Our family wants to understand an offer from a solar panel company wanting us waive our mineral rights down 500 ft. and surface access. We hold a 1957 minerals only rights to 20 acres described as North 1/2 of the Southwest 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Section 35 Township 15 south, Range 14 East Mt. Diablo Base and Meridian, comprising 20 acres more or less. A very small part of the total the company is seeking rights for. But 1.) how do we find out if that is their real intent, and 2.) what would be our chances (or usefulness) of refusing to hold onto access to the min. rights. Any other pertinent info for us newbies would be most welcome; are we asking the right questions?
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Make that…refusing to give up rights… J
I would say no thank you, I believe the mineral estate is dominant in California also. You never know, somebody may have found a nugget and solar is the cover story for acquiring the mineral rights. There are lots of valuable minerals, not just oil, gas, gold, silver, uranium, there are ones that people seldom think about like berylium. I read a news story about a guy who spotted a deposit of berylium in a road cut. If you don't know what you are looking at it's just a mildly interesting hexagonal rock. You just can't tell what might be there.
I agree with rw. You don't own the surface, so why should you give up your rights to minerals found there? If they just want to place solar panels, then the surface owner would be the one dealing with them. It sounds like they suspect something of value is located in that top 500 feet of dirt/rocks.
With severed ownership of the "minerals" (which is likely only oil, gas, and other hydrocarbons, but you would have to review your deed to confirm this), you likely do not have the right to mine for minerals from the surface in any event. The reason for the solar companies seeking a surface waiver is, as RW said, the mineral owner is dominant and if the solar company does not get exclusive right to use the surface then it must arrange to have locations available on the 20 acres from which you could drill. If your minerals are already leased then you likely do not have the right to waive your surface rights. If, however, they are not then you can waive your surface rights knowing that if an oil company wishes to lease your minerals they would have to slant drill or otherwise locate the well on the surface of an adjacent property.
Hope this helps.
Many of my old Oklahoma mineral purchases state oil, gas, or other mineral located on or under the described tract.
Ms. Pledger, I can see where you may not be able to strip mine but wouldn't you be able to sink a mine shaft as part of ingress and egress?
While mining may be possible, the interest from the perspective of the solar company is simply to obtain a waiver of the surface rights. The 500' is added as a method to ensure that an oil company does not slant or horizontally drill that close to the surface which could damage the solar panels due to vibration. Ms. Howell could ask to modify this to only giving up surface access, but it is my experience with solar companies that it is the elimination of her ability to utilize the surface that is the key here. Giving up the surface access alone would preclude any mineral exploration except via the slant/horizontally drilled well (or other such mining method from off-surface into her minerals. Therefore, if the minerals are viable (and I think that they may be for oil given the location) then she may not wish to give up surface access.
This is very helpful info for us. Thanks to everyone who has participated.
Wind companies have the same issues as well.
Buddy Cotten
Absolutely they do!
Buddy Cotten said:
Wind companies have the same issues as well.
Buddy Cotten
Mineral Manager
After reading / researching options, I see that it is possible that the company can disregard if we decide to decline their offer and can pool us into a group of non-responders and refusers, then do whatever they want in spite of our wishes. I’ve read that in several states this is common practice. If we did refuse to sign or negotiate, if value was found at a later date, could we still claim them if we had not given up our rights? Or would the “pooling” automatically knock out our mineral rights?
Janet,
I'm not sure where you got this information. I have never heard of "pooling" someone who does not wish to give a surface waiver to a solar company. Pooling is a term used when an oil company wishes to lease your minerals. The solar company is looking for you to waive your rights to use the surface. You would still own your mineral rights but would not have access to the surface to produce them. On a smaller parcel that is typically not a problem because an oil company can drill from an adjacent parcel to access your minerals.
Ms. Pledger,
We read about it in ref to, yes, oil companies leasing minerals, and made a giant leap that it could apply to this sutuation. Thanks for the clarification.