I think it boils down to what ones intent is,
Those who buy and sell say better hurry! You might miss out on a chance to sell your minerals. If your minerals are worthless you may miss out on a chance to "trick" some poor unsuspecting PROFESSIONAL mineral buyer into buying worthless minerals. I see two things wrong with this, it assumes that the mineral owner would want to trick anyone and that the mineral owner in their wildest fantasies, thinks that they know more about their minerals than a mineral buyer.
I believe that the average mineral owner would like to see a decent return on what minerals they have and has no intent/ desire to trick anyone. On the other hand, being able to trick someone even 25% of the time in the course of many transactions, may add significantly to your bottom line, but how many transactions is the average mineral owner going to make with the minerals that came with their property or which they inherited? The average mineral owner is not going to trick the professional, if the professional gets tricked, it will be because the professional did it to himself.
The absolute best way to take an advantage, to make it easier to put one over on someone IS TO GET THEM TO PLAY YOUR GAME. To get the mineral owner who may never have bought or sold mineral rights for profit, drag them into the professional world of buying and selling with their minerals as their very first experience.
If you are the mineral owner and you want to enter the field of buying and selling minerals and you want to start with the minerals you own right now, let me ask what other businesses you think you could enter at the knowledge level equal to what you know about your minerals? Would you take over a medical supply company, resteraunt, auto parts store or shop? How much would you have to learn before you felt comfortable running the least familliar of those businesses? I think you need to learn at least as much about the buying and selling and the worth of your minerals before you step onto someone elses turf in the mineral selling business.
I understand that there can be circumstances that would make the selling of minerals to be the better choice. If you don't "have" to sell your minerals, I recommend that you not play someone elses game. If your minerals have substantial value and you are going to make an elective choice to sell, you had better do research and not be afraid to spend money, to get advice from a professional at the very least.
Mind you, it makes no difference to me whether you sell your minerals, I do not buy and sell, and will not profit from any decision you could make, but I do hate to see someone play someone elses game with possibly the most valuable thing they own. If it makes sense to enter the mineral sellers game, it would make just as much sense to borrow against everything you own and start playing the stock market or forex, you could make alot of money in both of them too, or like selling minerals, lose half of your net worth or more in one day. Have fun.