Access to my claim over PVT land Options

[Diamond Digger]

Hi,
I know this has been discussed before anyone has the link?
I have several claims on FS land but cannot get hold of the PVT land owner over who's land I must travel to my claims?
Ideas?
We need to get in asap?
Anyone can pinpoint a law I can refer to?
Thanks
Andy

[Yoda]

Almost always, those with sub-surface mineral interests who wish to exercise their split-estate rights must either negotiate access terms and liabilities with all affected private land owners (and have those parties agree to the offer), or pursue the extent of necessary access they will be granted to extract those minerals without agreement as required (and usually involves the lawyers to some degree, either by representation or a court case). Wyoming has a famous and recent case regarding this. (Google "North Star Oil Split Estates")

Many home owners (especially in larger cities) will have signed away most of their mineral rights upon purchase, without understanding the potential impact of what that means. While it doesn't mean the mineral right owning entity can just show up and go about doing as they please (IE, they generally are not permitted to remove private property fixtures, must be at least aware of noise levels and provide abatement if necessary, must provide compensation for any damage or utility interruption, etc) the mineral ownership or lease will carry all the legal weight necessary to have their accesses assured with necessary stipulations, be allowed to extract the the mineral, and then generally be required to restore the land to it's original state and ensure it is safe upon completion. Why? Because the home/property owner basically signed away the right to say otherwise, back when when they purchased it. But they also retain the right to protect their property and ability to reside on it; if the sub-surface mineral owner screws any of that up, even to the point of just interruption, they are liable to the extent the granted access previously determined (and the power shift's heavily back to the private land owner).

Mineral rights of a private owner who purchased the land "Fee Simple" (or was granted the land as a Public Land Title, purchased back/required mineral lease after expiration, etc) will own both surface and sub-surface mineral rights, and typically the only way to lose that is to sell or lease those rights themselves. (Exceptions would be extremely rare and generally involve having lost an eminent domain battle in court.)

Without taking a stance: The US Government claims no mineral rights, but can take numerous actions to affect mineral rights (whether right or wrong). This is uncommon (well, depending on who you ask), and usually done with the intent to protect land/wilderness/resources that are unique... but sometimes a little political skullduggery takes place in the darker parts of the politics/law world too. Lets face it, our U.S. politicians are far from being shining examples of democracy, and generally are not above granting specific interests "special" political privilege for the right political donations.