A landman affiliated with the exploration company is offering us a Lithium Lease (Subsurface Mineral) on land in Alberta. I am wondering if anyone has thoughts on what range per acre the signing bonus should be? The land is between Calgary and Red Deer. I know this board is mostly for the USA, but we’re having trouble finding any information on Lithium Leases or who to ask or whether to wait. Apparently, they plan to start extracting lithium from subsurface water in the near future.
Not sure what Canadian law says, but US law varies by state as to who owns the water depending upon the source for the lithium extraction. In most US states, the surface owner owns lithium that is extracted from saline aquifers. In some states, if lithium is extracted from the water from an oil/gas well, the mineral estate owns the rights to the lithium. I have seen royalty offers in the US from 2% to 25% on the lithium. Your province oil & gas statutes would be a good place to start on the ownership part. Bonus amounts are often not public, but royalty rates may show up in the leases. Not sure if they are able to be searched online for Canada, but many US states have websites where leases can be found. US County courthouses are where the official documents are filed and searchable.