How to Locate Lost Mineral Rights
In the United States, mineral rights are owned by individuals or businesses. State laws govern how mineral rights transfer from one entity to another. If you do not understand mineral rights law, you may need an attorney to explain how it applies to your situation. If you research it yourself, you will be inquiring with knowledgeable neighbors and searching your county's records.
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Instructions
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Gemstones and metals require mineral rights if you wish to remove them from the ground. Ask neighbors currently leasing rights to mine properties in your vicinity. The owner of the mineral rights may lease them to a mining company. It may be as simple as asking the right person the right questions and following up on what you learned for confirmation.
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The click of a mouse often brings up your county's records. Find evidence of who owns the mineral rights on your property by studying all the transfers of ownership from the very beginning of your county's records. Sometimes, the mineral rights transfer along with surface rights as the property changes hands. In other situations, the mineral rights sell separately. If county records are online, input your legal description into the compute and note the search results.
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Your county clerk's office houses records of real estate transfers for your county. Visit the county clerk's office if your county records are not available online. Ask them for help in finding the index book related to your legal description.
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Geodes full of amethyst crystals mined from the earth. Verify you have located the correct index book. Search beginning with the most recent transactions. Work your way from the present back in time by reverse chronological order until you see a transaction you recognize.
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Mining for petroleum products is big business. Compile a sequence of all transfers from the earliest records to the present. Go to the oldest entries in the index book or in the list of transfers available online and begin working yourself forward in time. This will constitute the real meat of your search efforts. Your research should result in a complete list of mineral rights transfers on your property up to the present date.
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Tips & Warnings
You only need concern yourself with transfers that took place in the quarter (of the section noted in your legal description) you are searching. If the property is in the northwest quarter of a given section, for instance, look only at ownership transfers that took place in the NW quarter. The mineral rights transferred may include all mineral rights or they may be limited to just the gemstones or just the coal, for instance.
Frederick Scott CMM, RPL, author of "How Can I Locate Who Owns the Mineral Rights Under My Land?" for MineralHub.com says, "You will need to find all of the instances where the minerals have changed hands over the years and keep track of the divisions from the beginning in order to determine who owns what currently." Many people employ an attorney or title company to do this research. To ensure that you understand all legal ramifications, consult an attorney before making any decisions regarding mineral rights on your property.
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- Photo Credit oil well image by michael langley from Fotolia.com mineral image by Benjamin Herzog from Fotolia.com Woman hand on computer mouse. image by Christopher Meder from Fotolia.com part of the old big book. image by Yuri Bizgaimer from Fotolia.com amethyst 2 image by Jim Parkin from Fotolia.com pipeline image by Jim Parkin from Fotolia.com Close-up of coal image by Marek Kosmal from Fotolia.com
