How Does a Mineral Deed Work? Definition

It's not uncommon to carve up various rights and sell them in the appropriate deeded form to interested parties. A Mineral Deed is one of these special deeds.

One of the things you should know before you try to sell or buy property is that you don't have to buy all of the rights or options available on that property. It's not uncommon for some sellers to carve up the various rights and sell them in the appropriate deeded form to different interested parties. One of these special deeds is known as the Mineral Deed.

A Mineral Deed typically applies to rights under the land itself. It provides the buyer with the option to extract those minerals, but the deed does not contain title to the surface land or any of the buildings attached to the property. The Mineral Deed does contain certain rights. Most of the time, it includes a reasonable provision that allows the mineral right owner to enter the land and to improve that portion of the land to remove the minerals. It almost always includes at least a partial license to remove and sell those minerals, though in some cases, the seller may retain a few rights. It also incorporates the right of the buyer to incorporate third party companies to help remove the minerals found on the property.

Mineral Deeds provide significantly more rights than a royalty deed, though the two both address the harvesting or extracting of minerals and their sale. The biggest right that a developer gets from a mineral deed that he cannot get from a royalty deed is the right to improve the land sufficiently to remove the minerals. These improvements could be anything from drills to pumps to processors. Some limitations do exist since the Mineral Deed doesn’t allow the new owner to take over all of the surface property, and he or she cannot keep the owner from using the property, either.

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This article contains general legal information and does not contain legal advice. Rocket Lawyer is not a law firm or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. The law is complex and changes often. For legal advice, please ask a lawyer.

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