If the government owns 1/3 of the mineral rights, who owns the rest? Big oil? Nope, they are minor mineral interest owners. Almost all of their interest comes from leasing and producing activities.
Mark,
“In some jurisdictions, an interest that becomes “too small” is quashed by administration of state law* and the interest is returned to the surface owner.”
Please cite your authority, I have never heard such a thing.
Dillon said:
General Statement:
In almost every other country in the world the govt owns all the mineral rights (oil, gold, silver, etc). That being the case, we shouldn’t be assholes all the time leasing here as it’s so much easier to lease in some of the other countries where you don’t have to deal with so many people.
Still in the USA the local, state & federal governments own over 1/3rd of the land - most with the mineral rights.
I’d make a wild guess that less than 15% of the people in the USA own mineral rights & if you exclude those with less than a 5 acre interest it’d be less than 3%.