BLM
Bureau of Land Management
What is the BLM? http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/About_BLM.html
From BLM's website: "The BLM’s multiple-use mission, set forth in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, mandates that we manage public land resources for a variety of uses, such as energy development, livestock grazing, recreation, and timber harvesting, while protecting a wide array of natural, cultural, and historical resources, many of which are found in the BLM's 27 million-acre National Landscape Conservation System. The conservation system includes 221 Wilderness Areas totaling 8.7 million acres, as well as 16 National Monuments comprising 4.8 million acres."
How does all the above apply to leveraging mining or other operations on BLM land? It all comes down to transferring the credit from whatever can reasonably be leveraged. While it is very good that that an operation has big dollar numbers involved...but it is very important that we stay intensely focused on gather whatever supporting data will allow the financial markets to leverage the title of assets.
Unless authenticated otherwise a mining project/BLM claim owner cannot leverage the underground assets...because he cannot call it his because it is not his. The property is federally-owned ...which means the government unless arranged otherwise would need to be beneficiary of leveraging...right? It is difficult to leverage something you don't own.
A bank most likely will not stand behind the value of a BLM claim on behalf the project owner because the mine/real estate does not actually belong to the owner. The project owner only possesses a lease or permit to mine on the lands but no ownership.
So when researching the possibility of leveraging BLM operations we need to see what collateral there is above the ground in general. It is possible that some mining equipment below ground could be considered.
It is very important to remember in regards to collateral funding that just a description of the asset itself is only 10% or less of what is really immediately important. It all comes down to the mechanisms for the transfer of credit. We have to ask hard questions so that time/expectations are not wasted working cluelessly with incomplete facts.
It is ok if not all a company's assets are 100% owned but we need to have the ownership/mortgage facts clear so we intelligently know what we are working with and how much equity an owner has in the collateral/assets.
INTERNATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
Outside of the United States...other countries have their own equivalent of the BLM although they may have their differences in regards to the rights of the claim/permit owner. Differences from country to country... may make it easier or harder...to leverage the value the claims. So it is important for a project/claim/permit owner to focus on the mechanisms that will transfer the credit from the title of assets/claims/permits/real estate/etc to the funding source as beneficiary.