Mineral rights and land ownership rights are legally distinct. How they are handled varies by location…
The concrete company, by owning the mineral rights, will own any minerals beneath the land surface that are enumerated in the mineral rights deed. (This could be a blanket deed covering any mineral of value, or it could specify only for a certain mineral known to exist there).
You, by owning the property surface, own the surface and any buildings, utilities, and infrastructure such installed.
It is a two way street that from both parties. You cannot dig for the minerals yourself, as those are the right of the concrete company; the company also has a right to the minerals under each if they choose to start extracting, and you may or may not be able to legally stop them. But there are legal avenues to restrict how much damage to the land they can do, local environmental and right of way codes, and they can’t just demolish existing developments if there’s a house, roads, or other improvements on the land.
Source: my mother’s family used to own a ranch in Southern California that was long ago sold off and developed. Her family retained the mineral rights to a few hundred acres of that development, under which was found some oil in the early 2000s. A smaller local oil contractor formed separate agreements with the landowners of the surface and to lease the mineral rights from my mother. This ensured them access to agreed upon locations inside the development to set up pump jacks on the surface to extract the oil.
The real answer is going to be “get a lawyer”. You need to do a proper deed search to determine who owns the mineral rights and what they enumerate, and if there are any legal restrictions in your jurisdiction that can apply to the extraction of those rights. Once you know who and what, contact the owner of the mineral rights PRIOR to purchase and see if they have future development plans that might impact your decision to purchase, and ask for their legal department so you can draw up a specific contract that controls development of the mineral rights to eliminate future confusion.
If you buy this property you’re going to be sitting there waiting for the day they send you a letter to tell you they’re expanding their mine onto your property.
That’s a level of uncertainty that I would not be comfortable with for my home. If it’s “recreation” property, like hunting land, then maybe I would feel differently.
Mineral rights and land ownership rights are legally distinct. How they are handled varies by location…
The concrete company, by owning the mineral rights, will own any minerals beneath the land surface that are enumerated in the mineral rights deed. (This could be a blanket deed covering any mineral of value, or it could specify only for a certain mineral known to exist there). You, by owning the property surface, own the surface and any buildings, utilities, and infrastructure such installed.
It is a two way street that from both parties. You cannot dig for the minerals yourself, as those are the right of the concrete company; the company also has a right to the minerals under each if they choose to start extracting, and you may or may not be able to legally stop them. But there are legal avenues to restrict how much damage to the land they can do, local environmental and right of way codes, and they can’t just demolish existing developments if there’s a house, roads, or other improvements on the land.
Source: my mother’s family used to own a ranch in Southern California that was long ago sold off and developed. Her family retained the mineral rights to a few hundred acres of that development, under which was found some oil in the early 2000s. A smaller local oil contractor formed separate agreements with the landowners of the surface and to lease the mineral rights from my mother. This ensured them access to agreed upon locations inside the development to set up pump jacks on the surface to extract the oil.
The real answer is going to be “get a lawyer”. You need to do a proper deed search to determine who owns the mineral rights and what they enumerate, and if there are any legal restrictions in your jurisdiction that can apply to the extraction of those rights. Once you know who and what, contact the owner of the mineral rights PRIOR to purchase and see if they have future development plans that might impact your decision to purchase, and ask for their legal department so you can draw up a specific contract that controls development of the mineral rights to eliminate future confusion.
I haven’t bought it yet, mainly because of this, It’s Aroostook County, ME.
If you buy this property you’re going to be sitting there waiting for the day they send you a letter to tell you they’re expanding their mine onto your property.
That’s a level of uncertainty that I would not be comfortable with for my home. If it’s “recreation” property, like hunting land, then maybe I would feel differently.
Yeah, I passed. It’s too bad though. It’s a gorgeous, enormous, modern house on 100 acres of land.