What are mineral rights and how do they work? 

If you’re looking ranches for sale in Texas, it’s likely you’ve seen or heard the term “mineral rights”. Mineral rights may or may not be sold with the land, so it’s important to understand what you’re acquiring when you purchase a property. This article explains the basics of mineral rights. If you need specific information on mineral rights for a property, please consult with an attorney as real estate agents cannot give legal advice.  

What are “minerals”? 

Before answering the question, “what are mineral rights?”, let’s review the definition of minerals.  

Minerals include all substances that fall within the ordinary and natural meaning of the word. These can be solid, liquid, or gas and generally include: 

• Oil 
• Natural gases 
• Uranium 
• Coal 
• Precious metals (gold, silver, etc.) 
• Non-precious metals (aluminum, copper, etc.) 
• Rare earth elements 

What are mineral rights?  

Mineral rights are the legal right to extract and capture any of these minerals that exist beneath the surface of a specific property. In other words, if you own the mineral rights on a property, you can extract the minerals or sell the authority to someone else to do so. Even if you do not have an ownership interest of the land, you have control over the minerals if you possess the mineral rights on that property.  

Property is classified as either real or personal property. Real property includes the land and all of the fixtures attached to it. Minerals are classified as real property until they are extracted.  

Once the mineral has been extracted from the earth, it becomes personal property and is no longer tied to the ownership of the property itself.  

Mineral rights vs. Surface rights 

Mineral rights are separate from surface rights. A property owner may not always possess mineral rights; however surface rights remain part of the surface estate. These can include things like building stone, limestone, caliche, surface shale, water, sand, gravel, and near surface coal, lignite, and iron.  

Are mineral rights included in the sale of real property?  

In addition to a property’s surface, Texas landowners are presumed to own all substances underlying their land. But this is not always the case. In some situations the mineral rights have otherwise been conveyed.  

Landowners can separately convey mineral and surface ownership rights by either: 

1. Selling the surface rights but reserving the mineral rights. 
2. Selling the mineral rights while retaining the surface ownership.  

If the landowner does not reserve the minerals when selling the surface, the buyer will automatically own any mineral interest that the seller/landowner had at the time of the sale.  

Since mineral rights can be conveyed separately from surface rights, it is crucial that you fully understand whether the seller had legal title to both to determine what rights you have acquired upon purchase.  

Have more questions about mineral rights? 

Contact Texas Land Brokers if you have questions or concerns about mineral rights and purchasing land. We’ve been in the industry since 2005 and have both the legal expertise and brokerage knowledge to help you find a deal and negotiate contracts. Tony Malley is an attorney and real estate broker who can walk you through the entire purchasing process.