Hearing a lot of hype about the amounts of lithium in brine produced from the permian basin and how companies are planning on extracting it for profit. What does the land or mineral owner get out of it? From what I’ve read it looks like the person or company who takes possession of the water with intensions of using it for better purposes is the rightful owner. This can’t be right because they’re extracting elements that don’t belong to them for profit.
2 Likes
Here is a reply to your question from CHATGPT
"The issue of who owns the mineral rights to lithium in brine produced from the Permian Basin is a complex one that varies by jurisdiction and by the specific terms of individual land or mineral leases.
In general, mineral rights in the United States are considered separate from surface rights, which means that a landowner may own the land itself but not the minerals beneath it. In some cases, mineral rights may be owned by the federal or state government, while in other cases they may be owned by private individuals or companies.
If a landowner has leased their mineral rights to a company for exploration and extraction, they may be entitled to a percentage of the profits from any minerals extracted, including lithium. However, this depends on the specific terms of the lease agreement, which may vary widely.
In some cases, a landowner may have retained the rights to any minerals produced on their land, in which case they would be entitled to the full value of any lithium extracted. However, this is relatively rare, and most mineral rights are leased to third-party companies for exploration and extraction.
It’s worth noting that the process of extracting lithium from brine can be highly resource-intensive, and may have significant environmental impacts, including groundwater depletion and contamination. As such, it’s important for any extraction operations to be conducted responsibly, with appropriate safeguards in place to protect both the environment and the rights of local landowners."
1 Like
might want to visit the Texas Supreme Court case on produced water from a couple of years ago…I think it complicates this quite a bit…
We have put language in our leases (Texas) reserving royalty interest in the minerals in produced water. How to enforce compliance is the question.
This topic was automatically closed after 90 days. New replies are no longer allowed.