperwork early given the Sunday deadline quirk this year.
- New claims filed this year pay $274 total ($25 processing + $49 location + $200 first-year maintenance) and have 90 days from staking to record with the county and file with the BLM.
For the full state-by-state breakdown, payment options, and a complete calendar of every date that matters, see our complete BLM deadlines guide.
Questions about deadlines or fees? Contact us - we're happy to help.
- John Rocco, MiningClaimSales.com