[Rockhounds] Fossils - Is Ownership Governed by Surface Rights or Mineral Rights ?

[Tim Fisher]

I have seen the exact same situation play out in Oregon. In the end the
mineral rights owner let it drop, the cost of suing the landowner was more
than the potential gain he would have from extracting the minerals (agate
LOL).

Tim Fisher
Orerockon.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Rockhounds [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com] On
Behalf Of Alan Goldstein
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2018 7:59 PM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: [Rockhounds] Fossils - Is Ownership Governed by Surface Rights or
Mineral Rights ?

I know of a case in Kentucky where person 1 owned the mineral rights and
person 2 owned the land. When person 1 negotiated the opening of a limestone
quarry, person 2 sued claiming the surface was not part of mineral rights.
He won. But if it was a coal mine, he would have lost even though the land
would have been strip-mined to access the coal underground. The limestone
quarry is still operating. 

Go figure.

Alan G.

-----Original Message-----
From: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> On Behalf Of
Tim Fisher
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2018 10:38 PM
To: 'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors'
<rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Fossils - Is Ownership Governed by Surface Rights
or Mineral Rights ?

I've been following this since it was first reported a couple years ago. I
would caution that this is a very state-specific issue, the law as applied
to private property varies state to state and even default ownership changed
based on dates within a state. Much like water appropriation law, "first in
time first in right" often trumps current law. Many of these disputes
predate the 1872 mining law where the first attempt to "legally" define a
mineral at least at the federal government level was made (to my knowledge).
Unlike the concurrent Marsh-Cope "bone wars", oil wars were a thing of the
future and that's where subsurface rights got real tricky and real
state-specific. Someone will inevitably try to make generalizations but the
eventual decision won't be applicable everywhere, and not at all on federal
land.

Tim Fisher
Orerockon.com
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