Does anyone have any experience with hard rock mineral rights / ownership? I’m trying to learn more about private mineral ownership for things like tin, graphite, coal, etc. but don’t know where to start. Is it anything like O&G mineral rights or a completely different beast? I’m use to the pretty well defined world of oil and gas leases and not sure if there’s similar contracts outside of O&G. Anything helps, but hopefully someone out there might actually own some interests and could add some detail around similarities or differences.
From what I remember all minerals are minerals whether they a gold or coal or lithium , minerals are minerals! Sorry can’t be more specific! Best of luck
In Texas Coal rights stay with the surface rights. I have mineral rights on land that was once owned by my father-in-law but is now a coal mine. He was forced to sell when a power plant was built near by. We recieve a royalty check every month from a producing gas well on the property. We get nothing from the coal the mine produces.
A quick rule of thumb is if the surface is destroyed to retrieve the “mineral” then the proceeds go to the land owner. The slower rule of thumb is check prior deeds for mineral reservations that may have included specific references to items like coal, iron ore etc.
The newest issue is about lithium extraction from saltwater produced from new wells explicitly drilled for the saltwater deposit. Water of all types generally belong to the surface owner unless they were sold.
Interesting read on some old wells is south west Arkansas I just got some old wells and Exxon is going to renter them for the lithium