Holders of unpatented mining claims were convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, K Russel Holland, J., of residing and working on unpatented mining claim without having sought, filed for or having obtained permit (Plan of Operations) from Forest Service. Defendants appealed. The Court of Appeals, Cynthia Holcomb Hall, Circuit Judge, held that Paperwork Reduction Act precluded conviction,

Reversed.

1. Mines and Minerals _key 95

Knowledge and reliance was not a prerequisite for asserting, in prosecution of holders of unpatented mining claim for residing and working on claim without having sought, filed for or having obtained permit from Forest Service, affirmative defense that Paperwork Reduction Act prohibited prosecution because filing requirement lacked a current control number. 44 U S C A §§ 3504, 3507, 3507(a, f), 3512.

* The panel finds this case appropriate for submission without oral argument pursuant to Ninth

Circuit Rule 34-4 and Fed. R. App. P. 34(a).