How are mineral rights different from surface rights?
Surface rights are the legal rights to work on the surface of the land, and only pertain to ownership on the surface. The United States of America is the only country in the world that has granted the rights to own minerals to private parties. It is easy to separate mineral rights and surface rights, and in fact, many mineral right owners retained their mineral rights long after their surface rights were sold. Once retained, mineral rights can be owned forever, except in Louisiana where “prescriptions” dictate that retained mineral rights only last 10 years once the surface has been sold.
