C.R.S. § 34-44-101 Legislative declaration
34-44-101. Legislative declaration. This article shall be construed as a remedial law, intended to promote mining activity, and shall be liberally construed in favor of the working tenant.
Tenants in Common of Mines
C.R.S. tit. 34, art. 44
in effectC.R.S. § 34-44-102 Definitions
34-44-102. Definitions. As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Mine" includes all real property acquired, used, or chiefly valuable for mining purposes.
(2) "Mining operation" includes all acts constituting the prospecting, development, and working of a mine, including the milling and sale of ore, minerals, and mine products, which are carried out with reasonable diligence from the beginning of work until completion of the operation, or until abandonment, or termination by law.
(3) "Person" includes a corporation, partnership, firm, association of persons, personal representative, heir, assignee, trustee, or receiver.
(4) "Tenant" includes tenant in common, joint tenant, or coparcener.
C.R.S. § 34-44-103 Mine owners - tenants in common - rights
34-44-103. Mine owners - tenants in common - rights. If two or more persons own any mine they shall be considered tenants in common. Any one or more such tenants in common shall have the right to enter upon, occupy, prospect, develop, and work said mine in a minerlike manner, extracting, milling, and disposing of the ore from the common property without the consent of any nonworking tenant in common, subject to accounting to the nonworking tenant in common for his proportionate share of the net profits of such mining operations.
C.R.S. § 34-44-104 Accounting - items considered
34-44-104. Accounting - items considered. In said accounting, the working tenant shall be permitted to set off against the proceeds of such mining operation all expenditures and expenses of said work, including: The building and repairing of such roads, whether public or private, as are necessary or expedient to furnish economical transportation to mill or reduction works or railroad; prospecting, development work, and mining, including openings and appliances for ventilation and drainage, and dead work generally; the purchase, installation, maintenance, and operation of tools, machinery, equipment, and appliances for prospecting, developing, and working the mine, and of transporting ore and products, and all other expenses reasonably incident to or arising out of such mining operation. In said accounting, the working tenant shall be allowed setoff for the reasonable value of his service actually rendered in or upon the operation, but the amount of compensation shall not exceed the current rate of wages or compensation for work of like character in the community in which said mine is situate, and shall also be allowed setoff for his expenditures and expenses in prospecting unless it clearly and convincingly appears that said prospecting was done in bad faith with willful intent to injure or defraud the nonworking tenant.
C.R.S. § 34-44-105 Contribution from tenants - liens
34-44-105. Contribution from tenants - liens. No working tenant shall have any right to demand contribution from any nonworking tenant, except out of the proceeds or net profits of such mining operation; and no lien shall be created or attach to the interest of the nonworking tenant, but only to the interest of the working tenant.
C.R.S. § 34-44-106 Statement - disposition of profits
34-44-106. Statement - disposition of profits. The working tenant shall render to the nonworking tenant, at least once in every six months after commencing said operation and also within thirty days after completing said operation, a written statement giving a true, full, and fair account of all of the expenditures and expenses of said work and mining operation, and of the proceeds of all ore or minerals extracted and sold, and the net profits or losses of the operation from the beginning of said operation to the date of such statement. If said operation has been conducted at a net profit the working tenant shall at once pay to the nonworking tenant his proportionate share of said net profits, and if he fails to do so, his right to continue such mining operation under the provisions of this article shall at once cease. In case the address of any nonworking tenant is unknown, or he has failed to notify the working tenant of a place at which, or an agent to whom, payment may be made, or if he cannot be conveniently found so that payment may be made to him of his proportionate share of said net profits, or in case any nonworking tenant is dead and there is no known executor or administrator of his estate in the state of Colorado qualified to receive such statement and payment, the working tenant may deposit said statement and payment with the state treasurer who shall receive said deposit under the same obligations and with like effect as other deposits made under the provisions of section 15-12-914, C.R.S.
C.R.S. § 34-44-107 Actions of accounting - setoffs
34-44-107. Actions of accounting - setoffs. On and after April 13, 1923, in all actions for an accounting between tenants in common of any mine, the working tenant shall be allowed to establish his expenditures and expenses, by way of setoff against the proceeds and profits of the operation, without being required to show either that the improvements were necessary or that they enhanced the value of the property.
C.R.S. § 34-44-108 Notice to tenants - contents - effect
34-44-108. Notice to tenants - contents - effect. (1) Any tenant in common of any mine who commences to work the same without the consent of the other tenants in common and who desires to avail himself of the benefits of this article shall give a written notice to the other tenants in common interested in said mine stating his intention to work said mine. The notice shall describe the property by name, patent survey number, or book and page of the recorded location certificate, or other certain description, and shall give the name and post-office address of the working tenant, or the name and post-office address of the lessee where the proposed work is to be done under lease, the general plan, the date of commencing said mining operation, and the probable duration thereof, and shall invite the other tenants in common of said mine to join in said operation.
(2) Such notice shall be served, within ten days after its date, upon all other tenants in common by delivering a copy personally, or by depositing the same in the mail, postage prepaid, addressed to such person at his last-known address. If any tenant in common cannot be served in this manner within ten days after the date of said notice, the notice shall be recorded within twenty days after its date in the office of the recorder of the county in which said mine is situated, and such record, from and after its recording, shall be constructive notice to all persons not otherwise notified.
(3) Any tenant in common in said mine shall have the right, within twenty days after the receipt of said notice by him personally, or within thirty days after the record of said notice in case he has not otherwise received notice or obtained knowledge of said mining operation, to join in said mining operation to the extent of his proportionate interest in said mine, upon giving to the working tenant written notice of his intention so to do, and upon paying to the working tenant his proportionate part of the expenditures and expenses of said mining operation from the date of commencing work to the date of so joining in said mining operation.
(4) In the event that any working tenant does not give the notice provided in this section, and serve or record the notice as provided in this section, he shall be denied any rights, benefits, or remedies created or conferred by this article, and shall have only such rights and remedies and be under such duties and liabilities as existed by law prior to April 13, 1923.
C.R.S. § 34-44-109 Setoff rules applicable - when
34-44-109. Setoff rules applicable - when. The provisions of this article, as to the principles and rules of decision relating to setoff in accounting, shall apply to all actions for accounting between tenants in common of mines in which a final judgment or decree of accounting has not been made and entered of record.
C.R.S. § 34-44-110 Leases - rights and duties of lessee
34-44-110. Leases - rights and duties of lessee. Any tenant in common, joint tenant, or coparcener in any mine shall have the right to lease his interest therein, and his lessee shall in such case be entitled to all the rights, benefits, and remedies, and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations of a working tenant as provided in this article.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-34.docxFetched: 10/6/2026