Can anyone advise how to determine who owns the mineral rights to an abandoned mine? This is not site specific, just a general question. I am correct in assuming that once a lease expires the mineral rights automatically revert back to the owner of the land on which the portal is situated ?

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I thought that the rights always remained with the landowner (assuming they held them in the first place) and a lease only allowed the miners to extract mineral for an agreed fee. If the landower also has the mineral rights, then the mine reverts to them on quittance of the lease. However, if the mine crosses into another landowner's ground I would assume that all workings beyond the boundary belong to the second landowner, with all the complications of right of access that entails.

As to how to determine now who has ownership of an abandoned mine, I'm not sure if there's an easy way. The land registry might know if the mineral rights go with a particular parcel of land, but not always. In most but not all of the Peak, you can ask the Barmaster if anyone is registered as holding title to a mine. Do the mines inspectorate record who has onwership of mines on abandonment, does anyone know?

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MerddinEmrys provided a rather good answer to me about this and I can't quite recall it...

In short: certain metals belong to the Crown and are administered by the Crown Estate.

I suspect in some cases that it is possible that mineral rights have been separated from the actual land ownership - the mineral rights under my house have been retained by the developer, but given that it's built on reclaimed land, I have no idea why this is the case!

I'd reckon that in several cases - in places such as Blaenau - that the land and mineral rights have been split when 'worthless' land was sold on and the valuable mineral rights kept.

There were also cases such as Oakeley/Cwmorthin and Croesor/Rhosydd when there were disputes which tried to relate the boundaries underground to the surface boundaries and I'd assume that at the time the mineral rights and land ownership were one and the same.

If I recall correctly, the disputes were settled in both cases with an exchange of areas in order to solve the issue, although it may take someone with a bit more expertise to remember which bits were concerned!

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After a bit of research on t'web, it would appear that this is very geographic dependent. In parts of the USA there is no connection between mineral rights & land ownership. Certainly during the 'Wildcatting' era of the 1800s in the USA, crude oil was the property of anyone who pumped it out, just like hunting a wild animal. The oil derricks often overlapped each other in the chaotic early years of that industry.

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Although a landowner owns the ground, they may not own the minerals (eg galena, fluorspar, limestone) if the rights to these have been retained by whoever sold the land to them. You will find that many of our landed gentry have sold on chunks of land but retained the mineral rights. That means that anyone mining the items have to get a lease from the mineral owner and pay them an agreed amount.

Sometimes you may find that a commercial mining company actually buys the mineral rights and, if they do not mine them themselves, they can agree leases and get the revenue.

Gold is solely owned in the UK by the Crown and you have to get an extraction licence from the Crown Commissioners.

So .... if you have an existing mine, any minerals left in situ will belong to whover owns the mineral rights or the Crown if it is gold.

BUT ... the landowner owns the space of a mine! So the shaft and passages belong to them, as well as any barren ground surrounding them.

This seems to clarify the distinction between land and mineral rights very well. I suppose a land owner would certainly know who held the mineral rights, but determining who actually owns land is not so easy either.

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This seems to clarify the distinction between land and mineral rights very well. I suppose a land owner would certainly know who held the mineral rights, but determining who actually owns land is not so easy either.

I would suspect that the ownership of the mineral rights would be specifically noted on the deeds to the land at the Land Registry if it were anyone other than the owner of the land itself.

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You can now search the land registry online although some fees are involved.

Certainly the deeds would indicate if the land in question included or excluded the mineral rights.

In the case of money being loaned on the security of a piece of property (land that happens to have a building on it), the lender instructs the land registrar to make an entry on the charges register. This prevents the land being from being sold before the loaned money is repaid. Anyone can also inspect these registers to see if anyone else already has money secured on the property for the payment of a small fee. The deeds also record 'Covenants' which are attached to the property. These specify restrictions in the use of a propert now and in the future. It may include for example : 'the said property may not be used to manufacture alcoholic beverages'
Maybe a bit :offtopic: I am afraid. I am really not sure if the registrar would record the transfer of mineral rights, but I think it must surely be recorded somewhere, otherwise Lord Grabalot would be able to theoretically sell his mineral rights to more than one person at the same time...

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Just to join in the debate as nearly the newest member of the site.
Mineral rights can be a diffcult area. Anecdotally there was a field in Cornwall of a few acres whose mineral rights were 'owned' or at least claimed by 4 people. Their respective shares of the field added up to something like (from memory) 187/133 of the area!! One for the lawyers - the mining company who were trying to gain access walked away!!

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/free_downloads/home.html#GUIDE 
I can offer the following

The rights to non-fuel minerals in Great Britain, with the exception of gold and silver, are mainly in private ownership although a significant proportion is owned by the Crown and by Government departments and agencies. Uranium and other prescribed minerals relating to the production of atomic energy belong to the mineral rights owner, but may be compulsorily purchased by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry with compensation under powers granted in the Atomic Energy Act 1946. Although mineral rights are generally held by the surface landowner, they may have been retained by a previous landowner when the surface freehold was sold, particularly in areas with a long history of mining such as south-west England. There is no national register of mineral rights, but the Land Registry may have details of surface ownership and current ownership of mineral rights. The registers are open for public inspection.
The right to exploit minerals in the foreshore (beach) and on the sea bed within the limits of national jurisdiction is vested in the Crown under the Continental Shelf Act 1964 and, apart from coal, oil and natural gas, these resources are managed by the Crown Estate Commissioners. The only exceptions are the counties of Cornwall and Lancaster, where the foreshore is owned by the respective Duchies, and where grants of the foreshore have been made by the Crown to other parties.
The mineral rights to the noble metals, gold and silver, in most of Britain are owned by the Crown, and a licence for the exploration and development of these metals must be obtained from the Crown Estate Commissioners through the Crown Mineral Agent. The areas currently under licence are shown on a map (updated annually) in the United Kingdom Minerals Yearbook.
The rights to gold and silver in the former county of Sutherland in northern Scotland are held by the Duchy of Sutherland.
In the Isle of Man title to all minerals, including gold and silver, is vested in the Manx Department of Industry through the Minerals Act 1986. The Department issues exploration and development licences.
All minerals in Northern Ireland, except gold and silver (already owned by the Crown) and 'common' substances, including sand and gravel and aggregates, are vested in the Department of Economic Development (now the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI)) by the Mineral Development Act (Northern Ireland) 1969. The Department grants prospecting and mining licences.

Mining companies do carry out exploration in Britain and do negotiate mineral rights successfully - but it can be a bit of a job.
Tim

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