Private land claims

[Steel Pan]

A question possed to me a couple of days ago by a concerned property owner.

"Can anyone file a claim on my land and therefore require me to allow them access?"

I really couldn't give them an answer to that. I would think, yes, they would have the right to access even on private ground due to their mineral rights. :hmmmmm:

Input please,.... :unsure:

[Sonoran Dave]

Not sure about the laws in your area, but up here, owners of the mineral rights have to come to an agreement with the owners of the surface rights.

short answer: no mining...without payment

[Bedrock Bob]

That is the way that I understand it. Private land owners have surface rights. A mineral claimaint does not if someone else owns surface rights, and generally private land has no mineral rights.

Just as a rancher who is leasing must work with a miner who has a claim, so does a private owner where mineral rights are still held by the public.

[sawmill]

Steel Pan

That is a question with about a zillion

different answers.

Some states do allow miners to go after the

minerals on others private property. But it

is hardly ever worth all the bonds,and expense

to repair the surface,and meet other demands

set by the land owner.

My wife's family owns several square miles

of land in New Mexico.They own the mineral

rights under every square foot. There is lots

of private land where the surface owner also

owns the mineral rights. The man that owns

the ranch next to my claims,owns the mineral

rights on his private ground too.

Also there is lots of land that the mineral

rights were retained by the original owner,

or sold to mining or other companies. Some

mineral rights are held by trusts,and holding

companies too. The first thing to determine is

just who does own the rights. Sometimes it

can take years to find the answer,if they were

sold,willed,or left in a trust. You would be

surprised at how many sections of BLM land

that the government doesn't own the mineral

rights on.

[Bedrock Bob]

A question possed to me a couple of days ago by a concerned property owner.

"Can anyone file a claim on my land and therefore require me to allow them access?"

I really couldn't give them an answer to that. I would think, yes, they would have the right to access even on private ground due to their mineral rights. :hmmmmm:

Input please,.... :unsure:

If the rights are public domain and the area is not withdrawn the answer is yes, anyone can file on the mineral rights. No one can access your private property without permission, regardless of the mineral status, unless they get a judgement in their favor.

But if the mineral estate is public domain and anyone can file, then so can the landowner. He can file on his own private property just as easily as anyone else can.

The trick is that if a person were to file a claim they would have to find a valuable mineral deposit for it to be valid. And when they were exploring for that valuable mineral deposit they would be tresspassing on private land unless they had permission. If I had private land that someone had filed a claim on I would go and file tresspassing charges and use the location form as evidence. I dont know if it would work but I bet that I could raise a stink along those lines.

The only case that I have ever heard of where "mineral" rights trumped private property is in the case of oil drilling where the State retained mineral rights on parcels of private ranch land and forced the owners to allow drilling. I do know where an owner of a big parcel of mining land found that he did not hold mineral rights to all of it and had to parlay with the holders of the mineral rights. He ultimately prevailed because he had the surface rights and the upper hand. But he had to buy the mineral rights to his own private property!

Your example makes good conversation. This discussion has been ongoing for a couple hundred years now and there are many good observations and very few definite answers.

[lotsa luck]

Many privately owned land was done so with the fed's retaining mineral rights and under the SRHA anyone can file a legal notice of intent with the property owner and then have 90 days to search the private property for valuable minerals and theres not a dang thing the owner can do about it for 90 days. The filing party can prospect right under their front porch if he wants. A legal mineral claim can be made during this time period and after the 90 day period there must be an agreement including bonding or financial between BLM and the claimant or the owner and the claimant to continue mining. Thats when the property owner gains some ground on what is being done on their property. We just went through this while helping a local property owner fight off a claimant that was trying to use the law in order to gain recreational access to his land. It worked for them for almost a year until BLM's feet were held to the fire to stop them. The claim however is still valid to this day as they continue to file small miner's on it.