(a) Labor shall be performed or improvements made annually on or for the benefit or development of each mining claim, leasehold location, and mining lease on state land except that, where adjacent claims, leasehold locations, or mining leases are held in common, the expenditure may be made on any one claim, leasehold location, or mining lease. The commissioner shall establish the date of the commencement of the year during which the labor or improvements are to be performed. Labor shall be performed at the following annual rates: (1) $100 per claim, leasehold location, or lease if the claim, leasehold location, or lease is a quarter-quarter section MTRSC claim, leasehold location, or lease; (2) $400 for each quarter section MTRSC claim, leasehold location, or lease; and (3) $100 for each partial or whole 40 acres of each mining claim, leasehold location, or lease not established using the MTRSC system. If more work is performed than is required by this section to be performed in any one year, the excess value may be applied against labor required to be done during the subsequent year or years, for as many as four years. Instead of performing annual labor, the holder of a claim, leasehold location, or mining lease may make a cash payment to the state equal to the value of the labor required by this subsection.

(b) During the year in which annual labor is required or within 90 days after the close of that year, the owner of the mining claim, leasehold location, or mining lease, or some other person having knowledge of the facts shall record with the recorder of the district in which the claim, leasehold location, or mining lease is located a signed statement setting out the information, as may be required by the commissioner, concerning the annual labor of the preceding year, any labor in excess of that required for the preceding year, and any payment of cash instead of annual labor. The statement, properly recorded, is prima facie evidence of the performance of the labor. The failure of one of several co-owners to contribute the proportion of the expenditures required for annual labor from the co-owner shall be treated in accordance with AS 38.05.215 - 38.05.235.

(c) The statement of annual labor required in (b) of this section may be amended within two years of the date by which the annual labor statement was required to be recorded. An amended statement shall be recorded for record in the same manner as the original statement. Additional labor claimed in an amended statement may not be applied against labor required to be done during a subsequent year.

(d) [Repealed, § 10 ch 101 SLA 1989.]