Mineral Rights: What They Are and Who Owns Them

Mineral rights are the ownership of the oil, gas and other minerals under a tract of land, with the right to extract them or lease them to someone who will. They can be sold or kept apart from the surface. When that happens the land is a split estate: one party owns the surface and another owns the minerals.

Pillar, a land research software company, wrote this guide. The rules differ by state, so each statute and case below is an example from the state named. We checked every source on November 14, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the rules for your property with a licensed attorney in your state.

What are mineral rights?

Cornell's Wex legal dictionary defines mineral rights as "The ownership of rights to minerals, including oil and gas, contained in a tract of land," and says a mineral right "can be conveyed independently of the surface estate" (Wex, last reviewed June 2020). Michigan's environmental regulator describes the practical side: "A mineral right is a right to extract a mineral from the earth or to receive payment, in the form of royalty, for the extraction of minerals" (Michigan EGLE).

• They can be divided. The same page says "A person may own all the mineral rights for a parcel or any fraction of the rights," or rights "to only one kind of mineral, such as oil and gas, or to only one formation or depth interval."
• "Mineral" has no single meaning. Michigan's regulator says "there is no universal definition." Ohio's dormant mineral statute lists sand, gravel, clay and limestone as minerals (ORC 5301.56(A)(4)). The Texas Real Estate Commission's mineral reservation addendum goes the other way for contracts that use it. Its "Mineral Estate" does not include "water, sand, gravel, limestone, building stone, caliche, surface shale, near-surface lignite, and iron," though it does include reasonable use of those materials for mineral operations (TREC No. 44-3). Read the definition in the deed, contract or statute in front of you.

Mineral rights vs. surface rights: what is a split estate?

Surface rights are, in Michigan's words, "the right to the use of the surface of the land for residential, agricultural, recreational, commercial, or other purposes." North Carolina's required disclosure form names the two ways they separate: mineral rights "can be severed from the title to real property by conveyance (deed) of the mineral rights and/or oil and gas rights from the owner or by reservation of the mineral rights and/or oil and gas rights by the owner" (N.C.G.S. 47E-4.1).

An owner can deed the minerals away and keep the surface, or sell the surface and keep the minerals. Either way the result is a split estate.

The Bureau of Land Management sums up why this matters: when surface and subsurface rights are owned by different parties, "the mineral rights often take precedence over other rights" (BLM split estate page).

Can someone drill on my land if I don't own the minerals?

Often yes, within limits that depend on the state. North Carolina's disclosure form warns buyers that the owner of severed rights "may have the perpetual right to drill, mine, explore, and remove any of the subsurface mineral and/or oil or gas resources on or from the property either directly from the surface of the property or from a nearby location."

Two states show how the right and its limits are written.

• Texas: a dominant estate, limited by the accommodation doctrine. In Merriman v. XTO Energy (2013), the Texas Supreme Court wrote that "A party possessing the dominant mineral estate has the right to go onto the surface of the land to extract the minerals, as well as those incidental rights reasonably necessary for the extraction." To get relief under the accommodation doctrine, the surface owner must prove that "(1) the lessee's use completely precludes or substantially impairs the existing use, and (2) there is no reasonable alternative method available to the surface owner by which the existing use can be continued." A surface owner who proves both must then prove that the lessee has "alternative reasonable, customary, and industry-accepted methods" that would recover the minerals and let the existing use continue. Evidence that the surface owner's alternative is "merely more inconvenient or less economically beneficial" than the existing method does not carry the second burden.
• North Dakota: notice and payment for oil and gas drilling. Except for exploration governed by chapter 38-08.1, the mineral developer must give the surface owner written notice "by registered mail or hand delivery" of the planned oil and gas drilling "at least twenty days before commencement of drilling operations unless mutually waived by agreement of both parties." If the developer plans to start within twenty days of the date the mineral lease terminates, the notice "may be given at any time before commencement of drilling operations." A separate rule requires at least seven days' notice, by the same means and unless both parties waive it, before the first entry for activities that do not disturb the surface, such as inspections, staking and surveys. The developer "shall pay the surface owner a sum of money equal to the amount of damages sustained by the surface owner and the surface owner's tenant, if any, for lost land value, lost use of and access to the surface owner's land, and lost value of improvements caused by drilling operations." The payments cover only land directly affected by the drilling (N.D.C.C. 38-11.1-04 and 38-11.1-04.1).

When the federal government owns the minerals

Sometimes the party that kept the minerals is the United States. The Stock-Raising Homestead Act of 1916 says every patent issued under it "shall be subject to and contain a reservation to the United States of all the coal and other minerals in the lands so entered and patented, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same" (43 U.S.C. 299(a)). A BLM brochure marked as revised in 2007 says "The BLM manages 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate nationwide, including approximately 58 million acres where the surface is privately owned" (BLM split estate brochure).

• "Minerals" can include gravel. In Watt v. Western Nuclear (1983), the U.S. Supreme Court held "that gravel is a mineral reserved to the United States in lands patented under the SRHA." The company in that case owned land patented under the act and dug gravel from it to pave streets and sidewalks. The BLM determined that the removal was a trespass.
• A federal oil and gas operator must try to reach a surface agreement. On private surface over federal oil and gas, the operator "must make a good faith effort to notify the private surface owner before entry and make a good faith effort to obtain a Surface Access Agreement from the surface owner." If no agreement is reached, the operator must submit "an adequate bond (minimum of $1,000)" to the BLM for the surface owner's benefit, and "Surface owners have the right to appeal the sufficiency of the bond" (43 CFR 3171.19).

Do mineral rights expire? Dormant mineral acts

In some states an unused severed interest can pass to the surface owner.

• Ohio: 20 years, then notice and recorded filings. A mineral interest held by someone other than the surface owner is deemed abandoned and vests in the surface owner if the statute's steps are completed and no saving event, such as a recorded title transaction or actual production, happened in the 20 years before notice. The surface owner serves notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, on each holder at the last known address, or publishes it at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in each county where the land lies if service cannot be completed. At least 30 and not later than 60 days after notice, the owner records an affidavit of abandonment. A holder has 60 days after notice to record a claim to preserve or an affidavit naming a saving event. If none is recorded, the surface owner records a notice of failure to file, and the interest vests once that notice is recorded. Coal interests and interests held by governments are outside the statute (ORC 5301.56).
• North Dakota: 20 years unused, then publication. A mineral interest unused for the 20 years before the first publication of notice is deemed abandoned unless a statement of claim was recorded. The surface owner publishes a notice of lapse "once each week for three weeks in the official county newspaper," and must also mail a copy within ten days after the last publication if the mineral owner's address is of record or can be found by the reasonable inquiry the statute defines. A copy of the notice and an affidavit of service "must be recorded" with the county recorder. The record owner can still keep the interest by filing, within 60 days after the first publication, a statement of claim or documents showing a listed use during the 20 years. A person other than the record owner can respond in the same 60 days with a sworn affidavit or declaration explaining the basis of the claimed title, with supporting documents or an explanation of why there are none. Interests owned by a governmental body are not covered (N.D.C.C. ch. 38-18.1).
• Michigan: 20 years, oil and gas only. A severed oil or gas interest is deemed abandoned and vests in the surface owner after 20 years with no recorded sale, lease, mortgage or transfer, drilling permit, production or gas storage use, unless its owner records a claim of interest within that period (MCL 554.291). The state regulator notes that the act "applies only to oil or gas rights and not to other mineral rights" and exempts interests owned by a governmental body.

Under Louisiana's Mineral Code, "A mineral servitude is extinguished by" several events, the first being "prescription resulting from nonuse for ten years" (La. R.S. 31:27). Montana State University's extension guide, revised in January 2017, says "Mineral ownership never lapses in Montana" (MSU Extension).

How to find out who owns the mineral rights to a property

No single lookup answers this. You trace the title backward to the document that split the minerals from the surface, then forward from that document to today.

1. Start with the current deed and its legal description. Read the whole deed for words such as "reserving," "excepting" or "subject to" near any mention of oil, gas or minerals. A deed that says nothing settles little, because the split may sit in an earlier deed.
2. Ask the seller in writing. North Carolina requires the owner in covered transfers to disclose whether mineral or oil and gas rights were severed by a previous owner, have been severed by the seller, or will be severed before title transfers. For a previous owner's severance the seller may answer "No Representation" (N.C.G.S. 47E-4.1). Treat a seller's answer as a lead, not proof.
3. Walk the chain backward in the county land records. Use the grantor and grantee indexes to pull each earlier deed, one owner at a time. Our chain of title guide shows the method. Montana State University's guide gives the test: "By carefully reading the deeds you can determine if mineral rights were ever severed or withheld. If they are severed, a separate mineral deed should be referenced."
4. Do not stop at 30 or 40 years. A search that covers only a marketable title period can end before it reaches the split. Oklahoma's marketable title act, for example, is not applied "to bar or extinguish any mineral or royalty interest which has been severed from the fee simple title of the land" (16 O.S. 76).
5. Pull the original patent. In the public land states the chain often begins with a federal patent. The BLM's General Land Office Records site offers "images of more than five million federal land title records issued since 1820" (BLM land records). Look up the patent at glorecords.blm.gov using the land's township, range and section, and read the image for a reservation of minerals to the United States. The site "does not contain every federal title record issued," so a BLM state office may hold the rest.
6. Trace the minerals forward from the split. Look up the person who kept or received the minerals in the same indexes, and follow every later mineral deed, lease and probate. Then check whether a dormant mineral act applies and whether its steps were completed.
7. Know when to hire help. The MSU guide says you can hire an attorney, a title company or a landman, a professional "with expertise in researching mineral titles." The Texas addendum is blunter: "A full examination of the title to the Property completed by an attorney with expertise in this area is the only proper means for determining title to the Mineral Estate with certainty." Hire one before you pay for minerals or plan a project that depends on the answer.

An ordinary title search or policy may not cover minerals

• Texas. The state's title commitment form tells buyers that the policy "is not an abstract of title nor does a Company have an obligation to determine the ownership of any mineral interest," and that "MINERALS AND MINERAL RIGHTS may not be covered by the Policy" (Form T-7).
• Colorado. When a title company determines that a mineral estate has been severed, the commitment for an owner's policy must include a written statement that there is recorded evidence that a mineral estate has been severed, leased or otherwise conveyed from the surface estate, that "there is a substantial likelihood that a third party holds some or all interest in oil, gas, other minerals, or geothermal energy in the property," and that the mineral estate "may include the right to enter and use the property without the surface owner's permission" (C.R.S. 10-11-123).
• North Dakota. On request, an abstracter must furnish a surface abstract that leaves out mineral transfers "except instruments which sever mineral rights or royalties from surface rights," or a separate mineral abstract (N.D.C.C. 43-01-15.1). Our abstract of title guide explains how to read one.

What are mineral rights worth?

We give no price range, because the sources we rely on do not. Michigan's regulator says "the rights to develop minerals, and the purchase and sale of those rights, are private contractual matters that must be negotiated between the parties involved." The MSU guide says "An income approach is commonly used to assess mineral value": the recoverable mineral is estimated and multiplied by the expected price, with production costs taken into account and a discount for time.

Buying or developing land without the mineral rights

Read the reservation, not just the list of exceptions

A mineral reservation can show up in the deed that created it, in later deeds that repeat it, and in the title commitment, where it is listed as an exception. Our title commitment guide explains where exceptions sit. Get the recorded document and read it for four things:

1. Which substances. All minerals, oil and gas only, or coal only.
2. What share. All of the minerals or an undivided fraction.
3. Surface rights. Whether the right to enter and use the surface was kept or waived.
4. Who holds it now, and whether a lease is recorded against it.

Give yourself time in the contract. Colorado's land contract form, mandatory from January 1, 2026, has a Mineral Rights Examination Deadline: "Buyer has a Right to Terminate if examination of the Mineral Rights is unsatisfactory to Buyer on or before the Mineral Rights Examination Deadline" (Colorado CBS4, section 8.9).

Surface use agreements and waivers

A surface use agreement between a surface owner and a mineral owner, in Wex's words, "outlines the rights and responsibilities of each party with regards to use of the surface." The Colorado contract warns that a memorandum or other notice of one may be recorded with the county clerk and recorder. Under the federal rule above, a Surface Access Agreement "may include terms or conditions of use, be a waiver, or an agreement for compensation."

On a development site, look for an existing agreement first and read where it allows wells, roads and pipelines. A waiver from one party may not be enough. The Texas addendum lets a seller who reserves minerals waive "rights of ingress and egress and of reasonable use of the Property," but warns that surface rights held by other mineral owners or existing lessees "will NOT be affected by Seller's election." Ask the title company about endorsements too. The American Land Title Association's forms list includes the 35 series, "Minerals and Other Subsurface Substances," including a version titled Land Under Development (ALTA policy forms). Our deed restrictions guide shows how to search for recorded limits on a property.

Development approvals that involve the mineral owner

Two states write the mineral owner into the development process.

• Colorado: notice before the first hearing. "Not less than thirty days before the date scheduled for the initial public hearing by a local government on an application for development, the applicant shall send notice, by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by a nationally recognized overnight courier," to the mineral estate owners the statute identifies and to the local government. Those owners are the ones identified in the county tax assessor's records, if those records are searchable by parcel number or legal description, and the ones who have filed a request for notification with the county clerk and recorder. Before it convenes the hearing, the local government must require the applicant to certify that the notice was given. Three conditions narrow the duty. When an applicant files more than one application for the same new surface development, the applicant sends notice only for the initial hearing on the first one, and the local government notifies owners who register of later hearings. If the records do not identify any mineral estate owners, "including their addresses of record," the applicant "shall not be subject to further obligations under this article." And an owner may waive the right to notice in writing (C.R.S. 24-65.5-103). An "application for development" includes a sketch plan, a preliminary or final subdivision plat and a planned unit development. Building permit applications are among the listed exclusions. "Mineral estate owner" includes a lessee (C.R.S. 24-65.5-102).
• Texas: drill sites drawn on the plat. Surface owners can create a "qualified subdivision" on a tract of not more than 640 acres in a county with a population above 400,000, in a county above 140,000 that borders one, or on a barrier island. The tract must be subdivided for residential, commercial or industrial use and contain an operations site of two or more acres "for each separate 80 acres," with road and pipeline easements. Once the Railroad Commission approves the plat, after a hearing with notice to the owners of possessory mineral interests, and it is filed with the county clerk, those owners "may use only the surface contained in designated operations sites" and the designated easements needed to use them. The limit ends if, by the third anniversary of the commission's final order, the surface owner has not started building roads or utilities and no lot has been sold to a third party (Tex. Nat. Res. Code ch. 92).

Questions to answer before an offer

1. Were the minerals ever severed, by a deed or by the patent? Who answers: the deed chain and the patent.
2. Who owns them now, and in what shares? Who answers: a landman or an attorney who examines mineral title.
3. Is a lease or surface use agreement recorded? Who answers: the county land records.
4. What can the mineral owner do on the surface in this state? Who answers: an attorney in that state.
5. Will the title policy cover minerals, and is an endorsement available? Who answers: the title company.
6. Does the approval process require notice to mineral owners? Who answers: the planning office.

Where Pillar fits

Pillar's property search shows a parcel's boundary with the ownership, acreage, zoning and land use from its record. That helps you find the parcel, its county and its owner of record. Mineral title still has to come from the recorded deeds.

Quick answers

Do I own the mineral rights to my property? Only a title search can tell you. The minerals may have been reserved in an earlier deed or in the original patent.

How do I find out who owns the mineral rights? Trace the deeds backward in the county records to the document that severed the minerals, then follow the mineral owner's deeds, leases and probates forward.

Can someone drill on my land if I do not own the minerals? Often yes. In Texas, for example, the mineral estate is dominant, subject to the accommodation doctrine. North Dakota adds notice and damage payments for oil and gas drilling by statute.

Do mineral rights expire? In some states. Ohio and North Dakota let a surface owner claim an interest unused for 20 years after notice steps, and Michigan's 20-year act covers oil and gas only.

Can I buy land without the mineral rights? Yes. A deed can convey the surface alone. Before you offer, find out who holds the minerals, whether a lease or surface use agreement is recorded, and what state law lets the mineral owner do on the surface.

Does title insurance cover mineral rights? Not necessarily. Texas's commitment form says minerals "may not be covered by the Policy." In Colorado, a title agent or company must put a written statement in the commitment for an owner's policy "when it is determined that a mineral estate has been severed from the surface estate."